George DiGrandi - President & CEO
George DiGrandi has over 27 years experience in accounting, finance, information technology and business development. Prior to joining JGI, George was the founder and CEO of Premier Consulting Group, a professional services company delivering implementation, development and integration services in support of enterprise applications for middle market companies. Before that he was Vice President of Shared Services at the Thomson Corporation providing both accounting and information technology services throughout the organization. In addition he has held numerous accounting positions at Fortune 500 companies. George holds a BS in Accounting, an MBA in Finance from New York University and is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA).
Ken Ridell - Vice President & General Manager - HR21
A Senior Practice Director with over 20 years of experience performing and managing Strategy, Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and Systems Development projects specializing in human resource/payroll and financial systems. Ken has an outstanding track record in the selling, managing and delivering of consulting services. Ken joined JGI in 1995 to develop and run an ADP-focused division called HR21. That division is one of JGI most successful practices, and today HR21 is one of ADP’s Premier Service Partners.
Tom Zydel - Vice President of Business Intelligence
Tom Zydel has over 27 years experience in enterprise-level sales, sales management, and marketing, specializing in advanced application and development tools and services. Prior to joining JGI, Mr. Zydel was a cofounder and Chief Operating Officer of CS Strategies, Inc. Mr. Zydel was Director of Eastern Region sales for ReportSmith Inc. There, he played an integral role on the management team that successfully brought one of the first Windows-based decision support products to market. Prior to joining ReportSmith, Inc., Mr. Zydel was Eastern Region Sales Manager for Viewpoint Systems, Inc., a provider of graphical interface development tools. There, he was responsible for managing reseller relationships throughout the Eastern United States. From 1985 to 1991, Mr. Zydel worked at Information Science, Inc., a provider of mainframe-based Payroll and Human Resources application software, rising from the position of Account Manager to District Sales Manager and then to Regional Sales Vice President. From 1980 to 1985, he served as Account Manager at Burroughs Corporation (now Unisys).
James Paddon - National Practice Leader, ValueMine Consulting
James has spent his entire 19 year career as a finance professional. Prior to ValueMine, he was CFO of Lava Trading Inc., where he built Lava's finance function as the company grew from zero to $55 million in revenues and over 200 employees. He led the transactions that raised over $35 million of venture funding for Lava and was the lead transactor on the sale of the company to Citigroup. Prior to Lava, James was a Managing Director of GLobal Bank FInance at Chase Manhattan (noe JP Morgan Chase). In his 12 years at Chase he held a variety of financial management and strategy positions, in both the wholesale and retail areas of the bank. He received his MBA in finance from New York University, Stern School of Business and his bachelors degree from Princeton University. He holds an NASD Series 27 license.
Jay Weiss - National Practice Leader, ValueMine Consulting
Jay has spent the bulk of his career as a Management Consultant. During his consulting career, Jay has held senior positions at the major international consulting firms A.T. Kearney and Coopers & Lybrand. He is an expert in strategic and business planning, financial management, cost management and performance management. Prior to ValueMine, Jay was a Founder and Managing Director of Skyline Equity Advisers, Ltd., an investment banking boutique dedicated to providing middle-market business owners with M&A advisory services. Mr. Weiss began his business career at J. Crew, the clothing manufacturer and retailer, where he is responsible for all finacial planning and helped launch their retail operations. He received a bachelors degree in Economics from Princeton University and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.