Dan Heuertz

Dan Heuertz: Founder and President of The Preferred Group; a Business Development Management and Consulting Firm located in Palatine, Illinois a suburb of Chicago.

I enjoy leading high growth Entrepreneurs! Strategic planning, facilitating strategy summits and retreats. I apply what I learn from my business practice to my facilitation and it a powerful combination that achieves results.

My background is diverse with experience in; franchising, real estate, group purchasing, merchant services, consulting, professional facilitation/coaching and hospitality management across the USA and Canada with a global network of peers.

I am a serial Entrepreneur who studies Emotional Intelligence and is a graduate from Iowa State University in Speech Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations.

Global Leadership

A 16 year member of EO, Entrepreneurs Organization, where I served locally as President of the Chicago EO Chapter (Entrepreneurs Organization) and was promoted to Area Director. I chaired the 2011 Global Leadership Conference held in Chicago with over 700+ global entrepreneurs in attendance and Chaired the Chicago University with over 350 global entrepreneurs attending; the highest rated University of its kind.

I helped launch The Big Start-up; a global partnership between The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Euronext and its listed Companies: Accion, Start-up America and Entrepreneurs Organization. I was invited to attend the kick-off ceremony and ring the closing bell at the NYSE.

For the past 10-years my focus and energy have been on Youth Entrepreneurship. EO GSEA, Mentorship and EO Accelerator, specifically. I have been fortunate to attend numerous events such as; US State Department, Kairos Society, Endeavor and the G-20 YES (Youth Entrepreneurs Summit). I have participated in youth and global leadership conferences in USA, Puerto Rico, Mexico, France, India, Qatar, Dubai, Canada, Philippines, Panama, Greece and China.

Build an Ecosystem

Many people have contributed and many more will in the future, but I feel proud that I was on the ground floor of these three important endeavors;

EO Global Student Entrepreneurs Award: An EO program in which collegiate entrepreneurs (college students that own and operate a business and attend university) compete at local, regional and national competitions with the top 50 global finalists competing for the title of the best collegiate entrepreneur. The program has grown from a few hundred USA only participants to over 2,000 participants in 50 countries. This competition has been greatly assisted by our partners at the Kaufmann Foundation and in alliance with Global Entrepreneurs Week (GEW).

EO Accelerator: Launched with the assistance of Mercedes Benz Financial, the EO Accelerator program focuses on small businesses with a minimum of $250,000 in revenue and maximum of $1MM in revenue. The Accelerator program has a custom designed curriculum that helps navigate the company to $1MM in revenue over the course of the program. We have gradated over 200 Accelerator participants primarily in the USA with global launches throughout Latin America, Asia and Europe.

EO Mentorship: A program started from scratch and now serving over 1000 EO Members globally. EO has formal Mentor relationships with WPO (World Presidents Organization) and YPO (Young Presidents Organization). EO members serve as Mentors to Accelerator and GSEA participants.

These programs reflect an important part of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and have had a significant economic impact on their local communities in the consumption of services and the creation of jobs.

Entrepreneurial Approach

I started this Entrepreneurial Career as a collegiate entrepreneur while attending Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, by maxing out my credit cards and opening a small college dive bar. Many of my Professors took a special interest in my entrepreneurial quest by providing mentoring and access to fellow colleagues to help me learn and grow. With the aide of these mentors my business grew from one dive bar to five locations in a few years’ time. I profitably sold the business, moved to Chicago with my bride and a remarkably similar story happened once again. The guidance of another mentor helped grow my business and me as a person. The importance of these mentors has never been forgotten and, to this day, drives me in my business and in life to give back to the Entrepreneurial Community. Below are the major milestones;

1. Dogtopia Enterprises LLC; Tysons Corner, VA: 2013*-2015
Franchise system in the dog daycare, boarding and spa services.
 COO and Strategic Advisor
 Restructured the Company’s operating system to align people to operating results
 Grew from 21 stores open to 35 opened stores with 17 in development
 Supported the growth into Canada
 Oversaw and approved site selection for new stores and real estate leases in the USA and Canada
 Developed IT platform to manage and support new store opening
 Redesigned training program
 Restructured Franchisee support systems
 Lead the acquisition by an Investment Group to buy out the Founder
 Lead the transition from the existing Management team to the new CEO

2. Preferred Restaurant Services (PRS) and Preferred Restaurant Management Group (PRMG), Dallas TX: 2005-2012
As a Managing Partner, PRS was a Managed Services firm that Independent Restaurateurs outsourced their back office to. Services included: payroll, property and casualty insurance, workers compensation, accounting and value added programs custom designed for restaurants. PRMG was a Management and Consulting Firm that solely focused on the hospitality industry; restaurants, hotels and country clubs.
 Developed a prototype sales and marketing office to rollout additional strategic regional offices in Philadelphia, Charlotte and Houston
 Branded PRS and PRMG for a national roll out and executed the strategic plan
 Grew from 110 Texas based clients to over 550 clients located in 26 states
 Consulted with over 50 restaurant concepts
 Provided Food and Beverage Management for over 50 Golf and Country Clubs in 13 states
 The company was acquired in January of 2012

3. The Preferred Group, Client Engagement Overview: 1999-Present

Founder of The Preferred Group, a strategic planning and performance optimization Management and Consulting Firm serving a diverse set of industries, such as;

Litetronics International, Chicago IL; Facilitated the strategic planning and implementation of an old technology lighting company to a new high tech, high touch and highly profitable repositioning company that leads with break-through LED products.

F&B Partners, Chicago & Dallas, TX; Group Purchasing Organization for the Hospitality industry. Developed an eCommerce platform for the underserved middle market Hospitality groups.

Leona’s Restaurants, Chicago, IL; Served as President and Advisor to Ownership; developed a unique strategy to be in the real estate business by operating restaurants. Amassed 20+ properties throughout Chicago and the suburbs. Eventually sold the restaurant company and the owner retained the real estate.

Total Merchant Systems, Chicago, IL; Partner, Online payment processing.

Maddock Douglas, Chicago, IL; Ideation of new $100M+ ideas, products and services for the Fortune 500.

Renaissance Property Group; Knoxville TN, created a new apartment and condo property management system based upon the Ritz Carlton model.

Brine Partners, Carlsbad, NM; Raised equity and debt investment of $1 to launch a solar salt products company. Negotiated an Agreement between the state of New Mexico, Texas and the Supreme Court for water rights.

Polymer Pipe Technologies, Des Moines, IA; Strategic Advisor for this pioneer in polymer technology, created a patented process for the sanitary sewer infrastructure marketplace.

Strategy Facilitator; Global reach serving 100+ companies. You Tube links from strategic planning summits:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbstZyqTfwk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg8oE7D58qY

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQt5PuaNlA4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxKozo1xi4I

4. Downtown Restaurants Inc. (DRI) / 1994-1999
Co-founder of this boutique Restaurant Development Company that owned and or provided management and consulting services for a diverse roster of restaurant concepts primarily in the Chicago area and throughout the Midwest.

5. People’s Potential Ltd. / 1988-1994
Co-founder of an Entertainment Company that owned bars, restaurants, a retail liquor store and a live music production company. Started with a single “dive bar” and quickly built to a five store full-service operation with sales of over $2.5M while attending college in Ames, IA at Iowa State University.

I am; a proud native of Iowa, a Myers-Briggs; ENTJ, Strength Finder’s top 5 themes; 1). Strategic 2). Woo 3). Learner 4). Communication 5). Responsibility and I build relationships through trust as a certified Strategy Summit Facilitator.

For fun, I enjoy fitness, food, wine, playing basketball, coaching junior high basketball (we have won several state and national championships-officially “retired” in 2014), but most of all I love my family! The “Heuertz Hurricanes” resided for the past 20+ years in Palatine, IL. We are active in our church and the community. Andrea, and I my wife of 23+years, have 4 children; Nick (22), Samantha (19), Lexi (17) Ben (14), plus 3 dogs, a cat and a gecko.