HOWARD G. KING
Founder and President/CEO of The Guidance Firm

HOWARD G. KING. FHFMA, SPHR, CMPE
Professional Profile

Howard King is a "progressive change agent". His passion is improving any and all facets of any company and its organizational processes, its information and business systems, and its financial position. He mentors and grooms professional personnel, engenders growth and team play among executives, mid-management and staff. A company will effectively envision its future and strategically plan to accomplish its mission under his consultative guidance.

Mr. King's career includes over twenty years as Chief Executive Officer for a variety of companies providing leadership and direction for empowering entrepreneurial owners and corporate executives toward advancing and transforming vision into reality and converting mission into action. He is recognized as a continual source of guidance with a passion for cultivating relationships founded upon mutual growth and life-long learning that do not end after the initial engagement.

Mr. King is noted for building vital community relationships that open new markets using progressive marketing concepts and strategic philanthropy. His actions display deep commitment to social responsibility and aggressively leading organizations to stature as the most progressive in their industries and communities. However, his imperative is to create wealth and security for his clients (owners and company stakeholders) by paying heed to bottom-line commitments and utmost attention to the customer's desires, wants, and needs.

Most importantly, from his experience as a chief executive, as well as a chief financial officer, he has consistently achieved and sustained growth in revenues and profits for the companies with which he has been affiliated. Such success is founded upon bridging disciplines and differences between organizations and individuals, entering partnerships with transparency and objectivity, creating synergistic relationships and mutually advantageous solutions. Mr. King believes the aforementioned attributes form the cornerstone for developing strong organizations that through effective professional recruiting and the continual training and developing of staff instill a culture of excellence that create high performing work teams that sustain productivity standards and increase employee retention.

Mr. King's accomplishments include engineering financial turnarounds: taking companies from the brink of bankruptcy and obscurity to stability and growth: reclaiming companies' reputations and positions as market and community leaders. The keys are increasing cash flow, adjusting staffing levels for efficiency and effectiveness, optimizing and implementing cutting edge technology with solid returns on investment, and focusing upon the customer and employee.

Throughout his career, Mr. King has been engaged by companies in need of help for extricating themselves from financial quagmires, operational excess and morass, shrinking market share, competitive encroachment, labor unrest, and organizational stagnation and decline. Progressively, he has delivered his charges from bankruptcy and/or insignificance to become financially healthy, rewarding entities, which are now vitally important to their communities and industries.

Mr. King has sat upon several Boards of Directors for both profit and nonprofit organizations, including: healthcare organizations; insurance companies; civil service commissions; credit unions; mental health institutions; Main Street USA, organizations; local and regional economic development councils and committees; and chambers of commerce. He presently serves as President of the Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce and is immediate past president of Main Street Winter Haven Inc., having served two terms as president.

Mr. King is a graduate of Gonzaga University with a BBA degree in Accounting and Finance and is the holder of three professional certifications in the disciplines of Finance, Human Resources, and Executive Management. He obtained his MBA from the Ken Blanchard College of Business Grand Canyon University and continues to further his graduate education in business and leadership, exemplifying his belief in life-long learning. Mr. King is an avid reader, world traveler, athletically inclined, and above all a dedicated family man.