About

Deep Industry Experience, Broad Perspective

(mk)Mark Kirkwood is a C-level sales, marketing, and general management officer/executive with vast experience in the consumer products and forest products, paper and packaging industries. Prior to founding Axis (axis associates, llc), Mr. Kirkwood was a key member of the senior executive team that won the prestigious ‘Industrial Turnaround of the Year‘ award in 2008 from The M&A Advisor, for their reorganization work at Solo Cup Company ($2.1 bil.). Before that, Mark was the Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing (CRO/CMO) at Sweetheart Holdings, Inc. ($1.2 bil.), where he also served as the company’s General Manager for its packaging business. Mark is well versed and experienced in finance and economics, and also has an array of entrepreneurial endeavors in his work background.

Mr. Kirkwood currently serves as the Board Chairman for The Salvation Army of Central Maryland (Baltimore, MD), and is a past board member and Treasurer for the Northwest Suburban Montessori School in Chicago, Illinois.

(aa, llc) — is a management consulting firm and a leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors [in all regions] to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises. (aa) was founded in 2008, and is the trusted advisor to the world’s leading businesses. Through unparalleled industry expertise and focus, we drive superior value and results for our clients.

(repco) — is an (aa, llc) management advisory firm practice that helps corporations to discover and optimize the value of buried customers, products, and businesses, thereby accelerating top-line revenue performance. Revenue growth equals value creation… (repco) was founded in 2009. Our revenue practice delivers: trusted advice, actionable insights, and measurable results.

Our operating partners

  • Foodservice Packaging Consultants, LLC  Stratford, Connecticut
  • Global Capital, Inc.  Chicago, Illinois
  • LWMK Associates — Connecticut  |  USA
  • Mesa Associates — Chicago, Illinois

Who we are

Axis (aa) is a management consulting firm & control-focused acquisitions company. Axis serves both public and private sector clients—from start-up to early-stage, up through middle-market and mid-capitalization companies. Since its inception in 2008, Axis focuses on and serves clients’ senior agendas by utilizing decades of real-world industry experiences and functional expertise to look beyond standard solutions. Axis is an entrepreneurial, results-oriented consultancy and executive management advisory firm, and is governed by providing tangible Results-oriented Solutions®. Axis is known as a generalist firm, and we advise companies on a wide-range of issues e.g., marketing & sales, operations, and strategy. With a relentless focus on value-creation, Axis has developed a niche specialty in accelerating top-line revenue growth—Axis / Revenue Engine Partners Co. (repco) will lead the way on revenue generation practices, and where appropriate, we will assume the lead on field selling activities and conduct in-depth revenue hunts ourselves.

Further, Axis stands ready as a capable management team ready to directly invest in and/or manage a manufacturing or distribution business. We are aligned with several like-minded partners who are ready to assist in and provide financing for control-focused acquisitions.

What we do / Our mission

Axis helps management and leaders make sustainable, distinctive and substantial improvements in performance. Achieving results for clients and making companies more valuable is our core mission. First and foremost, we are problem solvers, and we use “strategic thinking” to develop and deliver Results-oriented Solutions®. Where appropriate, we work with clients to make it happen—which may mean fundamentally changing the company by taking the implementation work on ourselves. From the outset, we set out to build a great firm.

Why we started / The underlying business premise

In today’s climate to better focus on their core competencies, more and more companies are recognizing outsourcing as a more effective and economical way to perform many functions, even such complex activities as purchasing, field sales and strategy development. Axis’s “open and creative culture,” and “non-hierarchical team approach” provide today’s management with more cost-effective approaches to complex issues and problems.

Our goals for our clients

  1. Solving problems in new and creative ways with idea leadership
  2. Delivering unfair advantage
  3. Improving shareholder value
  4. Providing the best business acumen and ideas possible

The value equation

We organize towards facts, speed, insights and results, all with an eye on cost sensitivity in order to create Results-oriented Solutions®.  A client can expect to receive a value of 10x+ for any fee expenditure. Creativity fuels competitive advantage…

What we believe

We believe in teamwork and collaboration, and that:

  • Fact-based views are fundamental to all of our dealings (e.g., data, analysis, decisions, solutions, recommendations and results)
  • Transparent, honest and confidential dealings are tantamount to success
  • Truthful, in-depth relationships and dialogues are the best course of action—we throw ourselves into the fray
  • Tangible results will always be a by product of our advice and recommendations
  • Client satisfaction/loyalty is our first and only priority—we serve the client with a client-comes-first attitude
  • Assignments and tasks must be meaningful and achievable
  • Connecting the dots is our responsibility
  • Trends and patterns should set the tone for our recommendations

We believe that we will be successful if our clients are successful. We measure results.

Our clients

Are leading institutions facing real challenges that seek a fresh perspective and new insights on how to advance their agendas.  Client and other references are available. See our Impact Stories.

What we deliver

  1. We deliver prescriptive insight™
  2. We deliver solutions for results™
  3. We deliver compelling points of view™

Our unique benefits

We strengthen our clients’ ability to take decisive action(s).  We provide alternative ways of thinking about issues.  We offer a commanding range of inputs and facts so you’ll see transformational influences and solutions as they emerge.  Our analytical approach helps clients find the logic by delivering consulting with a human voice.

In summary

Axis Associates,

Is a results-oriented consultancy that provides clients:

  • Strategy, execution & results
  • Unfair advantage
  • 10x+ value

And delivers:

Top tier results w/o the cost-structure, overhead and fee burden associated with top-tier firms.

Axis Associates is a good business decision. BECOME A CLIENT — we have a track record for delivering results, and making companies more valuable.

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