MPX Group · Turnaround Leadership
When a company is losing money, the owner has run out of answers, or the business is in distress, the problem is never a strategy problem. It is an operating problem. It needs an operator in the seat.
I step in as interim CEO, COO, or operating partner. Stabilize the business, fix cash visibility, rebuild accountability, return it to profitability. Twenty-five years of doing this across construction, infrastructure, architecture, and hospitality.
Not a framework. Not a report. An operator who has been inside businesses like yours and knows what to do next.
The Work
I have been in the seat at companies across construction, infrastructure, telecom, architecture, real estate, and hospitality. Built companies, bought companies, run companies, and fixed companies. The pattern of what breaks is consistent. So is the pattern of what fixes it.
Turnarounds are not complicated in theory. Cash is a problem, accountability has broken down, reporting is unreliable, and someone has to make decisions that the current leadership cannot or will not make. The work is hard, not mysterious. It requires an operator who has been there before and who will get into the operational reality of the business — not stand outside it with a slide deck.
Private clients. Real results. References and case studies available on request.
The Turnarounds
Google Fiber build-out market. Company losing money monthly.
Stepped in as CEO of a national fiber-infrastructure operator in the Google Fiber build-out. The company was losing money every month, with fragmented operations and no real accountability at the program level.
Took hold of operations, brought program-level economics and operating controls into line, and returned the business toward profitability.
Operating rebuild ahead of an ownership transition.
An established architecture and design firm with strong creative output but deteriorating operations. Systems were inconsistent, software was fragmented, project accountability was informal, and the business was not positioned for the ownership transition on the horizon.
Rebuilt the operating foundation: systematized project tracking, standardized workflows, consolidated software, and put accountability structures in place. The firm entered the transition in a substantially stronger operating position.
Distressed operations. Cash pressure. Execution breakdown.
A commercial construction company where project execution had broken down, cash was tight, and the owner was losing control of the business. Job cost reporting was unreliable, subcontractor relationships were deteriorating, and the company was heading toward a cash crisis.
Stepped in to rebuild project controls, establish real job cost visibility, restructure vendor relationships, and stabilize cash. Returned the company to controlled operations and a defensible path forward.
Service-business turnaround. Dispatch, margins, and cash.
A plumbing and HVAC service business with strong revenue but deteriorating margins. Dispatch was inefficient, job pricing was inconsistent, technician productivity was untracked, and the owner had no real view of what the business was actually making.
Rebuilt dispatch operations, established job-level margin tracking, corrected pricing discipline, and restored the owner’s visibility into the business. The company returned to predictable profitability within the engagement period.
Multiple restaurants. Unit-level economics and operating control.
Several multi-unit restaurant and hospitality turnarounds across different ownership situations and market contexts. The presenting problems varied — food cost, labor, management accountability, vendor terms, declining sales — but the operating failure pattern was consistent.
Each engagement involved getting into unit-level P&L reality, rebuilding the operating controls that had broken down, and establishing management accountability at the store level. Businesses that were losing money returned to profitable operation.
How MPX Engages
Every situation is different in its specifics. The pattern of what has to happen first is not. The business has to be stabilized before it can be rebuilt. The facts have to be established before decisions can be made. And an operator has to be willing to make calls that the current team is not positioned to make.
I work as interim CEO, COO, operating partner, or operating advisor depending on what the situation requires. The engagement form follows the problem, not a fixed model.
The first move is always control. Get a real view of cash. Understand what is owed and to whom. Identify what decisions are blocked and why. Stop the bleeding before rebuilding.
Cash, people, customers, vendors, reporting, and obligations — in that order.
Once stabilized, rebuild the operating system. Accountability. Reporting that reflects reality. Program economics that the business can actually manage to. Management that understands the expectations.
Operator judgment, not a framework. What gets rebuilt depends on what broke and why.
The measure of a turnaround is not a plan. It is a business that is making money and can sustain it without the interim operator in the seat. That is the finish line.
Exit looks like capable management running a business with real controls — or a strategic transaction from a position of strength.
When To Call
The right time is usually earlier than you think. Call when:
In Practice
MPX works on matters where discretion matters.
Many engagements involve ownership pressure, lender scrutiny, distressed operations, family business situations, or confidential turnarounds. Clients are not named publicly without permission. The work is serious and the situations are real — which is why it stays private.
References are available for qualified inquiries. Case studies are discussed confidentially by phone.
The pattern is consistent: MPX is brought in when the business needs an experienced operator who has been in this situation before and is willing to get into the seat and fix it.
Contact
Send the situation, the timeline, and what is at stake. Short emails are fine.
Email mike@mpxgroup.net mike@mpxgroup.net