Profits Soar for Simplex Group, Inc.

Last year was a good year for Simplex Group, Inc, a Pittsburgh-based company that provides project management and collaboration solutions to project-intensive organizations in the engineering, construction, manufacturing, and power industries. Laura Nee, chief executive officer and president, credits her PowerLink Advisory Board with providing valuable input to help her exceed her business goals of increasing annual revenues by over 90 percent and expanding her staff.

“They provided me with a sounding board for direction. Everyone worked really well together,” says Nee about advisory board members who were recruited by the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence’s Center for Women in Business. Catering specifically to women-owned businesses, the Center assembles customized teams of advisors who offer new perspectives on strategy, profitability, operations, capital, sales, and other issues critical to success.

Simplex Group’s advisory board included Julie Kline, an attorney with Metz Lewis Brodman Must O'Keefe LLC and a member of the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence. Kline, who has served on several PowerLink Advisory Boards over the past few years, says Nee was very receptive to input and executed many of the suggestions board members offered. “She knew that she needed to make some changes and embraced that. We helped her analyze which projects were most profitable and encouraged her to seek assistance with marketing and to develop strategies to execute a new marketing plan.” The experience was so positive that Kline agreed to continue to advise Nee on a volunteer basis, when her term on Nee’s PowerLink board ended.

Created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, the Institute promotes job growth and economic vitality throughout southwestern Pennsylvania by helping business harness the power to prosper.