About Us

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 We are a husband-and-wife team with decades of diverse business and military experience between us. We put our hard-earned knowledge to work helping businesses operate more efficiently, become more profitable, and prepare for the future. As in our marriage, we operate independently but help each other tackle challenges with our complementary operational and financial skills.

Alix began her career as a lawyer after completing her education at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law. In 1991 she joined Nielsen-Kellerman, then a niche manufacturing company that had recently moved out of her parents’ basement. She worked in every department on her way to the leadership role - customer service, sales, marketing, logistics, product management, brand management, finance, logistics, information systems and legal. Alix also delved deep into manufacturing, becoming Lean Manufacturing certified and learning how to compete with China while building the majority of NK’s products in Pennsylvania. Seeing first-hand how NK was able to create great jobs for its growing staff yielded Alix’s current love of manufacturing and belief in the value of Lean principles in all aspects of business management.

In 2010, as CEO, Alix helped guide NK through a transition from founder ownership to private equity backing. This sale was the first of Alix’s many lessons in what makes a company valuable and appealing to buyers, as well as how to maximize results for all constituents in a transaction. Alix believes a transaction is truly only win-win if it serves the founders transitioning out, management staying on, the company’s employees and the new investors. Alix led NK through backing by three different private equity sponsors, multiple tuck-in acquisitions and multiple sell-side processes. During this time NK grew to six times its 2010 revenue and headcount while remaining profitable and thriving through good and bad economic times. Under Alix’s leadership, NK was recognized for its Lean manufacturing expertise, operational excellence, innovative product development, global exporting and e-commerce success and was also recognized as a Philly Top Workplace over ten times.

Alix is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor® (CEPA®) and focuses her consulting work on the following areas:

• Exit and transition planning for founder-led businesses
• Preparation for selling your business and sell-side process guidance
• Improving financial reporting and executive numbers literacy
• Advisory Board and Operating Partner roles

Alix also serves on the board of directors of West Catholic Preparatory High School, the Philadelphia Association for Corporate Growth, the Wilmington Rowing Center and the Delaware Valley Combined Training Assoc. Alix is an avid competitor in both rowing and dressage and spends lots of time in various rowing shells or on her two horses. Lately, she and Jeff have added “rucking” together to their training regimens, enjoying the many trails in the beautiful Brandywine Valley. 

Jeff earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the US Air Force Academy and a Master of Science in Systems Management from the University of Southern California. After serving more than twenty years as an active-duty Air Force pilot, he returned to his home state of Pennsylvania where he earned the Certified Financial Planner credential and founded Alderfer Financial Planning LLC in Wyomissing, PA.

After the events of 9/11/2001, Jeff volunteered to return to the cockpit with the US Air Force Reserve, and in 2003 he completed an extended tour of duty in the Middle East flying combat missions supporting our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Returning to civilian life, he continued to serve part-time in the Air Force Reserve, retiring (for the second time) in 2009 at the rank of Colonel.

During this time, Alderfer Financial Planning continued to grow, eventually becoming Convergent Financial Strategies LLC, where Jeff served as the Director of Financial Planning. In 2016 he accepted a buy-out offer from his two partners.

Ready for his next adventure, Jeff began teaching personal finance as an adjunct professor at Temple University. He enjoys instilling the basic financial skills that will help his students succeed in building their future. He also began consulting for financial services firms working as a fractional COO for a number of firms and presently serving as Director of Financial Planning for Islamorada Investment Management.

Jeff focuses his consulting on the following areas:

• Serving as a fractional COO 
• Selecting and implementing systems
• Improving operations and workflows
• Developing financial planning services

Jeff also still exercises his CFP® skills in preparing financial plans. Alix and Jeff's work intersects when business owners need to consider their exit plan or better understand their post-sale financial picture or when a client has significant net worth in their business.

In his spare time, Jeff enjoys cross-training, riding his BMW R9T through Chester County and playing with the two family terriers –  Bulleit (Hunt Terrier) and Xena (Philly Pitbull Mix).

Alix and Jeff's home, featured on the site front page, is modeled after the John Chads House. John Chads and his wife (and eventual widow) operated the ferry and an Inn at Chadds Ford from 1736 to the early 1800's. The name is a nod to our home, and our home-based business as a couple. You can visit the John Chads House and Chadds Ford Historical Society along with the Brandywine Battlefield to learn more about the fascinating and significant Revolutionary War history of the area.