William Charles Hartman, Sr. (affectionately known as "old bill" for many years by business colleagues, subordinates, clients, friends, and family alike) is a distinguished financial consultant, who specializes in improving profits, raising employee morale, increasing productivity, and assisting in the advancement and career development of executives and managers at all levels.

 

Bill's distinguished work history includes more than forty years of progressive, significantly responsible experience in managerial accounting, human relations management, purchasing administration, quality assurance, and business improvement consulting, coaching and copywriting.

 

He developed sound leadership skills while ascending to executive positions, during ten years each, at two Fortune 300 manufacturers; another seven years in purchasing administration management for three major international airlines; and the last fifteen years as a business consultant, coach and executive mentor.

 

He specializes in improving profits by the use of innovative methods in horizontal communication, assurance of quality improvement in all work functions, and resulting positive changes in people’s attitudes, morale, job performance, and productivity.

Bill's individual contributions to the growth and continued success of his former employers and client companies have been both numerous and significant.

As an example, during one three-year period, as controller of his company's largest case goods furniture division, his leadership efforts contributed substantially in increasing pre-tax profits from 4% to 15%.

During this time, he spearheaded three major projects:

• Project Leader of a conversion from a manual shop floor control system, to a completely automated Class A (APICS) MRP II ordering/processing, inventory control system within their targeted goal. 
• Chairperson of the "Yield Improvement" committee, resulting in the lowest waste factors in the company's thirty-year history.
• Co-chairperson of the "Awareness" committee that set up a horizontal communication link among rank-and-file, middle management, and executives that promoted team building, and lead to dramatic increases in efficiency measured at 75%.

Bill was born in Malden, Massachusetts, USA, on March 2, 1941. The second of four children, he spent his early youth on Cape Cod, and following World War II, his family returned to Malden. He was graduated from Malden High School in 1960.

In 1963, after receiving an honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy (1960-63), for his service as a hospitalman aboard three destroyers, Bill returned home to marry his high school sweetheart, Jeannette (Jan), and immediately following their honeymoon, he entered college to major in education. 

In 1964, after completing his freshman year at UMass in Boston (formerly Boston State College), and beginning a family, he began his career as an accounting clerk for an international printing and packaging company at their Boston plant, while attending classes evenings at Bentley University (formerly Bentley College).

In 1967, he was promoted to Business Manager (youngest in their history), and was responsible for all accounting, finance, and credit.

In 1969, he was transferred to their Springfield, Massachusetts plant, where he was promoted to Plant Controller (again youngest).

In 1973, Bill earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration [Majoring in Accounting] from Western New England University in Springfield, Mass. (Completing nine years of evening classes at an average of three nights per week).

Immediately following his graduation, he was promoted to Comptroller of their Packaging Products Division (again youngest), and was transferred to their corporate office in New York City [$140 million annual revenues; overseeing finances of eight printing and packaging plants across the US]. 

Following a year of commuting between Springfield and New York City, and preferring not to raise their family in a large metropolitan area, Bill and Jan chose to relocate.

In 1974, Bill accepted a position in the home furnishings manufacturing industry in northern Vermont (see prior individual contributions), as division controller of one of the largest case goods factories in the U.S. [$100 million annual revenues; ± 600 employees], reporting equally to two Vice Presidents - Manufacturing and Finance.

During his early years, the directors of accounting, human resources, purchasing, and info systems became direct reports under him. 

Over the next several years, he sat on three boards as a director, two of them as treasurer, and was an active member of several professional, civic, and fraternal organizations; and along with his wife and four teen-age children, owned and operated a family-oriented, outdoor, drive-in movie theatre during the summers.

In 1981-1984, he was honored as a member of biographical record in Marquis' Who's Who in the East … and Who's Who in Finance and Industry.

In 1985, after witnessing substantial success from his ‘awareness’ programs in the furniture industry, Bill began his own consulting firm, Hartman Business Services in Vermont, and began to market his remarkable achievements into other industries. It was at this point clients began referring to him as their 'Awareness' coach.

His introduction of this new and revolutionary style of communication in the workplace became an instant success, and was well received by client firms across northern New England and upper New York State.

In 1988, with their four children off to college and beginning their own lives, Bill and Jan chose to pursue their goal of moving to a warmer climate.

During the next seven years, he reported to the Vice Presidents of Purchasing for three major international airlines (relocating from Vermont, to North Carolina, and ultimately, to Arizona).

As a Purchasing Administration Manager, he became each vice president's liaison with corporate finance, human resources, and information systems, regarding overall purchasing administration and support.

He established audits of vendor compliance resulting in substantial recovery of losses, instituted budget preparation and analysis procedures, and had a proactive role in the formulation of new policies and procedures for the material planning, provisioning, inventory control, contract administration, and procurement of capital aircraft parts.

Although he experienced some success setting up ‘awareness’ at several divisional levels, he did not receive the required commitment and support that was originally promised from apathetic senior airline executives.

In 1995, Bill left the airline industry and chose to retire from working full time in a corporate venue. He committed to focusing all of his efforts toward the promotion of ‘Awareness’ in the workplace. Since his fascination with lighthouses from his youth on Cape Cod, and their life saving symbol to sailors, Bill decided to use a beacon as a metaphor for his 'awareness' approach as the best way to manage. The two executives below, appearing to follow the beacon, represent his business-to-business marketing strategy. The final piece was set when he resurrected his old firm's name, and registered Hartman Business Services® in Arizona to carry on with his mission.

Over the next twelve years, while consulting on a part-time basis, Bill continued to cultivate his unique style of “coaching executives and managers on how to lead by panorizontal communication” with his client firms throughout the west. These consultations always resulted in some form of viable improvement beyond originally established goals.

In 2008, boosted by the urging and support from many of his former colleagues and clients, Bill compiled his many successes with the promotion of ‘awareness’ in the workplace into a tutorial (or e-Book) for business owners, executives and managers. This culminated in Successful Business Awareness© being written, copyrighted, and made available in PDF format … to be shared with all business leaders in the rest of the world from this, his primary website at http://www.b2bawareness.com.

Please take a moment to review a few excerpts of exemplary comments from several of Bill's former and active clients at http://wwwb2bawareness.com/testimonials.html.

In 2009, Bill was honored as a lifetime member in Biltmore Who’s Who Registry of Executives and Professionals for his numerous contributions to the business sector during his career. 

In late 2011, Bill and his wife Jan relocated from Arizona to the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, near Lake Wylie, to be closer to family. He continues to make himself easily accessible to businesses and their executives by offering his already proven (yet unique), and professional (yet personal), approach to business improvement through coaching, mentoring, and online business-to-business copywriting services.

Bill and Jan’s three sons and daughter, and their spouses, have blessed them with twelve grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Those six families currently reside in Vermont (two oldest sons’ and two granddaughters' families), South Carolina (third son), and Colorado (daughter), keeping Bill and Jan busy traveling and hosting.

Thank you for reading this far and learning about the entire journey behind the evolution of Successful Business Awareness ©.