Marissa Levin has spent the last 20 years turning her company Information Experts into a multi-million dollar communications & education firm. Hear the up and down stories, her bucket list, & the one strategy that has made the biggest impact on the growth of her multi-million-dollar business…how to create an exceptional advisory board.
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Marissa is the founder of InformationExperts and SuccessfulCulture.
She is the author of “Built to Scale” which is a How to on Top Companies Creating exceptional Advisory Boards and the book “My Company Rocks!” about how to create a culture of high engagement.
Her company has won over 70 national and international awards and she was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2002.
What will you learn in this interview?
-What is her Bucket List of 30 items?
– How did she create an exceptional advisory board?
-How does she run 2 successful companies while raising children?
-How did she overcome and battle cancer?
(She was diagnosed with melanoma, with two additional scares (breast and cervical) which she eradicated immediately with early detection and aggressive treatment.)
FUN FACT:
She is obsessed and has a fascination with lizards
Listen to the first part of the interview for her Bucket List
Business Mentors, Tools, Books mentioned:
Bruce Peters | CEO at WCEOHQ Forums, LLC
Greg Rothwell | President at Evermay Consulting Group, Inc.
Herb Rubenstein | High Impact Consultant, Attorney, and Strategic Planner
Sheila Ronning | CEO & Founder of Women in the Boardroom
Steven Gaffney | President, Steven Gaffney Company
Derek Coburn
The Four Agreements
Built to Scale
My Company Rocks!
Background:
Marissa is a working mom of two boys. She has been diagnosed with cancer three times and survived it through early diagnosis and access to incredible health care.
As CEO, founder and Chairman of the Board of Information Experts, Marissa Levin leads the effort to define and shape the organization’s values, mission, vision, growth strategy, brand, and corporate culture. Information Experts started as a one-woman operation in Marissa’s spare bedroom in 1995.
In 1995, Marissa Levin founded her first company, Information Experts, which she grew to a multi million dollar global education and strategic communication firm. She started her firm with no outside funding but with only $35000.
Marissa’s awards include:
A 2009 and 2010 SmartCEO Smart 100 participant by SmartCEO Magazine, which recognizes the top 100 Chief Executive Officers in the region
A 2008 BRAVA Award winner, which honors the region’s 25 most influential women Chief Executive Officers
One of Washington’s Top 100 Technology Titans for 2009 by Washingtonian Magazine
A finalist for the 2002 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award
A finalist for the 2004 Women in Technology Entrepreneur Leadership Award
A finalist for the national Stevie Awards in three categories: Best Entrepreneur – Service Businesses, Employer of the Year, and Women Helping Women
One of greater Washington’s “Women Who Mean Business” by the Washington Business Journal, which honors the region’s “most influential and powerful” women executives
A nominee for the Women President’s Organization (WPEO) Outstanding Women’s Business Advocate Award
Under Marissa’s leadership, Information Experts was named as a small business success story for USAID. Information Experts has won more than 70 awards for creativity and leadership and was named as a 2010 SmartCEO GovStar winner. Information Experts was recently named to the Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest Growing Companies for 2009 and 2010.
Book Information:
She is the author of “My Company ROCKS!” Eight Secrets to a Growth-Driven Culture That Keeps Employees Happy & Engaged,” an e-book that provides specific strategies on how to build an culture that fosters employee loyalty, engagement, and excitement, and highlights the need for the CEO to always own the organizational culture.
She is also the author of “Built to SCALE: How Top Companies Create Breakthrough Growth Through Exceptional Advisory Boards”. The book leads businesses owners through her patent-pending SCALE™ Model to strategically select, compensate, associate, and leverage advisory boards for breakthrough growth.
The one strategy that has made the biggest impact on the growth of Marissa Levin’s multi-million-dollar, self-funded, global business is the implementation of an advisory board. After carefully researching the process she used to create a board that took her business to the next level, Levin created SCALE™, a patent-pending method that helps other business owners recruit, implement, and leverage their own business-altering advisory boards.
Please Leave a comment Below on one thing you found Most Inspiring or Helpful
**(I read and respond to all comments personally)**
Most inspiring – overcoming adversities and coming out on top with great passion, success, enthusiasm and smile. Most helpful was…hard to pinpoint here as there were lots of great information. But for me personally it was just an overall sense of “Wow” and taking an honest assessment of your now state compared to where you want to be and surrounding yourself with people that’ll hold you accountable. It’s hard sometimes to hold yourself accountable. I find sometimes that I’m off reading facebook or an e-book or podcast, or doing something non productive when I really should be picking up the phone and calling customers and prospects or focusing in on the strategic plan. I also think you asked some great questions. At one point near the end when you talked about your most proud moment I saw Marissa really light up. That was inspiring and I really felt her happiness. Part of giving a great interview is getting people to open up and be themselves and I felt that with this interview. Well done! I also recall a section where it looked like Marissa was wiping away an emotional tear. I really love it when people are comfortable showing emotions and reminds me that it’s ok to really feel those feelings of anxiety, happiness, being scared, etc.. I’m a big fan of Undercover Boss and the best episodes to me are when the bosses are comfortable showing emotions. It shows me that we’re all human and just humans doing different things. I sometimes forget that.
Wow, thanks for sharing your insights and takeaways Keith!
I agree with you…when people open up and show their emotions it is really powerful.
Thanks for sharing as I also find myself off on facebook or a podcast when I should be picking up the phone or writing and email.
I appreciate you listening and sharing!