Steve Maltzman
Partner / Founder

Steve Maltzman has more than twenty years experience working within the building industry both as a controller and chief financial officer for various building and remodeling firms Steve's prior expenience also includes over three years as product manager for a leading developer of software for the construction industry, and five years as an auditor and consultant for a major CPA firm.

With his expertise in the areas of financial and business management for builders, Steve has been a featured speaker at various homebuilding conferences as well as being a regular speaker at the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) construction industry conference. Steve is the author of several Cost of Doing Business Studies for the NAHB and is a featured columnist for Custom Home magazine. Steve served as the accountant for NAHB's 20 clubs for over 8 years.

Steve holds an MBA degree in accounting from Rutgers University and a BA from Dickinson College and is currently serving on NAHB's Education Committee.

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Bob Whitten
Partner

With 25+ years of management experience, Bob is a well-known advisor and noted authority in the areas of business and strategic planning, accounting and financial management, management reporting, software selection, organizational development, incentive compensation system development, cost control system Implementation, and production management.

Previously, Bob served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of Land Solutions, a Florida based land development firm; EVP for Cooper Homes, the home building division of Cooper Communities; and Chief Operations and Financial Officer of Wayne Homes of Ohio for the ten years prior to their sale to Centex. While at Wayne Homes of Ohio, Bob helped triple Wayne’s annual volume while raising profit levels to 34% gross and near 20% net. Building on scattered sites and on the land of their customers exclusively, Wayne was the first non-land owning builder to be bought by a public home building company.

Bob also served as Director of Business Management for the National Association of Homebuilders. He is author of the best selling NAHB book "Building Partnerships: How to Work with Trade Contractors". His is also a frequent speaker to industry groups having conducted over 500 workshops and seminars. He has lectured on business management for homebuilders at the NAHB IBS each year since 1989. He is consistently one of NAHB’s highest rated speakers.

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Mike Benshoof
Partner

Mike has more than 20 years of experience in the home building industry. He started learning the industry from the ground up in his family’s business. He then spent six years at NVR in production and sales management, before becoming the Director of Business Analysis for the Economics Group at National Association of Home Builders.

Today Mike serves the industry as President of Builders’ Training Group, which is the nation’s leading provider of continuing education for new homebuilders, and as Vice President of SMA Consulting, which provides management consulting and financial analysis for hundreds of builders every year.

A graduate of Penn State University, Mike also earned an MBA form Marymount University and is a frequent speaker at homebuilding conferences.

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Russel Neumann
Partner

With 20 years of experience in the home building industry and a degree in Construction Management from Ohio State University, Russel has gained valuable experience in the production and custom home building environments.

This experience includes 5+ years at Wayne Homes of Ohio prior to their sale to Centex in Estimating, Purchasing, and New Product Development. Russel gained additional experience with Cooper Communities, a developer of large scale retirement communities, where he was the Director of Production Support. He was Operations Manager and Partner for Vista South Custom Homes, running sales and construction operations day-to-day. Before joining SMA, he served as Vice President of Purchasing and Estimating for Mercedes Homes Melbourne division in Central Florida producing over 1,000 units per year.

Russel’s areas of expertise include construction management, estimating, drafting, and applying technology to the pre-construction and post-construction processes to improve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

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Patrick Miller
Partner

Growing up in Monaca, Pennsylvania, Patrick says he always had a bit of homebuilding love in him. He has been drawing houses since he was a kid. In 3rd grade he was sketching houses, and by 10th grade he was designing them for a living from vocational school. Patrick further put this passion to use at his internship and later part time job, drafting public schools for Foreman & Bashford. He graduated from Kent State with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Interior Space Planning with a focus on Architectural History.

He settled there in Ohio, which is where he began working with Wayne Homes. During the nearly three years he was there, he created a new modular product line and quickly learned the importance of value engineering. After Wayne’s sale to Centex, he relocated to Alabama and began working for Breland Homes. He hit the ground running, quickly turning six different, unnecessary product lines into three. He value engineered and did the artwork for all communities in a company that did 130 houses a year. Patrick saw Gross Profit increase from 12% to 23% while there and began to also work on marketing and advertising.

Around this same time, he began working with Madison Homes and introduced a new product there: scattered site start ups. When the company merged with Hunter Homes in 2002, he continued his work. He kept his designs simple and always believed in giving customers a big house for a low price. He found that as crazy as it sounds, the more he said no to custom options the more the customer satisfaction increased. Patrick also became one of the sole pushers of a new Corporate Relations Buyers Club.

He began consulting with SMA unofficially in 2004, helping several of our clients with their designs and we’re happy to finally have him with us full time. Modestly, Patrick says, “I’m not terribly creative, just pragmatic.”

Patrick is looking forward to working with SMA Consulting and its clients. He loves starting something from scratch and doing a home right the first time. It isn’t uncommon for Patrick to sit down with skeptical builders about their home plans and receiving a call months later stating, “Thank you, you were right.”

When Patrick isn’t on the clock, he can be found with his family or cruising in his second passion: British sports cars. He and his wife have two sons, Nathaniel and Stephen.

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Carol Smith
Customer Service Consultant

Carol has 30+ years of experience with customers, and it is immediately apparent in her realistic and practical approach to customer relations. She has performed over 700 buyer orientations, held the posts of superintendent, custom home sales manager, and vice president of customer relations. Carol has presented hundreds of educational programs to builders and associates in the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. She has been a featured speaker at the annual International Builders Show for over 20 years. Carol is an award winning columnist for Custom Home Magazine and has written dozens of articles for such publications as Builders Management Journal, Premier Homes, Building Homes and Profits, BUILDER, and Professional Builder magazines. Carol also has several books published the NAHB's Builder Books.

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Tara-Nicholle Nelson
Founder and Chief Visionary of REThinkRealEstate.com

REThinkRealEstate.com offers solutions, inspiration and tips for businesswomen seeking to improve their lives through property ownership and to turn their visions of realty into reality.  She has coached hundreds of women to real estate success by melding her psychology insights, legal and negotiating savvy, and real estate expertise.

By training, Tara is a Real Estate Broker, Attorney and Accredited Buyer’s Representative.

Nelson earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in psychology from the California State University before attending University of California, Berkeley School of Law.  She then spent a decade honing her negotiating instincts and problem-solving skills during a multifaceted career focused on psychology and law.  Inspired in part by her own struggles during homebuying – as the 25 year old single mom of two boys - and her observations of real estate deals gone wrong, Nelson quit her law practice and began selling residential real estate in the East Bay area of California.

Tara is also the host and expert of the “Savvy Woman Homebuyer” exclusive video series on FrontDoor.com, the real estate listing service and website powered by HGTV. 

Tara is the author of The Savvy Woman’s Homebuying Handbook: 150 Insider Secrets, Decision-Making Tools, and Online Resources and The ONE Action Plan You Need  and Trillion Dollar Women: Use Your Power to Make Buying and Remodeling Decisions.

She is still a noted, practicing Realtor®, along with being an attorney, speaker and author.

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Joe Stoddard

A former homebuilder and general contractor, Joe Stoddard has been pursuing technology for the building industry for 25 years, from DOS 1.0 in 1981 to “Web 2.0” in 2008 and beyond.  Joe is widely regarded as the “go-to guy” when it comes to evaluating and deploying technology in the building industry.
His “top-down” philosophy focuses entirely on where technology can add value to a builder’s operation, their buyers, and their product line…and his “crawl-walk-run” implementation approach makes it possible for builders to have immediate success, enjoy a return on their investment right away – while still “building bridges” between the high-tech and low-tech pieces of their operation. 

As a contributing editor in the pages of the Hanley-Wood family of trade publications, Joe is read in print by tens of thousands of builders, remodelers, designers, and general contractors monthly, and as an industry analyst and consultant he has personally helped hundreds of clients get more from their technology dollars and dramatically improve their operations and profitability as a result. 

Joe serves as the Director of Builder Operations for Dynami Solutions, LLC (http://www.dynamisolutions.com) a provider of innovative web-based operations management software and services for production homebuilders. He is an active participant in NAHB’s Business Management and Information Technology initiatives, a professional member of the American Institute of Building Design (www.aibd.org) ,he moderates the popular “Computer Solutions” online forum at the Journal of Light Construction Online (http://www.jlconline.com) , and is a founding partner and principal of Mountain Consulting Group, LLC a consulting firm that assists builders and remodelers of all sizes achieve operational excellence.

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Mr. Bellamy

Mr. Bellamy has spent his entire life closely associated with residential construction. Growing up in a homebuilding family, summers were spent in the field as a laborer, carpenter and eventually a superintendent. After graduating from the University of Florida, Mr. Bellamy spent several years in field management positions with two builders in the Washington, D.C. area. He successfully managed multiple projects, with product types ranging from entry-level and high-end SFD to townhomes and condominiums.

In 1991 Mr. Bellamy was recruited by Masco and went to work as a sales representative for one of their divisions. The next seven years of his career were spent in various sales management roles with Masco Corporation and Fortune Brands. In these roles, Mr. Bellamy managed large groups of sales people in the building products industry. Specifically, his teams were tasked with marketing, selling and servicing homebuilder accounts around the country through several distribution channels. Under Mr. Bellamy's leadership, these teams consistently exceeded company goals and customer expectations.

After spending one year as the western region sales manager at BuildNet (provider of IT and e-business solutions for the homebuilding industry), Mr. Bellamy founded The Daniels Group, Inc. The Daniels Group is an executive search firm that serves homebuilders and manufacturers of building products.

Mr. Bellamy earned a Masters degree in Organizational Performance and Change from Colorado State University in 2007. He is active in the Denver community and serves on the boards of several non-profit groups. Mr. Bellamy resides in Denver with his wife of 17 years and their two children.

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Dennis DuRoff

For more than twenty years, Dennis DuRoff has been teaching, speaking, training and coaching business owners and professionals to lead more satisfying lives and develop more productive and successful businesses.

In 1997 Dennis founded Universal Business Design, an educational corporation with offices in Seattle, Washington.

Dennis received his business coach training under the tutelage of Michael Gerber and the E-Myth Academy. During his tenure, Dennis achieved the designation of Senior E-Myth Consultant.

Dennis' consulting practice is national in scope, serving clients from Hawaii to New England. Mr. DuRoff coaches business owners across a wide segment of industry groups. He supports clients in thinking and acting systemically to enhance efficiencies, increase revenues, and reconnect principals to their vision and passion.

Dennis is a frequent speaker at national and statewide conferences, conventions, and symposiums. He brings his message of possibility and hope to conventions, associations, industry groups, and corporations across the Country.

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John Geoffroy, President

John is the president and founder of Construction Data Control, Inc.(CDCI), based in Atlanta, GA.  John began CDCI in 1979 after a career in the construction industry  CDCI provides the most comprehensive construction management software available today. CDCI's integrated packages provide estimating, scheduling, accounting, and cost control in a manner developed expressly for construction firms.

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MEL H. ABRAHAM
CPA, CVA, ABV, ASA

Mel is a Certified Public Accountant with two decades of experience as a financial expert, valuation expert and business and success strategist. Mel is a Master Results Coach and Master Practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Strategies. Mel is regularly sought after for valuation engagements around the country such as family limited partnerships, co-tenant interest valuations, operating businesses as well as various entities. These projects have ranged from small family owned businesses to large $1.7 billion companies.

He has also represented the Internal Revenue Service as their valuation expert in numerous cases and was jointly retained by taxpayer and Internal Revenue Service under the authorization of the U.S. Tax Court to provide a valuation of numerous entities that was be binding on all parties.

Mel is a member of the esteemed National Speakers Association and the recipient of the Certified Speaking Professional designation (less than 10% the speakers who belong to the International Federation for Professional Speakers hold this professional designation and only two other CPAs hold the designation). A recognized forensic expert witness in business financial issues, he is also a nationally recognized and award-winning speaker addressing professional conferences on a local, state & national level. He provides strategies in risk management, threat management and self protection to clients across the country.

Mel is one of the primary instructors of the NACVA's National Training Team as well as an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Diego Law School. Mel has been a guest lecturer for Tax Court Judge the Honorable David Laro, at his LLM program at the University of San Diego Law School on valuation issues. Mel has being a featured presenter at numerous State Tax Institutes around the country, Internal Revenue Service Continuing Education Conferences and at the NACVA National Annual Valuation Conferences as well as at the AICPA Annual Business Valuation Conference in 2001 through 2005. Further, Mel is the recipient of NACVA's 1998 Circle of Light Award (NACVA’s highest instructor distinction), Instructor of Exceptional Distinction (ten consecutive years – 1997 through 2006), 1997 Instructor of the Year Award as well as the 1996 Outstanding Member Award. Mel was awarded the Volunteer of the Year Award in 2005 by the AICPA and was voted one of the Top 25 CPAs by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.  Mel was the Chairman of the 2003 and 2005 AICPA Valuation Conference.

He has received numerous speaking awards and authored numerous articles. His authoritative book, Valuation Issues and Case Law Update—A Reference Guide, has been released in a 5th edition. Recently, he was co-author of the business valuation industry’s best selling book, Financial Valuation: Applications and Models, released by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and two additional books A Healthier You, (with Deepak Chopra and Billy Blanks) and Masters on Success, (with Ken Blanchard, Jack Canfield and John Christensen) released in 2005. He is also the creator of various multi-media digital educational programs including the industry’s best-selling course - Family Limited Partnerships – Self Study Course

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