Real businesses. Real problems. Real results.

Matt McKinlay was appointed Chapter 11 Plan Administrator of Parkinson Seed Farm, Inc., a potato grower in Eastern Idaho (see case # 18-40412-JMM US Bankruptcy Court, District of Idaho). Matt is responsible for administering the confirmed plan as entered by the Court. Matt facilitated the liquidation of several complex real estate parcels navigating complex water rights, insider tenants, deed issues, etc. Further, he sold equipment, administered claims, pursued avoidance actions, and is in the process of distributing proceeds to dozens of creditors across 9 claims classes. He solicited the cooperation of the owner and helped calm emotions to accommodate the purposes of the plan.

BACKGROUND

Orthopedic Financial Services Group (OFSG) is a financial services company that helps clients obtain necessary orthopedic healthcare by providing capital and access to its network of surgeons and surgery centers. OFSG was founded in 2012 by Aries Capital Partners and Dow Medical Group to take a niche business and provide the capital and expertise to grow and expand into new markets. Alan Macdonald was hired as the CEO, and the company has since opened offices in Las Vegas and Phoenix, with additional markets anticipated.

CHALLENGE

The significant growth OFSG was facing was adding pressure to the management team who needed better information about the processes and controls and an accurate and reliable cash flow forecast, as they knew they would shortly be facing decisions about finding additional capital.

SOLUTION

Ampleo was hired as a part-time CFO and immediately helped OFSG hire and train a new accounting manager to fill some known gaps. Ampleo assisted the business to improve its cash forecasting, profitability analysis, and financial reporting, while significantly reducing the month-end close cycle. Shortly after, OFSG expanded into another new market, increasing the demand for operating capital. Ampleo initially helped them secure their first operating capital from a bank in the form of a promissory note and later secured an additional note from its equity partners.

CONTINUED SUCCESS

Ampleo successfully assisted the original owners in selling the remainder of their business to an additional equity partner and helped the business hire a full-time Compliance Officer and CFO.

BACKGROUND

Founded in 1988 by Michael Sneddon and a partner, MultiLing defines and drives best practices for advanced multinational translations. The company’s unique model combines highly specialized translators, a centralized management process, terminology management, quality control, and proprietary technology to ensure accurate, highly specialized, and secure translation for global enterprises with high technical demands.

Many of the world’s largest companies and global enterprises such as Dell, IBM, GE Healthcare, and Procter & Gamble trust MultiLing to translate their most important documents. Through its global network of specialized translators, MultiLing provides its clients with comprehensive translation services in any language they request. The company has even translated extensive technical patent documents into Uzbekistani and Moldavian.

CHALLENGE

During its first 23 years of business, MultiLing had grown slowly and methodically. Michael, however, was ready to accelerate growth and expand operations, but without a scalable infrastructure in place, he did not feel confident in their ability to manage the growth. So, set out to engage a partner who could assist with upgrading the finance & accounting infrastructure, improve cash flow management and forecasting, prepare for and manage major financing round, and guide the company through planning for the customer, geographic, and revenue growth.

SOLUTION

Ampleo provided a part-time CFO who quickly evaluated the company’s accounting team, technology, processes and controls. He then made recommendations and helped implement processes for streamlining MultiLing’s transaction processing, resulting in timely and accurate financial information about their global operations and improving gross profit margins and cash flow management. During this process, Ampleo helped MultiLing increase its working capital line of credit. In addition, Ampleo helped MultiLing prepare for an equity investment by making an introduction to Frontier Capital in 2012 which resulted in a $10.3 million growth capital investment in August of 2013. Ampleo also assisted in the due diligence process and in negotiating the terms of the financing.

Following the successful equity investment, Mr. Sneddon said, “With [Ampleo] you get impeccable performance, all the time, every time. After [our consultant] worked his magic, every aspect of our financial processes was improved, if not automated. During due diligence, our equity partner said our books were some of the best they had ever seen!”

CONTINUED SUCCESS

MultiLing is growing and is poised to achieve double-digit annual growth while upgrading its product mix and proprietary translation technology.

Ampleo was the duly appointed receiver by Washington State Court to manage and oversee a series of occupational and physical therapy clinics in Seattle, WA (see case #18-2-26203-8 SEA in the Superior Court of the State of Washington for King County). The Receiver aggressively collected aged accounts receivables, worked with a business broker to sell the clinics as going concerns retained predominantly all staff members, and accommodated an auction for surplus equipment. The Receiver managed the day-to-day operations and implemented cultural changes to stabilize the staff to keep the clinics operating effectively. The result was a full recovery to secured creditors, preservation of jobs, and a more efficient operation.

Introduction

A mental health company specializing in the treatment of OCD and anxiety faced major challenges in recruitment and HR infrastructure. With clinical hires central to its business model and the founder deeply involved in hiring, the company needed more than just a staffing agency—it needed a partner.

Enter Ampleo HR. Through an embedded recruiting model, Savana Tejada, an experienced HR consultant, seamlessly integrated into the organization, building its talent acquisition foundation from the ground up.

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Challenge

Before Ampleo HR’s engagement, the company’s hiring pipeline was sparse and lacked strategic direction. Recruitment efforts were reactive, with no structured process in place. The company had never collaborated with a recruiter who could offer both strategic insight and execution support.

Key challenges included the following:

• Slim Talent Pipeline: Few applicants and limited visibility on major platforms
• No Standardized Processes: Lack of scorecards, structured interviews, and offer templates
• Decentralized Candidate Information: No system to track or organize applicant data
• Founder-Led Hiring: Needed a deeply tailored and high-touch recruitment approach due to the founder’s personal involvement

Given the founder’s dedication to maintaining quality and culture, traditional external recruiting lacked the depth needed to deliver the right candidate experience.

Solution

An Embedded, High-Touch Approach

Recognizing the need for a partner, not a staffing agency, the mental health company brought in Ampleo HR to serve as an embedded recruiter and HR manager. Savana Tejada became an extension of the company’s team—learning its culture, collaborating with leadership, and operationalizing HR from the inside out.

Building from the Ground Up

Savana overhauled and professionalized every aspect of the hiring process:

• Job Descriptions: Collaboratively developed descriptions using Ampleo HR templates and refined them through live editing sessions with hiring managers
• Compensation Benchmarking: Tailored benchmarking to the company’s out-of-pocket billing model using tools like OpenComp, Glassdoor, and Salary.com
• Sourcing Strategies: Leveraged LinkedIn, Indeed, and niche state licensure databases for highly targeted outreach
• Interview Process: Joined every interview early on, modeling expectations and gradually empowering the internal team to take over
• Offer Management: Created role-specific offer templates, structured compensation bands, and implemented preapproval processes
• Onboarding and Compliance: Focused on New York employment law compliance, prestart checklists, and a transition to electronic systems for onboarding and timekeeping

Integration into the Team

Operating in a largely in-person environment, Savana quickly built trust with the CEO and worked closely with clinical and administrative staff. Her communication style and proactive involvement led to Ampleo HR being seen as more than a consultant—it became a core partner in business operations.

Results

The embedded partnership between Ampleo HR and the mental health company produced tangible, lasting results:

• Boosted Pipeline: Increased applications from 17 to 54 in a recent hiring cycle
• Efficient Hiring: Reduced time-to-fill to just 25 days from job posting to accepted offer
• Process Standardization: Introduced hiring scorecards, a recruitment dashboard, structured interviews, compensation guides, and offer templates
• Improved Maturity: Created a centralized people folder, digitized onboarding, launched auditing tools, and implemented compliance training
• Long-Term Value: Delivered a hiring guide, documentation templates, and coaching for managers—assets that will continue to elevate HR operations

Conclusion

This engagement showcases Ampleo HR’s strength in embedded recruiting, especially within specialized industries like healthcare. By assigning a dedicated, knowledgeable consultant, Ampleo provided strategic HR support that was customized, culturally aligned, and operationally integrated. The result was not just better hiring—it was a more mature, compliant, and scalable HR function.

BACKGROUND

In true garage start-up fashion, Makia Creations (Makia) was created and developed by two entrepreneurial-minded mothers, Alison Prince and Missy Smith. Makia was established to help women everywhere dive into the world of creativity and self-expression through innovative crafting. Makia operates the successful daily deal site www.pickyourplum.com and has been experiencing triple-digit growth over the last few years.

CHALLENGE

Makia’s accounting staff consisted of an outsourced bookkeeper that downloaded bank statements at the end of the month, reconciled them, and provided a cash-basis financial statement. The CEO needed a part-time, outsourced accounting support that could produce GAAP financial statements, provide real-time interim financial information, set up budgets, and help with strategic financial decisions.

SOLUTION

Ampleo put into place a hosted accounting system, technologies to make the office paperless, and a team consisting of an outsourced bookkeeper, controller, and CFO. Within short order, they began producing financial reports and analyses the CEO could use to make key strategic decisions about running the business.

CONTINUED SUCCESS

Ampleo continues to successfully assist the original owners in managing their growth, improving efficiencies, and maintaining full visibility of the operations and financial health of the company.

Background

In 2013, Mary Moody was a new mom navigating life with a sweet baby and seeking a new routine and purpose. Drawn to the idea of creating jewelry to represent pivotal moments in life, she created Made by Mary, a handcrafted jewelry company. As the business grew, her husband, Taylor Moody, joined the team full time as chief operating officer (COO), helping to scale the company.

Challenge

In 2018, Made by Mary experienced a period of hypergrowth. While it was exciting, Mary and Taylor found themselves overwhelmed by the growing pains that came with rapid growth. Issues like hiring and keeping high-quality employees, managing funds, and making strategic investments in the business were daunting tasks for the leadership team.

“There were things that we didn’t know such as how do we manage our funds and what investments do we make in the business?” Taylor says. “We needed support and advice to help us grow as a company.”

To overcome these challenges, they reached out to Ampleo for finance, marketing, and human resources support to help guide and navigate them through this next phase of growth.

Engaging with Ampleo

When Ampleo’s fractional CMO and HR executives joined Made by Mary, they became more than just advisors: They became an integrated part of the executive team, collaborating closely to address key business gaps, make informed decisions, and execute on strategy.

“Even though we are a fractional resource, we fully integrated into the team,” says Joe Grover, fractional CMO at Ampleo. “We had Made by Mary email addresses, we attended leadership meetings weekly, we led teams, and had direct reports.”

Ampleo CMO

Ampleo’s fractional CMO brought strategic focus and operational clarity to Made by Mary’s marketing efforts. By establishing clear goals and KPIs, the CMO provided a roadmap that unified the brand and growth functions with stronger collaboration, accountability, and alignment.

Operationally, the CMO led the relaunch of the Shopify store back end, significantly improving site speed and enhancing the customer experience. They also worked closely with the leadership team to refine and roll out new company values, fostering a culture of alignment and shared purpose.

The CMO also collaborated with the CFO to create more robust reporting and models to increase transparency and keep stakeholders informed. With more visibility, they were able to optimize paid media strategies, prioritize profit metrics over ad efficiency, and improve agency management. Additionally, the introduction of customer satisfaction flows provided actionable insights into client happiness.

These comprehensive efforts equipped Made by Mary with the tools and strategies to scale effectively, ensuring that marketing became a driving force for sustainable growth and customer connection.

Ampleo CHRO

Before bringing in Ampleo CHRO, Made by Mary lacked a people strategy, which made hiring and retaining high-quality talent a struggle. Ampleo’s CHRO was able to develop an employee engagement survey and gather feedback to better understand the company’s strengths and gaps. This survey helped create a people strategy informed by the needs and insights of the employees.

Based on the feedback, Ampleo helped Made by Mary develop a clear roadmap of people programs, outlining expectations for both employees and the company. They also conducted a robust organizational design process, ensuring that the company had the right structure to support its goals. The process resulted in a more future-proof organizational structure, improved role clarity, and increased leadership expertise through the creation of new leadership positions.

Once roles were defined and expectations set, Ampleo revamped Made by Mary’s existing performance management process to be more action-oriented and trained managers in how to provide productive feedback. This led to improved managerial capabilities, better performance data, and streamlined processes through implementing an HR platform.

As the company continued to grow, Ampleo’s HR team also streamlined the recruiting process, helping Made by Mary hire high-quality talent to meet their needs.

Results

“I couldn’t believe how much frustration and stress I was living with as an owner before Ampleo’s marketing and HR help,” said Mary, “Ampleo came in, saw the gaps, addressed them, and created a timeline for execution and decisiveness. The confidence all came when they came in to help shoulder these existing problems.”

With Ampleo’s help, Mary and Taylor are now focusing on what they do best—creating meaningful jewelry that celebrates life’s most important moments—while knowing that their HR and marketing are in capable hands. “There are many moments when operating a business that will shake you to the core and you need someone sitting next to you and that is what Ampleo has done for us,” Taylor says.

Ampleo was retained by a large potato grower on the advice of the secured lender to help restructure the company’s balance sheet, refinance debt and sell non-performing assets. Ampleo helped the owner analyze the profitability of certain varieties of potatoes and crops, optimize the crop accordingly, sell non-performing assets and restructure trade payables. Ultimately, Ampleo helped the company refinance its debt with a replacement lender on more favorable terms that freed up cash flow and enabled the company’s long-term survival.

Ampleo was hired by a large mushroom grower in Washington State in 2020 on the advice of its secured lender to help affect a turnaround plan. The company had recently relocated to a new state-of-the-art facility and was having significant operating challenges. Ampleo implemented several operating improvements, drafted a long-term recovery plan, and presented the plan to the company’s senior secured lender. The company, with Ampleo acting as interim CEO, is currently executing the plan with the lender’s continued support.