Jim McHugh is the Founder & CEO of McHugh & Co., a strategy and performance improvement consulting firm. Jim specializes in ‘fixing Stuck companies’. He created the 9Stucks® business diagnostic tool that identifies nine distinct yet interrelated business challenges that cause a company to underperform. His practical approach to working with the leadership of these Stuck companies has produced substantial improvements in strategic focus and alignment, operating performance, organizational clarity, profitability, cash flow, and shareholder value. Jim has worked extensively with Boards, investors, owners, CEOs and senior leadership teams of management-owned, family-owned, or private equity backed businesses in diverse industries: manufacturing, distribution, technology, business/professional services, and retail.  In addition to his work as a CEO advisor and consultant, Jim has broad, senior, general management experience in middle market and emerging growth companies as an operating executive (CEO and CFO) and a member of multiple Boards of Directors. His operating roles include Chairman and CEO of Chi-Vit Corporation and President of Strategies, Inc., an information technology consulting firm. He co-founded (2005) and leads the Maine Board Forum CEO Peer Group. Jim’s current board positions include Southworth International Group, Inc. and Kennebec Technologies, Inc. In the past Jim has served on the boards of Beckwood Services, Inc., Climax Manufacturing Company, The RETEC Group, Inc., Shield Pack, Inc., Chi-Vit, Inc., Questech Metals, Inc., and the Advisory Boards of Seaman Paper Co., Inc.  and Animation Technologies, Inc. He is a former Director of the Boston Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth and Founder of The Concord Vine, a monthly breakfast group of operating executives, private investors, corporate development professionals, and attorneys. He writes regularly on his blog at www.9Stucks.com and for numerous business publications. Jim’s passions outside of work include family life (married 40 years with two daughters), running, reading, writing and boating. He graduated with an AB in Economics from Bowdoin College and an MBA from The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. He earned his CPA while employed with Arthur Andersen & Co.