March 12, 2025 – Create the Future Rick Williams and 80/20 CEO Bill Canady

Rick Williams – Founder and Managing Director of Williams Advisory Partners and Author of Create the Future: Powerful Decision-Making Tools for Your Company and Yourself

Rick Williams serves on the board of directors of technology companies usually in the B to B space. He has been board chair for a medical device company—Point Care Technology—with worldwide sales and served as COO and board member of a med therapy company with operations in the US and India. He is on the board of an exciting med tech company—Amorphex Therapeutics—with a drug delivery technology that will replace eye drops for the long-term treatment of glaucoma and other eye diseases. He was also on the board of an early-stage fin-tech company—FairWay Financial US—that promises to dramatically improve the market efficiency of the sale of first issue municipal bonds and other securities. Previously he was board chair of what is now named the Growth Capital Corporation—a Massachusetts-based quasi-public bank and VC firm. Rick was a founding Partner of the Newport, LLC, board advisory practice in New England. For ten years, he was a management consultant with the global consulting firm Arthur D. Little, Inc. based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At ADL, Rick lead client assignments on business strategy and acquisitions and directed large cases on the economic and strategic impact of government policy and regulations on process industries such as chemicals and oil and gas and on innovation broadly. After ADL, Rick founded and was President of The Equity Company, an award-winning multifamily real estate investment and development company. He was elected President of the Harvard Business School Association of Boston. Rick started his career with Itek Corp. developing space and defense related photo & electro/optical systems and published peer-reviewed research on optical system performance. He is a physics graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.





Bill Canady – 2x Billion in Sales CEO and Author of From Panic to Profit: Uncover Value, Boost Revenue, and Grow Your Business with the 80/20 Principle

Bill Canady has over 30 years of experience as a global business executive in a variety of industries and markets focused on industrial and consumer products and services. As a leader, he concentrates on aligning with key stakeholders to set a clear and compelling vision that will rally an organization to drive growth, control cost, and increase profitability. One of the keys to his success is he develops strong leaders and management teams and establishes deep relationships. His experience encompasses global public, private, and sponsor owned companies. Bill is the CEO of both OTC Industrial Technologies and Arrowhead Engineered Products (AEP). OTC is an industrial distribution company located in Columbus, OH, that has $1 billion in sales with 1,900+ employees and over 60 sales/distribution offices in 40 states. During his tenure, OTC has grown revenues by more than 43% and earnings over 78%. AEP is a leading supplier of non-discretionary, mission- critical, aftermarket replacement parts for a wide variety of motorized vehicles and equipment headquartered in Blaine, MN, and has $1.5 billion in sales with 3600+ employees and sell in over 50 countries. During his career, Bill has been responsible for leading several organizations through their most important challenges and opportunities, often in complicated regulatory, investor, and media environments. He discovered a passion and knack for the art and science of business. Taking the tools and techniques that he developed growing multibillion dollar companies, he created the Profitable Growth Operating System (PGOS) and set out to help owners and operators around the world profitably grow their companies. PGOS is a time-tested set of simple tools and process that fosters a common culture creating value for all stakeholders: customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders. PGOS shows how to increase the productivity of assets, increase profits, and make better decisions at every level of a business. Bill graduated summa cum laude from Elmhurst University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and received his MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. He is a veteran of the United States Navy.