Impact's leadership has remained basically unchanged for the 27 years of Impact's existence. The company officers possess complimentary individual talents and educational backgrounds that are instrumental to Impact's success. All of this works to Impact's advantage in an industry where recognizing client needs, good marketing strategies, and domain knowledge are as important as the technological and programming know-how.
Founder, Chairman, and Chief Technology Officer
In 1981, Howard embarked on an untapped arena of technological innovation. A natural entrepreneur with a passion for knowledge, he created Impact Technologies Group, Inc. during the infancy of the technological boom. An endeavor begun twenty-four years ago, Howard is still pushing the limits of his field, now creating advanced financial needs applications fueled by complex calculations. With almost a quarter of a century worth of experience, knowledge and growth in technology, Howard has earned respect and recognition for himself and Impact from publications, peers and clients. Taking his passion and enthusiasm for expanding the boundaries of what technology can do and where it can be taken, he has built a company and products that are trusted and relied upon by the top financial and insurance institutes in the world. For over 23 years, Howard's drive to excel and aggressiveness towards a challenge has warranted him and his company as the pioneers of his industry. Throughout this time, Howard has maintained his helm at the heart and soul of Impact's Research and Development and promotes a work ethic of dedication, experimentation and improvement.
President, Treasurer and member of the Board of Directors
Kevin's charismatic personality and dedication to detail is and has been a tremendous benefit to Impact and its clients. Kevin, a valuable member of the Impact family for twenty four years, is well respected for his relationship strengthening skills both, within and outside the company. Kevin began as Impact's Office Manager and aided in building an organizational structure that has maintained Impact's efficiency for nearly a quarter century. It is Kevin's ability to create and maintain strong, lasting client relationships that have proven most beneficial. Early in his career at Impact, Kevin worked in sales; creating and nurturing client relationships that remain strong today. He helped to create value in the marketplace by qualifying and initiating alliance partnerships that inspire better overall solutions, in particular, Impact's partnership with Microsoft. Kevin continues to focus on enriching company relations, including clients and strategic partners. Kevin holds a bachelor's degree in business with a minor in Economics and a Masters of Business Administration from Pfeiffer University. Kevin is also a featured speaker and author of numerous articles for various industry organizations.
Vice President Product Development, Secretary and member of Board of Directors
Impact's ability to successfully develop products that are comprehensive and beneficial to the insurance and financial industries is greatly attributed to Maxey's extensive knowledge and expertise in these fields. Well known and respected, Maxey is an insurance specialist with over 39 years of experience in insurance and financial planning. His experience and firm understanding of financial planning has aided in his mastery of translating the most complex financial concepts in a manner anyone can understand. Maxey's ability to design and converse in the consumer's, advisor's, and management's perspective is an invaluable resource. This can be seen by his success in coordinating the design of Impact's Wealth Planning Suite, Retirement Suite, Business Suite and Financial Suite of products. Maxey is also a frequent speaker at industry meetings such as conducting a workshop at an AALU Annual Meeting. Maxey's experience encompasses many facets of the financial world. His expertise in field sales includes positions as a registered representative, an agent, a branch manager, and a managing general agent. His home office management experiences include assistant vice president, manager of advanced sales, and manager of pension sales. Maxey's career boasts such notable companies as Integon Life, Pilot Life, Comprehensive Financial Services, Southmark Financial Services, and Investor's Diversified Services. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a double major in Mathematics and Economics from 1963 to 1967. He became a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) in 1975, Fellow Life Management Institute (FLMI) in 1977, and a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) in 1989.
Director, Financial Engineering
Gretchen is Impact's first employee. Hired during the startup of the company in 1982, she has been the backbone of numerous programming and management assignments since Impact's infancy. Gretchen has spent over twenty-five years with Impact, mastering her skills as a developer and product designer. In conjunction with her expertise in programming, Gretchen commands a broad and in depth understanding of financial planning; holding both ChFC and CLU certificates. Her ability to apply her knowledge of both spheres, while developing products for Impact has made her an invaluable asset to her colleagues and company. It is Gretchen's unique partnership of knowledge that has greatly influenced the success of Impact's intuitive and user-friendly products. Her accomplishments include Chief Software Architect for the entire Wealth Planning Suite product line, as well as authoring Impact's Estate Tax Analysis calculation engine for both DOS and Windows®. She was Team Leader of the Maxcess® Illustration System Development, Impact Needs, Classic Concepts and SalesLor sales tools. More recently, her hard work and dedication has been instrumental in the development of Impact's premier platform: PlanLab®. Prior to working for Impact, Gretchen worked as Research Assistant to the Vice President of Finance and Institutional Research at Francis Marion University in South Carolina. She earned a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Winthrop University, became a Chartered Life Underwriter in 1991, and a Chartered Financial Consultant in 1992.
Chief Operations Officer
Heather has dedicated fourteen years to gaining knowledge in every facet of Impact's organization. Combined with her passion for improvement and commitment to perfection, she has earned her position as a leader and a mentor. Her extensive backgrounds in sales, marketing and project management, as well as her exceptional skills as a communicator make her an invaluable liaison between engineers, business and clients. Heather began her career in Direct Sales, working her way to the position of Impact's Chief Operating Officer. Within her fourteen years of service, she has also worked as Manager of Direct Sales and Technical Support, Corporate Sales Consultant, President of Maxcess Policy Illustration Division, Marketing Director and Enterprise Project Manager. Matching her dedication to the success of Impact is her dedication to self improvement and education. In 2000, Heather attained certification as a Microsoft Certified Professional and in 2003 became Microsoft CRM certified. Heather received her Certificate for Managing Technical Professionals & Organizations from MIT, Sloan School of Business in 2004 and a Six Sigma Green Belt in early 2005. Heather is currently underway automating processes within Impact to support and promote synergistic corporate growth.