Signature Analytics Welcomes New Market Leaders to the Team!
At Signature Analytics, we’re excited to offer a warm welcome to Bill Ness and Zak Higson, who recently joined the team in two essential leadership roles. These executives bring several years of business expertise and experience to our one-of-a-kind group, and we wanted to take the opportunity to better introduce them to the local markets that they will be supporting along with our extended services team.
While welcoming these two to our team, we also want to highlight a recent and well-deserved promotion for our existing team member, Tony Sands, who’s been an integral part of the company’s success over the last several years.
“As Signature Analytics looks toward our next phase of growth, we were searching for leaders and team members that reflected our core values as a customer-centric company. With these new leaders, we not only found decades of business expertise at some of the region’s most respected companies but also a deep commitment to Signature Analytics’ mission to help business owners improve performance and achieve their goals.”
– Pete Heald, CEO
Please read below to find more about these recent additions and promotions and what they mean for the future ahead.
Meet Bill Ness, EVP & San Diego Market Leader
Bill recently joined the Signature Analytics team as our Executive Vice President & San Diego Market Leader. In this role, he’ll be leading our accounting, financial, and business advisory services team with his comprehensive operations expertise.
His experience is both extensive and impressive in the San Diego market and has served startups to Fortune 500 companies. He has a deep understanding of building service models, strategic operational planning, mentoring and developing team members, while also contributing to company expansion and growth, and is excited to put this knowledge towards helping business owners and company leaders improve and grow their businesses. He aims to foster a culture of team excellence and exceptional customer care and maximizing team resources to reach important business goals.
Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right,”
– Henry Ford
Bill is originally from the East coast (Maryland) but has also done time in NC, AZ, and UT. A fan of crab cakes, Bill still connects to Maryland by shipping crab cakes to CA each month. Outside of work often you’ll find Bill at the gym, on a run, trying to find fun on the golf course, or helping watch his new grandson Cole.
Meet Zak Higson, EVP & New Market Leader
This past month, Zak also recently joined the team as our new Executive Vice President and New Market Leader. He has over two decades of finance, operations, and business consulting experience and was also a Co-Founder of several successful restaurants throughout San Diego County over the last decade.
Like many of our clients, he’s been a serial entrepreneur with a strong work ethic and has a great deal of experience in the food and beverage, hospitality, distribution, and manufacturing industries. His strong people skills, financial acumen, and deep understanding of our customer needs and challenges let us know that our clients will be in very good hands. As we look to further expand our reach in 2022, Zak will play an integral role in guiding the organization into new markets.
Zak and Bill will work alongside existing company leadership to take Signature Analytics to new heights. Their knowledge of our current marketplace and our customers is plentiful, and their presence is valued here.
It’s always ok to not know, but it’s never ok to not care.
– Zak Higson, Executive Vice President & New Market Leader
Zak is an avid hockey fan and a true-blooded Canadian at heart. He spends a lot of time with his three kids; Clark (11), Merara (3), and Rowena (1). Zak is involved in numerous food banks, has a passion for improving the food system, and even has a small hobby farm of his own.
Tony Sands, SVP – Business Development & Regional Sales Manager
Tony recently accepted the promotion to Regional Sales Manager for the Signature Analytics team. In this role, he’ll be leading our business development efforts within the Southern California markets of San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles. Throughout his 6+ years at Signature Analytics, Tony has continued to drive tremendous client success through listening to the needs of the clients and developing a custom solution to meet and exceed their goals.
His experience stretches throughout San Diego & Orange County markets since 2001. Always focused on middle-market businesses, starting with credit training at a regional commercial bank to portfolio management with a start-up bank and business development with a high-growth bank.
Tony’s passion for building relationships in the marketplace among partners and clients has been key to his success. He’ll continue to support current business development efforts to drive new business and company revenue growth. In his new role, his vast client expertise and consultative approach will be essential in developing, mentoring, and training our growing team. Tony is excited about the new challenge and has set ambitious goals for team success while fostering a culture of continuous growth.
“Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity”
-Seneca
Tony is an alumnus of SDSU and has family throughout the Southern California area. He takes pride in using his finance degree daily. In his personal life, he enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife, Ashley, and daughter, Irelynn. He is committed to CrossFit, football fields, home improvement projects, winter sports, most importantly – he likes to be challenged!
Start the ConversationLooking Ahead to the Future
At Signature Analytics, we know that every business leader we work with is faced with critical choices that impact their companies’ future, and they need good visibility to make the right decisions. Looking ahead, we’re still focused on delivering accurate, relevant, and timely financial information each month, enabling business leaders to make better decisions about their company’s future.
Having Zak and Bill join the company’s leadership team along with Tony’s new executive role is both exciting and pivotal for the next phase of Signature Analytics, which includes growing our team, improving our product and service offerings, and looking to expand into new markets.
Our vision is to help business owners and leaders improve performance to achieve their goals. This statement is essential to the values we embody as a consulting-based organization and why our culture focuses on driving continuous improvement, results, and growth for companies. We do this by providing a team of expert accountants and financial advisors who take your business beyond the numbers with actionable insights and recommendations that focus on forward-looking activities, direction, and strategy.
