Chuck Adams: “We love Switzerland and its creed of freedom”

The managing director of the Coeptis Group, based in the U.S. state of Idaho, talks about himself at an angle and how to grow the business

American entrepreneur Chuck Adams has a mission: to bridge the worlds of technology and business. With a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and a similar certification in business administration, his profile is that of a man of science capable of successfully entering the world of entrepreneurship: he is in fact managing director of Coeptis Consulting Group in the USA.
His management consulting company, born after prestigious experiences in well-known companies such as GE Aviation and Liercke Construction as co-founder and finance manager, aims to provide the best scientific projects, from aerospace to large industries, the keys to optimize their resources and increase their business.
In this interview, the volcanic Yankee businessman explains in detail the peculiarities of his company, which has international and prestigious clients.

Elisa Fanton: “By sanitizing the air, almost no contagion!”

You are originally from the USA and your company is located in the state of Idaho, in the Boise metropolitan area. What do you think about Switzerland? What drew you here?
“Our company has worked directly and indirectly with many wonderful Swiss companies and people. Switzerland is recognized around the world, including in the United States where we are based, as a wonderful site of economic development, business and culture with a federal system of government that has made it the great country it is today. Our ideals are in line with those of Switzerland and we love very much the concept of ‘federalism’, which tends toward decentralization of governmental powers for economic and personal freedoms. We were happy to join the ‘Swiss Federalism’ association and support its mission.”

How would you describe your company? What can you tell us about its development? What are its mission, values and vision?
“Our company, the Coeptis Consulting Group, is focused on helping our clients increase value creation, plain and simple. We take a strategic approach to our business by working with clients and building our solutions from the bottom up instead of always aiming for the top down, as many companies do. When we founded our company, we already had this concept in mind: we wanted to distinguish ourselves from consultancies that were too rigid, ‘bricks and mortar’, in order to be agile and adaptable in finding solutions for our clients, and not the other way around. Our mission is simply to inspire and empower our clients to achieve the greatest organizational value and results possible. Because of our willingness and ability to adapt seamlessly to our clients’ needs, our ambition is to become a premier management consulting firm, and I am convinced that it will be realized. Our company has three fundamental pillars: a) client value: serving our clients with humility and with the best solutions, even if it does not directly benefit us; b) client experience: many companies like ours overlook the client’s background, but we know that the experience of those who use us is very important to increase value creation. A full partnership with our customers also provides a positive and enjoyable experience; c) finally, continuous improvement: there is always a better way to achieve goals, and goals and solutions can always be improved, including the way we deliver solutions to our customers.”

Alessandro Bertoldi: “Before you ask, you must give!”

What projects do you have in the pipeline and what do they consist of? What are the flagship products of your business and which ones are developing best?
“Our company is currently working on some exciting projects with wonderful clients. For example, we are currently working for a large private equity firm in the aerospace and defense sector. Another project of ours is providing market research assistance for a multi-billion dollar client who owns an industrial technology company located right in Switzerland! We are humbly thrilled to be working with these and other wonderful clients around the world. Our enterprise solutions focus on three main areas: performance improvement; product development; and operational and technical due diligence. To date, we have provided solutions and support to our clients in all of these areas, but the area that has grown the most, to our surprise, is Operational & Technical Due Diligence. We have discovered some important needs in mergers and acquisitions (‘M&A’, as they say in America). We do due diligence throughout the deal lifecycle, including listing of targets, and operational and technical due diligence, such as examining supply chains, engineering and operational interactions and beyond. Our firm has also begun developing an internal database and portal for business intelligence, which can be leveraged in the future for M&A activity.”

Who are your main clients? Which industry do you feel most specialized in? Which one provides you with the best business results?
“So far, as mentioned above, our main customers fall into the ‘aerospace and defense’ category, including manufacturers, maintenance, repair and operations service providers, and investment or private equity companies acting within the market, where our core competency lies. To be clear, Coeptis Group’s business spans mining and metals, construction, machinery and more, but our primary segment is really Aerospace & Defense. While, of course, there are never any guarantees in business success, our primary customer relationships typically arise when there is an intersection of significant business/strategy issues coupled with our technical expertise in Aerospace & Defense. When this intersection occurs, we can deliver practical, fast and robust results that a typical consulting firm struggles to provide due to internal bureaucracy, lack of technical and industry knowledge and lack of experience in these subjects.”

Nicola Zanni: “In Zug, if you want it and work hard, you get it all”

When did the idea of founding Coeptis Consulting Group come about? How much did your previous work experience influence these choices?
“My business partner and I worked on large projects at our previous employer, a large industrial conglomerate. During those years, we noticed negative traits that plagued not only the company we worked for, but many of its suppliers and vendors: lack of organizational alignment for continuous improvement projects; poor and slow product development practices in industrial organizations; lack of systems thinking across the product and process life cycle. These observations and lessons learned from our previous work experience motivated us to start our own company, seeking to help the company and clients address these gaps and others.”

What do you do in your spare time? Is there anything you’d like to do, but haven’t yet had the time to pursue as much as you’d like?
“When I’m away from work, I like to be with my family and do outdoor activities, such as hunting, hiking, fishing, and camping. I also enjoy doing projects at home, such as fixing cars, making cider and wine, and even smoked salmon. One dream I have in my drawer…is to at least build myself a farm, or a house with some land around it to achieve food self-sufficiency. I would also like to experiment with hydroponics in the garden and have alternative energy sources and a small workshop to accommodate equipment and transportation. I really enjoy my work, with very high-level clients, but at the same time I am also very attached to manual activities”.

Andrea Trevisan: “I would like our technology to be used by everyone”

What do you expect from your colleagues and friends? What attitudes bother you and what attitudes do you appreciate in others? Are you a tolerant person or do you find it difficult to forgive misunderstandings or insults? What “sanction” or reward mechanisms do you advocate, if any?
“When working with my colleagues, I always ask myself this question, ‘What is the best solution for your need?’ I’ve worked in a variety of business-to-business settings throughout my career, and I’ve realized that in the engineering industry, sometimes we forget about the end customer. It happens that some companies get too lost in the details, neglecting the entire business as an ecosystem. I really appreciate it when my colleagues and friends think about the long-term effects of their decisions: it’s important in management not to be short-sighted and to be able to look at results further into the future. I don’t like it when people around me lose sight of the end goals. However, this does not mean that I am an intolerant person. I’m an imperfect human being, I make mistakes just like everyone else, so I’m always trying to extend grace and forgiveness to others, though up to a point, of course. If a colleague or employee tries hard, but makes a mistake, then understands where they went wrong and comes out a better person, I for one am happy about it. I always tend to encourage others and avoid pointing fingers. People are the soul of an organization, and one of my favorite phrases is ‘take care of me, I’ll take care of you…’. If employees take care of customers and others, I will go out of my way to make sure they are well compensated, as a sign of my appreciation for their work.”

Monica Bravi: “I dream of becoming a serial entrepreneur”

What are your biggest regrets and regrets? Is there anything you have regretted? Or, conversely, something he didn’t do in his life or career that he regrets today?
“My biggest regret…was worrying too much about what other people thought. Unfortunately, looking back, I realize that I didn’t have to be afraid to talk about what my goals and ambitions were, and I just had to pursue them, even if others didn’t support me or thought they were foolish. Honestly, I let my previous managers and supervisors exert too much of a negative influence on me, and I only now realized how much they were preventing me from achieving more in the name of the concept of ‘experience’…”

What was your experience like as a finalist for the “International Innovative Start Up/SME Award ‘Swiss Federalism, GCBL and Milton Friedman'” held in Zurich on September 18?
“It was a wonderful experience to participate in the competition and tune into the ceremony. We still can’t believe we were selected as finalists and we are very honored to be part of such a great group of wonderful companies.”

Leo Isolani: “In Switzerland, we do value work”

How do you see your company expanding in Switzerland and Europe? Do you foresee any kind of ‘cultural challenge’?
“For the companies we serve, operating in aerospace, automotive, manufacturing and investment, we see expansion into Switzerland and Europe as a big step forward. The Swiss Confederation traditionally has a well-established market, and we are happy to start offering our services to companies located in this nation as well. It will be a stimulating challenge for me and my partner, but fortunately we already have years of experience with European companies in the past and, thanks to the cultural differences between continents, we could acquire new skills”.

Eleonora Bafunno: “The ‘democratic’ piano is a reality”