Bill Bartmann
At the request of a bank, he took over a foreclosed oil-field pipe manufacturing plant and turned it into a million dollar a month business, until OPEC slashed the price of oil - leaving Bill out of business and a million dollars in debt.
Refusing to give up, Bill and his wife and business partner, Kathy, borrowed $13,000 and created a new industry ... Debt Resolution. Three years later they had repaid the entire million-dollar debt. Over the next 13 years they grew the new company to 3,900 employees with revenues in excess of $1 billion and earnings in excess of $182 million.
There, they pioneered novel financial instruments still utilized today on Wall Street. They also implemented unheard of perks and benefits for their employees, such as salaries at two times the industry standard, free health care, free on-site day care, 250% 401K match program and legendary company trips where they took ALL of the employees and their spouses on annual trips to the Bahamas, Las Vegas, and ocean cruises. One year they leased 27, 747's so they could fly 6,000 employees and spouses to Disney World.
Bill and Kathy have individually graced the covers of national business magazines, Kathy on the cover of Forbes, and Bill on the cover of Inc. They were listed individually in the Forbes 400 wealthiest people in America. One national magazine ranked them number 25.
In 1998, tragedy struck when Bill's former business partner committed fraud and sent the company into bankruptcy. Although Bill's former business partner told the prosecutors he had acted without Bill's knowledge; admitted his guilt and was sent to prison - in the post Enron environment, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft indicted Bill on 57 felony counts relating to Bill's partner's activities. Five years later, after a 2 1/2 month long trial where the government called 53 witnesses and produced over 1,000 exhibits, Bill rested his case without calling a single witness or producing a single exhibit. The jury unanimously acquitted Bill on all counts.
Ironically, 17 months after his acquittal and six and a half years after his company was liquidated, the Federal Bankruptcy Trustee issued his report, which publicly acknowledged for the first time, "CFS was not a fraud."
This experience would have embittered most people, but not them. Bill and Kathy now travel the country, sharing their stories of how they created their successes and how they dealt with their challenges. It is their life's goal to do for "failure" what Betty Ford did for alcoholism, and what Susan Komen did for breast cancer.
Bill Bartmann understands success and failure. He also understands the business world from the ground up - all the way to the top - and back down again - to the top again. He made corporate history by creating companies that transformed him from poverty to millionaire - to bankruptcy - to billionaire - to bankruptcy - to indicted - to acquitted - and to the top again.
MOST REQUESTED TOPICS: Bill Bartmann delivers a genuine message that applies to every business, profession and - human being. His motivational style, laced with humor, leaves his audience approaching situations with a never-before, fresh perspective, attitude and solutions-focus. And, audiences retain for a long time Bartmann's Guidelines because they are based on memorable, logical, real-life experiences.
Billionaire to Bankruptcy to Beyond: This program is Bill Bartmann's central theme, which has inspired audiences from all backgrounds. More than just motivational, beyond unreal, Bill's message within moments fills every attendee with an "I-see-the-light" inspirational moment. The audience is quickly swept from a struggling under the circumstances mode to one of leveraging from these circumstances back on the road to success.
Ten Steps to Overcome Any Failure: This no-nonsense presentation leads audiences on a roller coaster of discovery as seen through the eyes of a world-class entrepreneur who has been richer than Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner. Bill offers Ten Solid Truths for leaping past the circumstances of failure and fast-forwarding to overcome all challenges.
Success and Failure: Bill's jaw-dropping views on "Success and Failure" give his audiences a truly unique point of view that could come only from Bill Bartmann. The one-time captain of a billion dollar enterprise, Bill started with a $13,000 loan. Capitalizing on every situation (good and bad), overcoming depression and self-doubt, and focusing on the Hot Buttons are Bill's bullet points in this truly life-altering and attitude-changing message.
Visit Bill Bartmann’s Website: www.billbartmann.com
Bill may be the only high school dropout who has:
- Named "National Entrepreneur of the Year" (Twice) by USA Today, NASDAQ, Inc. Magazine, Ernst & Young, and The Kauffman Foundation
- Been inducted into the "Entrepreneur of the Year" Hall of Fame
- Created novel financial instruments that are still being used on Wall Street
- Had Harvard Business School use him as a Case Study
- Been granted a permanent place in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History
- Been included in the Forbes Magazine list of the 400 Wealthiest Americans
- Named as "One of the Top 100 Entrepreneurs of the Last 100 Years" by the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, Allbusiness.com, and Apple Computer
- Had his management techniques published in college textbooks and taught at universities across America
- Been awarded the American Academy of Achievement's "Golden Plate Award for one of the 20th Century's Most Extraordinary Achievers" - an award previously bestowed upon five U.S. Presidents and three Nobel Prize winners
- Accomplished the first "Investment Grade" Wall Street securitization of non-performing unsecured loans
- Borrowed more than $3.1 billion from 120 different lenders for more than 180 separate transactions - all for privately held, startup companies
- Acknowledged by the Nilson Report as having created the "Largest, Best Trained, and Most Efficient Debt Collection Operation in the World"
- Acknowledged by BusinessWeek Magazine as "One of the Top 30 Family Friendly Companies" in the United States
- Acknowledged by BusinessWeek Magazine as "One of the Best Entrepreneurs"
- Lauded by Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas for his "Minority Enterprise Initiative"
- Acknowledged by BusinessWeek Magazine as "One of the Top Ten Family Oriented Businesses in America"
- Acknowledged by Working Woman Magazine as "One of the Top 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers"
- Named one of the "Phoenix 50" by Success Magazine