Our Team.
Gavin D’Avanther, MBA
Hey! My name is Gavin. I am the owner and Senior Consultant for Flying Squirrel Consulting Partners. I entered business the way many people do: through the back door. My undergraduate degree is in Technical Theater and Philosophy. Ya, really.
If you had told me, way back then, that I would be pursuing business, I would have laughed you out of the room. I spent almost 20 years in the special-events industry and grew from a technician to upper management. Increasingly, I found that I was being asked to make major business decisions with very little guidance and no effective tools. Through this, I became more interested in business itself, and eventually left the event industry to pursue an MBA. My passion for business consulting comes from my experience of running a small business without any solid business skills. The technical skills that we initially build our businesses upon are very different than the management skills we need to make that business successful. Now, I have worked with over 100 small businesses since 2012 and I look froward to working with you!
I love gardening, animals, hiking, travel, singing loudly, and dancing badly. I am a lifelong Girl Scout and I have to admit… I do still prefer cooking over an open flame.
Maz Bennett
Hi! I’m Maz! (pronounced “Maze”)
I am the technical wizard around here. I spent 25 years in youth camping. Running a camp is like running a small city or complex small business. Every year, I hired and trained up to 100 staff to take care of other people’s children. My specialties are HR, policy design, systems creation and management, training programs, data management, regulatory compliance, facilities management, commercial kitchen design & management, safety, and documentation.
I can also help you with Quickbooks or Amazon or Shopify issues.
I adore my 2 kittens more than I can actually express. I enjoy reading and making art. (I’m not very good, but it makes me happy) I am also a water baby: swimming, snorkeling, rowing, kayaking, water polo… if it’s in the water, I’m game!
The Coaching Kittens
Meet Missy Pie & Mr. Panther Man, C.O.K.*
(*Certified Office Kitties)
We love participating in Zoom calls (playing in front of the camera) and managing emails (walking or sleeping on the keyboard is best). Missy’s best advise is generally “blnmvlkf:gnzwgva.” So there you have it!
Yep, they are also self-boxing.
DasHel T. Squirrel
Our Adventurous Mascot.
Dashel inspires us to look up, climb out of the weeds, explore inspirations, and pursue opportunities. Especially when it’s a little bit scary.
Dashel is not a risk taker, as you might think, but a calculated planner who trusts the skills and the wisdom of experience and practice to land safely, if not always gracefully.
Dashel is playful and kind, and perhaps a little mischievous. Dashel enjoys tormenting the office kitties, bringing a little humor to any situation, and “helping” with the junk mail shredding.
And the “T” stands for “The.”
(design credit: The NinjaBot)