Our Team
Richard J. (RJ) Valentine, Chairman
RJ Valentine, co-founder and President of Global Business Funding Group, is a serial entrepreneur and early-stage investor with 18 successful exits and more than a dozen current operating companies.
RJ’s vision directs the IPT strategy, and his operational infrastructure manages the company’s financial and IT needs. This allows IPT to build on Mr. Valentine’s many earlier successes.
RJ has founded, built and sold market leaders in diverse industries, including insurance, automotive services, hospitality, business services and more. Among his notable successes: · Co-founded Global Business Funding Group, a business acceleration firm that is helping entrepreneurial-owned businesses grow with business planning and capital raise assistance, plus operating assistance. The company also invests in and takes an active management role in portfolio companies.
- RJ built Massachusetts Business Association (MBA) into the largest third party health insurance administrator in New England, serving 60,000 small businesses with nearly 500,000 employees. In 2007, when RJ sold MBA to an NYSE company, MBA had trailing annual premiums in excess of $1.8 Billion.
- He introduced Jiffy Lube in New England where he conceived, built and operated the largest and fastest growing area franchise in the international chain. When he sold his stores to an NYSE company, RJ’s stores included 6 of the top 10 grossing Jiffy Lubes in the USA.
- Another exit was in the professional investigations business, with LCF Associates. He took over LCF Associates at an early stage, built and operated the business until selling the firm to a NYSE company, generating a 24x return for his investors.
RJ is also a professional race car driver with over four hundred professional starts and was the 2009 winner at the 24 Hours of Daytona. RJ is a highly sought after speaker, lecturer and mentor.
Colleen Lynam, Executive Vice President of Sales
Colleen joined IPT in 2013 and was promoted to Executive Vice President in 2016 a testament to her expertise in sales management and her knowledge of the industries she serves. She is in charge of all accounts and maintains IPT’s distribution and purchasing channels.
Colleen started her career in distributor aerospace sales where she became the first female outside sales representative for the entire Southern California network. During her years in the aerospace field, she was responsible for negotiating multi-million-dollar contracts with top accounts such as McDonald Douglass, Hughes Aircraft and Hughes Helicopter. Following that, Colleen received her real estate and broker’s licenses and started her own building and development company. Her firm built and sold custom homes, as well as developed multi-million-dollar land projects; further demonstrating Colleen’s exemplary management skills.
Colleen attended the University of Massachusetts, majoring in Business Management. She has 2 children and 1 grandchild, is a sports enthusiast and an avid golfer.
Peter Lake, Chief Financial Officer
Peter Lake is Chief Financial Officer of Global Business Funding Group and RJ Valentine’s MBA Group of Companies. Since 1986, he has helped RJ achieve his many entrepreneurial successes.
In his more than 25 years as a business owner, consultant and CFO, Peter has worked with more than 50 different entrepreneurial businesses throughout the United States and England. These have included startups, high growth development, mergers and acquisitions. He has an extensive record of success providing entrepreneurs with the resources to achieve business and investment objectives, driving profitability and resolving financial and operational problems.
Peter’s specialties include financial reporting, systems analysis/design/implementation, cost reductions, cash management, budgeting and forecasting, new business initiatives, manpower strategy and incentives, compensation and benefit programs, development of internal controls, and the establishment of key performance indicator metrics.
A graduate of Babson College's School of Management, Peter began his career working with Ernst & Young as a founding member and information technology audit specialist of the Entrepreneurial Services Group in the Boston office.
William D. Chase, Senior Advisor
William “Bill” Chase brings IPT over 38 years of senior federal law enforcement and sales experience. His executive management successes include leading a strategic change at the FBI after the attacks of 9/11, directing high profile operational matters and as a liaison with senior government and private sector officials. He is currently Senior Vice President at EnProVera Corp, a Native American Owned 8(a) and Service Disabled Veteran Owned (SDVO) small business. EnProVera Corp provides professional services to the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. Bill previously served as Director of Business Development for Engility/TASC, which provides solutions for national security and public safety institutions. Engility/TASC employed enterprise systems engineering, integration and analytical decision support services to the Intelligence community, Department of Defense and agencies of the federal government.
Earlier, Bill was Director, Federal Sales, for LexisNexis Special Services Inc., managing the LexisNexis Public Safety and Law Enforcement sales teams and was also Vice President, Federal Law Enforcement, for i2S, Inc., responsible for the company’s activities within the Intelligence Community.
Before entering the private sector, Bill spent 25 years with the FBI. His FBI resume includes a wide range of assignments up to Special Agent in Charge (SAC) in the Albany, NY and Baltimore, MD field offices. He served as a Supervisory Special Agent with the FBI HQ Legal Counsel Division, representing the FBI in a broad range of areas. He was a Field Supervisor for three criminal squads at the Washington, DC Field Office. As Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) of the Boston Division, he was responsible for Domestic Terrorism, Organized Crime, Drug and Violent Crime Programs in four New England states. As the SAC in the Albany and Baltimore offices, he was responsible for all FBI administrative, criminal, terrorism and foreign counterintelligence operations.
Bill holds a Juris Doctorate from the Vermont School of Law and a BA, Political Science, from Westfield State University.
Steve Wilson, Advisor
In 2020 during one of the most challenging periods in history, Steve Wilson took on the leadership position as CEO of EarthSafe Chemical Alternatives and EvaClean Infection Prevention Solutions. Wilson brought his extensive expertise in the cleaning industry and a proven track record of building high growth success for private equity owned companies in hospitality and entertainment. He is an accomplished leader known for charting the vision and strategic path for rapidly expanding organizations. Wilson plays a major role in every aspect of the business from developing new product innovations and customer service programs, to assembling and motivating high caliber management teams.