Business Clinic Director, Associate Professor
Phillip S. Bessler brings over 30 years of industry experience. His background includes management positions in industrial manufacturing businesses both in the Greater Cleveland area and Massachusetts.
From 1989 to 1998 he was vice president and general manager for Rockwell Automation/Allen Bradley, a unit of Rockwell International. In this position, he was responsible for new business ventures and the start-up of new business segments. Later, he served as president of Spang Power Electronics, a product and systems solution provider in the industrial power controls market. In addition, he has helped companies grow revenue and streamline operations through his consultative work as the founder of the Bessler Consulting Group LLC.
Professor Bessler is responsible for both teaching and program development in the area of free enterprise. He has established The Business Clinic for entrepreneurs and small business owners. "This clinic," says Bessler, "is part of the B-W vision to become a major force in accelerating business growth and job creation in northern Ohio." Since it's inception in 2003 the Business Plan Clinic has grown by serving over one hundred companies and is now part of B-W's Center for Innovation and Growth.
He is a graduate of Northeastern University (Boston), where he earned a B.S.E.E and M.B.A.
In the area of civic involvement, he is board member of the Anti-Defamation League, ADL, an organization that has been combating anti-Semitism and bigotry of all kinds for over 90 years. Phil is a founding director of the Entrepreneurship Educational Consortium (EEC) which along with professors from 6 other regional four year universities creates programming aimed at retaining students with an entrepreneurial spirit in Northeast Ohio. (www.eecneohio.org) He also serves on the Business Advisory Council for the Berea City School District and is a Junior Achievement volunteer. He is a founding board member of the Cleveland chapter of Minds Matter. He served for 16 years as trustee and board chair of Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio, Inc., formerly know as The National Conference of Community and Justice and the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ), the Race Relations Organization, a human relations organization fighting bias, bigotry and racism through education and intervention. Professor Bessler can be contacted at pbessler@bw.edu.
275 Eastland Rd.