History
While Compass has grown and morphed from a company founded in 1985 to its current organization, our focus has always been to keep our clients’ needs in the forefront of our minds – to deliver more than they’re actually looking for, at lower cost, and within a fast-tracked time frame. The results have been excellent – with many additional projects from current clients, and many referrals to individuals which have resulted in new clients and assignments.
In every assignment, we have always maintained our impartiality as the objective third Party who has only the best interests of the Organization in mind. We uncover hidden agendas, competitors who may well become major threats, and global competitors. In addition, we assess acquisition and alliance candidates, uncover markets for underutilized products and services, and delineate specific Customer Service Market and Distribution issues.
Compass has worked in these areas, and others, with major Corporations with annual sales between $25m and $2.5b. Our associates come from the four current generations: Baby Boomers (50+), Generation X (35-50), Millennials (28-35), and Generation Y (23-28). All our Associates are college-educated, many with MBAs, and PhDs. as well as experience in other Industries. They have had titles/roles ranging from CEO, CIO, COO, Managing Director, Architect, Interior Designer, Business Manger, Entrepreneur, Researcher, and Data Scientist.
About The Founder | LinkedIn
John Baxter is President & CEO of Compass Associates, a strategic intelligence and Marketing Firm with Associates worldwide. Compass has worked with a number of major US Corporations on worldwide initiatives in the areas of Acquisitions, Alliances, Distribution Analyses, and Market Studies and Analyses for industries concerning Movement, Direction and Initiatives, and proper courses of Strategy for our Client organizations’ Industries.
John has held Senior Executive positions in Operations, Sales & Marketing, and Distribution for a number of organizations prior to founding Compass. John has successfully led Profit Center initiatives, and managed projects both under budget and with fast-track time frames. He has also held Executive Committee and Board positions for a number of private organizations.
In addition, John has taught at the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame; the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at Michigan State University; Aquinas College’s Graduate School of Management; and lectured at the Kellogg School’s Executive Education Seminars at Northwestern University; and has been a Custom Program Professor at the Stayer Center for Executive Education at Notre Dame. John also was a founding consultant with the American Management Association’s affiliate: The AMA Practitioners.
He received his BA from Michigan State University, and his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. As a US Navy Veteran, John Served with the NATO Military Headquarters, and the MACV Saigon (Military Assistance Command Vietnam) with numerous ATSBs [Advanced Tactical Support Bases] throughout the Mekong Delta.
He and his wife Ginny, a co-founder of Compass, completed her BA at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin, and her MBA from The Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in Chicago. The Baxters have two children – Peter (ND ’13), and Cathy (ND ’17).