⸻ ABOUT MATT GILLESPIE
I have spent my career doing one thing.
Helping small and mid-sized businesses get stronger.
Former CEO, Single-Family Office
Former COO, Manufacturing & Services
Engineer by Training
Matt Gillespie
Founder & Executive Advisor
⸻ THE SHORT VERSION
I have spent my career doing one thing: helping small and mid-sized businesses get stronger.
AS CEO
I led a single-family office overseeing more than a dozen operating companies: from manufacturing and services to a national consumer brand and commercial real estate. Most of my time was spent shoulder-to-shoulder with our operating partners and business leaders, helping them regain direction and build lasting momentum.
AS COO
I led the turnaround and rapid scaling of a diversified manufacturing and service company. I have made the tough calls, balanced real risk, and done whatever the moment required: from restructuring leadership teams to operating a forklift at 2 AM to get a shipment out the door.
AS AN ENGINEER
I am an engineer by training. That shapes how I approach every business problem: distill it to its fundamental components, eliminate what is unnecessary, and build off what is already strong.
BY THE NUMBERS
12+
OPERATING COMPANIES LED
Two
FULL BUSINESS TURNAROUNDS
Ohio Valley
HOME TERRITORY
In Person
HOW I SHOW UP
⸻ WHY I STARTED RAWHIDE
I kept seeing the same pattern.
Owners who had built something extraordinary — something real, something that mattered — who had quietly become trapped by it. Not because of bad decisions, but because their company had grown faster than the systems, the team, and the structure around it.
I believe small and mid-sized companies are the backbone of America's economy. And I believe their owners deserve actual support — not a consultant who visits quarterly and hands them a report, and not a software platform that gives them a dashboard.
They deserve a partner. Someone who shows up, knows what they are talking about, and stays until it is right. That is what Rawhide Executive Solutions is built to be.
“
I kept seeing the same pattern. Owners who had built something extraordinary — who had quietly become trapped by it.
— Matt Gillespie
⸻ HOW I’M DIFFERENT
Let me help put what I do in perspective.
THINK OF A…
CEO Coach
Provides perspective, accountability, and guidance through regular calls or sessions.
WHAT I ADD:
I do all of that — plus I work alongside you to design and implement the changes. Not just discuss them.
THINK OF A…
Fractional COO / CSO
Embeds into a business to build operational and strategic infrastructure.
WHAT I ADD:
I do that too — but I don't stay indefinitely. I build capability, reduce dependency, and work myself out of a job. That is always the goal.
WHAT I ACTUALLY AM
Executive Partner
A hands-on partner with real operating experience across manufacturing and service industries — just as comfortable on your shop floor as in your financial reviews.
⸻
⸻ HOW I SHOW UP
I come to you.
I am based in Cincinnati and I fly myself across the Ohio Valley to meet with clients in person: in Richmond IN; Portsmouth OH; Bowling Green KY; Chillicothe OH; Louisville KY; Indianapolis IN; Pittsburgh PA; Charleston WV; and throughout the region.
I believe this kind of work cannot be done over video calls alone. Showing up in person, at your facility, around your people, is part of how I do it right.
I like to travel the same way I like to work: directly, efficiently, and always moving forward.
✈
Distance is not a barrier.
It is part of the commitment.
⸻
✓ I come to your location
✓ All travel included in flat-fee
✓ In person by default
“The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.”
— Charlie Munger
⸻ READY WHEN YOU ARE ⸻
Ready to have a conversation?
If anything here resonates, the next step is simple. Reach out, and let's spend 20–30 minutes getting to know each other.