Announcing Don Kyle, Director

Gilbert & Pardue Business Advisors (GaP) is pleased to announce that Don Kyle has joined the firm as a Director. Don brings over 30 years of senior executive experience to the firm, the last 15 years in President and CEO roles. He has experience leading turnarounds and start-ups, including M&A initiatives for both buy and sell sides with public and privately-held companies. Don’s broad experience leading companies which span multiple industrial markets enables him to provide GaP clients demonstrated first-hand experience of growing and improving business results and shareholder value. In Don’s words, “I am honored and tremendously excited to join GaP and provide my 30+ years’ experience and skill set to a very talented team. My experiences in leadership positions in both public and private companies will translate very well to GaP and the professional services we provide our clients. I’m looking forward to working closely with GaP clients to help them achieve their goals and desired outcomes through successful M&A transactions.”

Matt Gilbert, a GaP Founding Partner, had this to say: “Don greatly enhances our ability to assess and diagnose businesses in order to best position them for selling at maximum value. It’s a great cultural fit to add such a high-caliber business leader possessing GaP’s “roll up your sleeves and get it done” mentality.”

Prior to GaP, Mr. Kyle served as President-Energy Division for EnTrans International, LLC, a private equity owned company which is a global leader and manufacturer of energy and transportation equipment. He successfully led seven North American manufacturing/assembly locations and one China joint venture through the very challenging and tumultuous cycles of the oil & gas market. After Mr. Kyle’s leadership, the Company is better positioned for transition to new ownership within the timeline expectations of the private equity owners.

Mr. Kyle also led a venture-stage oilfield equipment manufacturer, Dynapump, as its initial CEO. The first order of business for Don included recruiting the Company Chairman, CFO, and four other executive-level staff. He immediately relocated the corporate office from California to Texas to better align with many oil & gas E&P companies’ headquarters and with oil-friendly politics. Don and his team were able to commercialize the product offering and as a result, completed multiple rounds of equity funding to help support retooling the product and achieve rapid growth. Equity partners included two institutional and two E&P participants.

Earlier in Mr. Kyle’s career, he served as an officer of Stewart & Stevenson, Inc. and President of its Power Products Division. In this capacity, Don and his team orchestrated a $62 million EBITDA turnaround in one year on $500 million in revenue, allowing for an eventual profitable sale of the division to a privately-owned company. This achievement was accomplished by building a cohesive management team, “right sizing” the organization while improving employee morale and efficiency, and divesting of non-core revenue in four separate transactions while growing total revenue and improving the focus on remaining businesses.

Don’s focus will always be to improve business operations and earnings for owners and shareholders. He takes great pride in team-building, while utilizing a “participative” leadership style to implement strategies to attain company goals. His “credo” is to instill the proper sense of urgency, attention to detail, and personal accountability in all.

Mr. Kyle earned his BBA from the University of Texas at Arlington. As an aside, he has also developed a residential real estate development named Heritage Lake Estates in Bryan/College Station, TX. Don and his family are active in owning and showing Warmblood show jumping horses. He’s proud that he and his family make their home in the greater Houston, TX area.

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