Dear Everyone Who Has Ever Needed Help in a Once-Thriving Commercial Business,

This is a testimonial I wrote just for you and your coworkers about Cogent — a deeply motivated group of professionals currently helping save the company I love and have put my everything into.

When I started at IBC as a young sheet metal apprentice in Local 10 of the Minnesota Sheet Metal Workers Union, I was taken in and mentored by some of the best architectural siding specialists this industry has ever seen. One of them was one of the most motivated and creative men I have ever met: Pat Sweeney. He became my mentor and a close, personal, friend.

When Pat asked me if I wanted to partner up and buy the company we had both bled and sweated for, I couldn’t back him financially. I told him I’d be there through thick and thin — that was what I could offer at the time. I’m happy to report I’m still here with him, and I love him like a father.

Over the years, owners Pat and Jerri Sweeney poured their hearts and souls into this company. Together we’ve shaken the pillars of heaven trying to hold it all together — and we’ve succeeded. But as strong and mighty as they both are, it became an undeniable truth: it was time for succession.

Pat and Jerri were contacted by Cogent and set up a meeting with a kind-hearted, motivated man named Monte. With a keen ability to smell BS a mile away, Pat and Jerri arranged a meeting with all four of us. I was working out of state at the time with a crew of installers when I first joined that meeting over Teams with Monte, Pat, and Jerri. I truly believe this man was sent to our doorstep by a higher power — Pat and Jerri had both been dealing with health issues. Monte laid out a path for us that wouldn’t be easy for any of us, but to all of us, it was the path we knew we needed to walk together.

IBC signed the contract to start our project, and Cogent sent us a great team without haste. On our first day, with Amaya as our new project director, things were looking up. That was also the day the seriousness of Cogent’s presence was put to the test: my long-time mentor Pat had to be rushed to the emergency room, where he’d remain for the next month, and I went with Pat and Jerri’s daughter to be with him.

Cogent was there for us at our absolute rock bottom and responded with an inconceivable amount of passion and patience. They pulled their project director out the very next day, respecting that we couldn’t continue the project at that time. I was devastated that Pat was in such a bad place, and that Cogent was packing up for the forseeable future. Natauya, the Assistant Director, checked Pat’s condition, routinely, and stayed in respectful contact with us during the months that ensued.

A week or so after Pat was released from the hospital, one of the most important people I’ve ever met came back into our lives — the Business Analyst, Monte Jump, visiting Pat during a cross-country trip helping other businesses in distress. As Monte was saying his goodbyes, I pulled him aside and told him I wasn’t sure why he was leaving. I wanted him to know we needed him now more than ever. He told me he understood but didn’t want to overstep.

Shortly after he made it home, my rock — my boss Jerri — landed in the hospital too, facing a recovery that would be a true challenge. That’s when Monte did exactly what IBC needed him to do. I can’t thank him enough. He set up a meeting with us and started a new project.

Monte assigned Lisa Richards to the high intensity portion of our project, and I can’t begin to explain how fitting “High Intensity” is as it should be his woman’s middle name. I call her “Walks on water, Jesus lady”. Pat calls her, “Sergeant Slaughter”. Things immediately started changing in her wake. Cogent’s program is very well directed, and soon our whole team had been evaluated on our role and function within the company.

We began team projects that spelled out our duties so we could all see exactly what each of us did to push our company forward, individually. It’s a process I know we all benefited from — no one in the room had ever realized exactly how this vehicle truly moved forward until we were all brought together and actually wrote it down. Lisa is a wonderful teacher and leader, and we’ve absolutely benefited from her leading our team toward succession and success.

We’re currently still getting this vehicle back on the road to financial success, adding key people to our team to further our strides toward greatness, with Lisa encouraging us and providing invaluable tools we can each use in our own roles here at IBC. We have yet to negotiate a sale of the company, but we are working steadily toward it. I have the utmost confidence we’re headed in the right direction, and that we’ve partnered with the right people to make it all happen.

As the high-intensity portion of our project comes to a close, I’m looking forward to partnering with our Cogent team over the next year in Life Cycle. I’ll always be able to count on Cogent for clear advice to help my team whenever I need to call on them for anything business-related. I feel nothing but confidence in our future here at IBC, and I personally want to thank Monte Jump and Lisa “Walks on Water” Richards, and everyone at Cogent, for all they’ve done for us.

Sincerely,
Greg Mathison
General Manager
Innovative Building Concepts