GODFREY – Co-founder and Principal of Accelerated Marketing, Confluence Business Advisors, Confluence Media Network, and a champion for small business announces his retirement, effective August 31, 2018.
Tanner is a passionate advocate for designing business strategies, as an adjunct instructor of entrepreneurship - small business planning and management at Lewis and Clark Community College. He has also volunteered in various roles with SW Illinois – SCORE, the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at SIUE, past Board President of Alton Mainstreet (2010-12), and active member of the North Alton-Godfrey Business Council and River Bend Growth Association.
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Tanner’s most recent and notable recognition came in 2016, as a “Person to Know in Southwest Illinois” by the St. Louis Small Business Monthly.
“The recognition by St. Louis media validates the value and relevance of my work,” Tanner said. “I’ve been fortunate to learn from and work with top notch professionals throughout my career.”
A ’75 graduate of SIUE – Mass Communications (Broadcasting), Tanner’s 25-year advertising career landed him in the newspaper industry, as a sales rep. With experience serving thousands of newspaper advertising customers in Springfield, IL, Kansas City, MO, Belleville, IL, with the final 13 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, before opening his first consulting practice in 1999.
In 2014, Tanner partnered with fellow entrepreneur, collaborator, and friend, David Fingerhut. Together, they founded Confluence Business Advisors, serving the needs of small business. Ron hopes to maintain a light teaching and consulting load, as he and his wife, Mary, plan to travel after her retirement in 2019.
“I am sincerely grateful to each of those who taught me, who indulge me - as their instructor, who hired me – as their consultant, finding trust, value, and confidence in the advice,” Tanner said with gratitude. “It’s been an amazing experience, so far.”
