Grindstone Inc. is headquartered in Columbia Maryland, USA and was founded by Brian Augustus Parnell in 2003. Grindstone is a full service, outsourced Business Development Company providing professional sales support and complete sales outsourcing solutions to Domestic and International clients alike. Grindstone specializes in Business to Business programs includingDirect telesales, lead generation, customer retention, and appointment setting services. Grindstone recruits, manages, and maintains top level talent through a superior management infrastructure. Consistent communication, feedback, and strategy refinement are a core trait. Grindstone is an extension of each client’s business and operates at the highest levels of professionalism. Every client program starts with the goal of establishing a long term ongoing partnership. Some of our clients. Case Studies.

Brian Augustus Parnell, President and Founder -a natural entrepreneur and leader, developed Grindstone Inc. with his extensive marketing, sales and call center management experience. Mr. Parnell served as the Director of Marketing for one of the Largest Mortgage Brokers in the country. Under his management, his Business Development center produced record volumes of high quality leads, significantly expanding the company's reach into the mortgage refinance industry. Prior to that, Brian served as a Marketing and Operations Manager for the largest Debt Management service provider in the U.S., where his creative strategies and entrepreneurial spirit helped to grow their contact center to over 600 counseling professionals. Brian has a natural desire and talent to help companies grow. He has effectively bridged the gap between sales and marketing divisions, redesigned processes and communication flows to maximize revenue opportunities. Brian is a Towson University of Maryland graduate with a Bachelors of Science degree in Advertising and Communications. He is presently pursuing an MBA.

Jeffrey Streckfus, Vice President of Operations -Jeff is responsible for managing the operations of Grindstone and oversees the management of each client campaign. Jeff has executed and managed hundreds of campaigns in a wide array of verticals including everything from advertising sales, banking, consulting services, consumer products, employee benefits programs, financial services, information technology infrastructure, insurance, manufacturing, publishing, software, and supply chain management programs just to name a few verticals. Jeff’s primary responsibility at Grindstone is to assist our clients in gaining them the maximum return on investment by utilizing our services. Jeff has extensive experience with start up companies, turn around situations, and for those companies just looking to outsource to save costs. Additionally, Mr. Streckfus has a solid track record of project management, process redesign, documenting processes, and driven focus on continuous improvement with the campaigns he executes. Lastly, he has a creative drive that has played an integral part in launching new operational processes to release new products and turning them profitable in a short period of time.

Courtneney Huff , Director of Recruiting -Courteney comes to us with several successful programs with Grindstone as well as 5 years of sales experience. Courteney obtained her Bachelor’s degree from Wright State University. Her primary focus is to provide great talent for Grindstone. Her innovative, goal-oriented, and creative approach strives her to excel with thin Grindstone to deliver results. She is a team player with outstanding interpersonal and problem-solving skills.

Tira Howaniec, Program Manager - Tira is responsible for hands on management of Grindstone agents and providing valuable feedback to Grindstone’s clients. Tira brings a strong sales, marketing, and management background to Grindstone. Her marketing skills and ability to teach good sales practices have helped build strong labor pools to effectively work together and achieve company objectives. Tira has worked for one of the largest media companies in Chicago as well as a nationally recognized sports media organization producing sales and creating marketing solutions for other companies.

Philishia Crum, Program Manager - Philishia brings a strong sales management and consulting background to Grindstone. Her experience begins within the Automotive Industry and on to 20 years of success and achievement as a Business Development Manager, and Corporate Trainer. Featured in Time Magazine for her expertise in creating 100% Customer Satisfaction lead her to a nationally recognized Consulting Firm based in Chicago were as a Performance Consultant she traveled nationally coaching, training and implementing strong proven processes to ensure increased profits and 100% Customer Satisfaction for large companies. Philishia is responsible for hands on management and coaching of Grindstone agents and providing feedback to Grindstone’s clients.

Shannon Ashworth , Program Manager- Shannon comes to us with both experience and knowledge in the position, and she has been a top performer on our program since its inception. Shannon has over 13 years of sales and sales management experience, and she obtained her Bachelor’s degree from theUniversity from Arkansas.

Nathan J. Lewis, Senior Business Advisor - Nathan has served Grindstone since its inception and is responsible for top level business development. Nathan brings years of marketing, training, business development, management, and promotional skills to the company. He has trained and managed 90 plus marketing reps for a major financial brokerage focusing on script development, customer service, and time management. He continued his experiences in the financial industry as a Senior Loan Analyst. Nathan developed his experience working in the Business Outsourcing genre as an Inside Sales Associate, Team Project Leader, and Business Development Consultant. Nathan is a strong believer of premier customer service, technology, and proper business ethics. These strong core beliefs have allowed Nathan to succeed at every level where a challenge presents itself.

William Fleming, Business Development Advisor - has over 15 years of experience with experience in the telecommunications/marketing industry. He has over 10 years experience in radio programming and sales. He has managed a variety of projects and training stemming from inbound and outbound call centers. Will is dedicated to helping grow people. Will was involved for six years with the cable/satellite industry. He was called upon to develop scripting and growing a sales force for door to door and phone sales. He joined Grindstone as an agent and accelerated through the ranks to become a Business Development Manager. He is currently working on his Bachelor of
Science accounting degree at the University of Maryland.

Renny Raymundo, Business Development Advisor – brings 15 years of sales management and business development experience from the technology and direct mail industries. As an account manager for a billion dollar technology products and services provider, he quickly rose to sales management. His team was a top producer in their Commercial Sales division. With his prior employer he spearheaded sales growth 320% in 3 years as Director of Business Development. One key to this success was developing and implementing prospecting and sales strategies to rapidly establish market presence. The company was recognized by Inc. 500 as one of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies in 2006. He is highly motivated, results-driven sales professional with a track record of out performing sales goals and delivering high levels of customer service. He strongly believes in building long term relationships that last a lifetime.