New York City · Rochester · Buffalo

A personal advisory board,
tailored to your needs,
for where you want to grow.

Peer advisory groups and personal coaching for emerging leaders, C-suite executives, founders, CEOs and business owners across Western New York. Built for executives of startups and small to mid-market companies.

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Why Brooklyn Advisors

You're already good at what you do. Growth transitions are complicated to manage.

When you sense you're hitting the buffers, you don't have to figure it out alone.

Most leaders in privately owned companies don't have a board, a mentor, or peers who truly understand what they're dealing with. They make consequential decisions without a trusted room to think out loud in.

Brooklyn Advisors creates that room. Peer advisory groups where experienced leaders challenge your thinking, share what's worked, and hold you accountable — paired with personal coaching that goes deeper than any group session can.

This isn't a training program or a corporate workshop. It's a confidential peer community built for the realities of running a mid-market business in Western New York.

40+
Years of C-suite and CEO experience across multiple industries
3
Peer group tiers — join at the right level for where you are today
WNY
Focused on Rochester, Buffalo, and the surrounding region
Peer Advisory Groups

Three groups. One path forward.

Join at the level that fits where you are today — with a clear path to move up as you grow. Each group meets monthly for four hours of peer-led challenge resolution, plus personal coaching every month.

Tier One
Emerging Leaders
Senior managers with C-suite ambition

You're managing real responsibility and you want to move up. This group helps you build the skills, clarity, and confidence to get there — while working through the day-to-day challenges in front of you right now.

→Monthly 4-hour peer advisory group meeting
→45-minute personal coaching session monthly
→Quarterly speaker and networking event
→Focus: managing up, promotion planning, team performance, operational skills
Tier Two
C-Suite Leaders
Senior executives on the path to the top role

You're in a senior leadership role and you can see the CEO seat from where you sit. This group helps you close the gap — performing better in your current role while preparing for the step up.

→Monthly 4-hour peer advisory group meeting
→60-minute personal coaching session monthly
→Quarterly speaker and networking event
→Focus: executive presence, strategic thinking, leadership team development, career trajectory
Tier Three
CEOs & Owners
Active operators with full P&L responsibility

You run the business. Strategy, team performance, profitability, and what comes next — including exit planning — are yours to figure out. This group gives you a trusted room of peers who understand exactly what that means.

→Monthly 4-hour peer advisory group meeting
→90-minute personal coaching session monthly
→Quarterly speaker and networking event
→Focus: strategy, profitability, team performance, exit planning, operational excellence
How It Works

Simple. Focused. Pragmatic.

01

We have a conversation

You tell me where you are and what you're working on. I tell you which group fits best. No pressure, no pitch — just an honest conversation about whether this is right for you.

02

You join the right room

You meet your group — peers at the same level, from non-competing companies, facing similar challenges. The room is curated. Confidentiality is absolute. The conversation is real.

03

You grow into the next level

Monthly peer sessions and personal coaching build over time. When you're ready for the next tier, the path is there. Most members find the first honest feedback session changes how they think about their work permanently.

Trusted Advisor Network

Built with the advisors who already know your business.

Brooklyn Advisors works alongside the accountants, attorneys, and bankers who are already in your corner. Our quarterly events bring these advisors into the room as subject matter experts — because the best decisions happen when the right people are at the table together.

If you're an advisor who works with mid-market business owners in Western NY, let's talk about partnering.

●

Speaking Platform

Present to a curated audience of mid-market leaders as a subject matter expert at quarterly events.

●

Recommended Resource

Be the go-to referral within the Brooklyn Advisors network for your specialty.

●

Community Access

Attend quarterly social mixers and build relationships with the same leaders you want as clients.

About John Collins

I've sat in the chair you're sitting in.

John Collins

I spent 40 years in C-suite and CEO roles across data networking, telecommunications, and food and beverage distribution — in US and international markets. I've built businesses, sold businesses, led through growth and through difficulty, and managed teams across multiple continents.

When I decided what I wanted to do with the last third of my career, I knew I wanted to do something with genuine impact. Peer advisory and executive coaching is the answer to that — helping leaders who are exactly where I was, make better decisions, grow faster, and build something they're proud of.

This is a vocation for me. Not a corporate job. That means you get someone who shows up fully — and who tells you what you need to hear, not what's comfortable to say.

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40+ Years C-Suite ExperienceData networking, telecommunications, food & beverage distribution
US & International MarketsBuilt and led businesses across multiple continents
Western New YorkServing Rochester, Buffalo, and the surrounding region
Executive CoachPersonal coaching paired with every peer group membership
Founding Members WelcomeJoin now and help shape the group from the ground up
Career Background

The through line:

new market creation.

2024 — Present
Chair & Founder — Brooklyn Advisors
Building and leading peer advisory groups for business owners and executives across New York City and Western New York.
· Vistage Chair NYC — June 2025 – June 2026
2016 — 2024
General Manager & BD Director — BakeMark / Valente
P&L ownership of a $25M NYC branch. Led post-acquisition integration of Valente Bakery Supplies into BakeMark.
2007 — 2021
Founder & CEO — Prova Systems / QIO Systems
Founded and scaled two technology companies — fleet telematics SaaS and wearable electronics — from initial specification to global market.
2003 — 2007
VP Business Development — Eleksen / BBC Vecta
Transformed Eleksen from £50K to £3.6M revenue. Built a new venture inside BBC's corporate arm from concept to VC pitch.
1992 — 2002
Director — Lucent Technologies / Radioscape / Bay Networks
International strategy and marketing across data networking, LAN, WAN, VoIP across the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Every role I've held has been a version of the same challenge: take something new, build the market, deliver commercial results. Data networking. Technology startups. Global telecom. Industrial distribution. The industries change. The fundamentals don't.

That breadth is what makes the peer advisory room work. I can engage credibly with a manufacturer's supply chain problem, a founder's succession question, a nonprofit CEO's board governance challenge, and a PE-backed operator's exit timeline — often in the same morning.

I'm not a specialist. I'm a generalist who's been in the room for every stage of company building — and that's exactly what a peer advisory chair needs to be.

40+
Years Operating
Global Experience
6+
Industries
Cross-Functional Intelligence
4
Continents
US, Europe, ME & Asia
Get In Touch

Not sure if peer advisory is right for you?
Let's figure it out together.

Send me a note with a brief description of where you are and what you're working on. I'll respond personally — no sales team, no funnel.

✉
Email
john.collins@
bknyadvisors.com
✆
Phone
646-272-8938
👥
LinkedIn
Connect with John