Meet The Team Behind Innovative Business Advisors
For decades, our experienced advisors have helped business owners build stronger companies, understand business value, navigate ownership transitions, and confidently plan for the future.
Helping Business Owners Realize Their Dreams
Our Story & Our Approach
Innovative Business Advisors was founded on a simple belief: business owners deserve experienced guidance when making some of the most important decisions of their lives.
Every business owner has a vision for the future, but navigating growth, valuation, succession, or the eventual sale of a business can be overwhelming without the right strategy and support.
Our team brings decades of real-world business ownership, executive leadership, valuation expertise, and transaction experience to help clients move forward with confidence. Rather than offering one-size-fits-all solutions, we begin by listening to understand each client’s unique goals, challenges, and vision for the future.
Whether you’re focused on improving profitability, understanding the value of your business, preparing for retirement, or planning your next chapter, we’re committed to helping you make informed decisions that protect what you’ve built and position your business for long-term success.
Listen First
We begin by understanding your goals, challenges, and vision before recommending a path forward.
Educate Clearly
We simplify complex business decisions by helping owners understand their options and opportunities.
Build The Plan
Every strategy is customized to support your objectives, strengthen your business, and maximize long-term value.
Guide The Journey
From growth to transition, we’re committed to helping business owners navigate every stage with confidence.
Leadership
Meet Our Principals
Behind every successful client relationship is a team of experienced business leaders who have built companies, led organizations, completed business transactions, and helped owners navigate complex financial decisions. Their combined experience allows Innovative Business Advisors to deliver practical guidance backed by real-world results.
Steve Denny
Principal
Steve Denny is the Co-Founder and Principal of Innovative Business Advisors, where he helps business owners increase profitability, strengthen enterprise value, and confidently navigate growth, succession, and business transitions. He specializes in advising privately held lower middle-market companies with annual revenues between $1 million and $50 million.
With more than 40 years of executive leadership and business advisory experience, Steve combines strategic insight with real-world business expertise. Before launching his own advisory practice in 2005, he spent 25 years in senior leadership roles with two Fortune 25 companies, earning multiple Chairman’s Club appointments and leading the development of a global customer relationship management platform.
Today, Steve is recognized for his expertise in business valuation, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic growth planning. His client-first approach focuses on understanding each owner’s goals and developing practical strategies that improve business performance while preparing for future opportunities.
A lifelong learner, Steve has completed executive training in Six Sigma, negotiation, leadership, and business development. He also remains active in his community through civic organizations, his church, and local leadership initiatives.
Terry Lammers, CVA
Principal
As Co-Founder and Principal of Innovative Business Advisors, Terry Lammers helps business owners understand, grow, and maximize the value of one of their greatest assets—their business. His advice is shaped not only by professional expertise, but by firsthand experience building and successfully selling his own company.
After joining his family’s fuel and lubricants business, Terry eventually became President and led an extraordinary period of growth. Through the acquisition of 11 companies over 18 years, he helped expand the business from $750,000 in annual revenue to more than $40 million before selling the company in 2010.
Today, Terry works with business owners on valuation, mergers and acquisitions, succession planning, and exit strategy. As a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA), he helps clients make informed decisions that strengthen business value and position them for long-term success.
Terry is also the author of You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know: Everything You Need to Know to Buy or Sell a Business, sharing practical insights gained from decades of business ownership and advisory experience.
Our Team
Experienced Professionals Dedicated To Your Success
Every member of the Innovative Business Advisors team plays an important role in helping clients achieve their goals. Together, we combine financial expertise, operational excellence, business brokerage experience, and client-focused service to deliver an exceptional experience from start to finish.
Marquita Trenier Wiley
Senior Business Broker
As President of Trenier Enterprises, LLC, Marquita has firsthand experience building and growing businesses through both acquisitions and new business development. Since founding the company in 2005, she has successfully expanded its portfolio while gaining valuable insight into the opportunities and challenges business owners face every day.
Her combination of financial expertise, entrepreneurial experience, and strategic thinking allows her to guide clients with professionalism, clarity, and confidence throughout every stage of the business lifecycle.
Brendan Barone
Business Broker
Brendan Barone is a Business Broker with Innovative Business Advisors, helping business owners navigate the buying, selling, and transition of privately held businesses. His background in commercial real estate, business brokerage, and strategic consulting provides clients with practical guidance throughout the transaction process.
In addition to his role with Innovative Business Advisors, Brendan is a Commercial Real Estate Broker serving clients throughout Illinois and Missouri. He works with buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants while assisting business owners with transactions that may include both the business and its underlying real estate.
Brendan also founded Front Runner Campaigns, a strategic consulting firm specializing in political and land-use initiatives. His experience negotiating complex projects and building stakeholder relationships has strengthened his ability to help clients achieve successful business outcomes.
Terri LaCroix
Office Manager
Throughout her career, Terri has developed extensive experience in office administration, database management, bookkeeping, marketing, and executive support. She also brings an entrepreneurial perspective, having successfully owned and operated multiple Etsy businesses.
Terri enjoys working alongside the Innovative Business Advisors team to help business owners achieve their goals while delivering a professional, organized, and positive client experience.