Small Business Advice and Counseling

Do you have the right personnel mix to achieve success? How strong is your cash flow? Are you thinking about selling your business? Our experienced Small Business Development Center (SBDC) counselors can assist you, at no cost, in developing specific management skills and practices; evaluate the financial performance of your business and assess personnel needs.

Fill out our Request for Counseling Form to schedule an appointment with one of our business counselors.

Our Business Counselors

Vicki Lynne Morgan – Counselor

Vicki Lynne is President of Califon Connection LLC, doing business as Animal Brands Marketing, Sales Representation, & Consulting Agency; Russmor Marine; and Russmor Marketing Group.

Russmor Marketing Group was founded in 2001 for the purpose of helping other business owners address issues related to identifying target markets, bringing products and services to market, building brand recognition and trust, and attracting and keeping customers. As a speaker, instructor, small business consultant, and Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach, Ms. Morgan helps her audience to build strong foundations and to ‘look around corners’ in order to keep pace with their aggressive marketplaces.

Vicki Lynne’s clients include private businesses, trade groups, NJSBDC, and many New Jersey Colleges and Chambers of Commerce. At the SBDC at Raritan Valley Community College she writes and conducts marketing and selling certification programs including: MASP, ECP, and SEA. She is President of Somerset Hills Business Network and Coordinator for the Marketing Club of NJAWBO Middlesex-Somerset Chapter. She is also on the Board of Directors for Gateway Regional Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Advisory Committee of the Raritan Valley Community College Academic Business Department.

Karen Katcher – Counselor

Karen Katcher has produced a formula for creating successful businesses. Her approach to every situation intricately examines all aspects of the client’s business. Based on extensive research, she applies educated theories and evaluates the results before delivering a concrete solution certain to deliver success.

Karen developed a solution to increase sales by nearly 30% for an international risk management and fraud protection company. Another area Karen tackled was turning around a poor performing data center within a year, while bringing $1 Million in profits to the company.

She also developed and grew a $1 Billion business at AT&T, known as the AT&T Universal card. In fact she named it. Karen was involved in all aspects from developing and implementing the strategic and business plans, in addition to creating the marketing plan. This product changed the industry’s way of doing business.

An avid public speaker on many professional topics, Karen conducts networking seminars for various groups. She also offers seminars on business start-ups, business and market plans and training in management and sales. She provides counseling for SBDCs and mentoring for the Economic Development Authority through their Entrepreneurial Training Institute program.

Karen holds an MBA degree in finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University and is involved in a variety of business groups and Chambers of Commerce.

Ed Dolan – Counselor

Ed Dolan is an accomplished veteran in steering businesses to success. After years as a successful CEO and business leader in a variety of industries, Ed founded Kiva International Business Group in 2001 to work one-on-one with business owners. He also co-founded and is CEO of EPIC Results Inc. which provides training to enable companies to achieve breakthrough performance in sales, profit and customer satisfaction. Ed’s training, guidance and advice have enabled more than 2,000 entrepreneurs to successfully start and grow their businesses.

In addition, Ed is a founder of the Organization for Entrepreneurial Development, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to “unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit,” and the author of the “Murray” series of business books including:

“Meet Murray – Why Selling to Business Owners Doesn’t Work” and “Who’s Running Your Business – Inside theMind of Murray”, both of which are available on Amazon.

Ed is a fellow and trustee of the Institute for Independent Business. He is a frequent counselor and seminar presenter for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC). His company, Kiva, has sponsored the Young Entrepreneurs Organization (YEO) of New Jersey and Ed is a member of the Venture Association of NJ, Vice Chair of the Somerset Hills Business Network, which is part of the Gateway Regional Chamber of Commerce, and he volunteers as an Ambassador for the Somerset County Business Partnership.

Carla Fallone – Counselor

Carla designed, started, developed, owned and maintained a successful service and product-oriented entrepreneurial business as a bakery, cafe, retail and wholesale food services corporation. She successfully launched new product introduction projects to both retail and wholesale factions including restaurants, caterers and fortune 500 corporations. During this period, she was invited each semester as a guest lecturer on minority entrepreneurship/intrapreneurship and venture plans at Rider University and other statewide organizations. Since 2004, Ms. Fallone has counseled/mentored entrepreneurs and existing small businesses at The College of New Jersey, Rutgers University and Raritan Valley Community College. Carla has worked extensively with Chambers of Commerce and municipalities small business, commercial, and economic resources throughout the area. She is an instructor of many workshops, including the SEA program at RVCC and at Mercer County Community College, Middlesex Community College for various government and business organizations. Currently she is the owner of Fallone Business Resources and an adjunct professor for the TCNJ School of Business Management.

Linda Dousis – Counselor

Linda Dousis has a rich and varied business background. After a diverse background with both scientific instrumentation companies and electronic component distributors, she joined a small company called Rheometrics, Inc. During this time, Linda served as Vice-President of Finance, Administration, Human Resources and Systems, responsible for setting up, managing and staffing Finance, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Production Control, Customer Service, and Sales & Marketing. She also served as Managing Director of a German subsidiary and was responsible for “Special Projects”, including site selection, building lease and purchase negotiations, renovations of facilities and evaluation of underwriters for a planned IPO. Rheometrics was eventually sold to a larger company called TA Instruments. Following Rheometrics, Linda joined Nametre Company. Although in business for 25 years, the company had never grown because it failed to recognize the potential of the process control instrumentation marketplace. Linda eventually became President and, by expanding into process control, grew the company from annual sales of only $300K to over $4.5 million. After the death of the owner, she negotiated an employee LBO from his estate and the subsequent sale of the company to Metrisa, Inc. In 2006 she formed Administrative Services & Consulting, LLC (AS&C) to use her 30+ years of experience in growing companies to help other small businesses deal with their growing pains. Today, she serves over 50 different clients, many of which she signed on as a result of her involvement with The Somerset County Business Partnership.

Domenick Celentano – Counselor

President of Celentano & Company. His firm works with entrepreneurs and family businesses in businesses concept development, business planning, business finance, strategic planning, conflict resolution, succession planning, encompassing all of the elements for a sustainable food business. He is also co-founder of The FoodPreneur™ LLC, an organization providing entrepreneurial Mentoring as well as Professional Educational Forums tailored to the specialty food industry.

Mr. Celentano is an Adjunct Professor at Silberman College of Business – Fairleigh Dickinson University where he teaches Entrepreneurship and Family Business Management. He also coaches and mentors at the Small Business Development Center at Raritan Valley Community College. Mr. Celentano has an MBA with a concentration in Food Marketing from St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA.

Domenick has held key executive positions of Celentano Bros., Inc, creating the 2nd largest national brand in the Italian prepared foods category. The company is best known for the Celentano brand of Italian Frozen Pastas and Prepared Meals (its flagship product, the round Ravioli).

Salvadore Ricciardone, Jr. – Counselor

Sal is a former senior executive with three Fortune 500 companies. He has more than 33 years of business experience, mainly in leadership roles. His expertise is in all forms of business insurance. He also specializes in working with start-up businesses. Having spent over 20 years in the New Jersey business community, he is well versed in the State’s business environment.

Roland Reinhart – Counselor

Mr. Reinhart has developed and executed scores of direct marketing programs for major brands in numerous industries for over 20 years. His company, Reinhart Marketing Group, works with non-profit organizations and businesses to attract customers and increase marketing effectiveness through technology.

His Internet Marketing expertise includes: Custom Website Design, Email Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Digital Advertising, Video Production, Podcast Production, and Social Media Marketing.

James Carty III, Esq. - Counselor

James E. Carty, III is a 1987 Harvard Law School graduate.  Mr. Carty graduated cum laude from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Government and Afro-American Studies in 1982. He is a former IBM Marketing Representative who began his legal career with the law firm of Kramer, Levin, Nessen, Kamin & Frankel, where he practiced in the areas of information technology law, intellectual property law, general corporate law, commercial law, and financing and securities law.   

 Gail Leopold Pester – Counselor

 Gail’s Somerset County practice is focused on commercial real estate   and business transactions, including the acquisition and sale of real property, commercial lending, drafting and negotiating retail and office leases, drafting and negotiating business contracts, and entity formation and corporate governance.  Gail holds a JD with Honors from George Washington University and a BS in Consumer Economics from Cornell University.  Gail is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association and is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey.

Rita Auld – Counselor

Rita Auld has been a member of Senior Management teams for the past 15 years and has had direct responsibility for Human Resources, Administration and Facilities functions in companies as diverse as Accounting, Engineering, Manufacturing (semiconductor equipment as well as flexible sampling) Biotech and Specialty Pharmaceuticals.  She started her career as an Executive Secretary managing offices and staffs and worked her way up to the Senior Management level most recently as a Vice President, Human Resources and Administration for a Specialty Pharmaceutical company with a global operation before starting her own Consulting business

Rita has both an AS and BS in Business Administration from Thomas A. Edison State College and is a Certified Human Resources Professional from Cornell University. Auld Consulting LLC is certified as a Women Business Enterprise with the State of New Jersey.