The Future of Web Development: Our Predictions for 2023
Let’s explore the latest trends in web development, and regurgitate some predictions we read on X for how they will shape the industry in the coming year.
Read more →About Jeff Lortz · Founder
He’s actually been in the seat.
PE-backed CEO. COO. CCO. Nuclear-qualified Navy Surface Warfare Officer. Member of an IPO leadership team. Jeff has done the work most business coaches only read about — and now brings that operating experience to Southeastern Massachusetts businesses that have earned it.
- Years Operating Experience
- 25+
- PE-Backed CEO Roles
- 2
- Nasdaq IPOs
- 2
The Story
From warships to boardrooms to your business.
The Navy & Enterprise Years
Jeff’s operating career started on the bridge of a nuclear-powered surface ship — where the cost of a bad decision wasn’t a missed quarter. Eight years as a US Navy Surface Warfare Officer instilled a permanent belief: systems matter, standards matter, and leadership means owning outcomes, not just activities.
After the Navy, he spent over two decades in enterprise technology — PTC, BMC, BladeLogic, Pegasystems, Acoustic, TOMIA, and Everbridge, where he was part of the leadership team through the company’s Nasdaq IPO. COO, CCO, Chief of Staff, SVP. He has managed P&Ls under PE pressure, rebuilt sales organizations, and led teams through acquisitions.
The CEO Chapter & Why Plymouth
Jeff’s most formative experiences came as PE-backed CEO at ProcessMaker and Fastr Corp — where the margin for error was thin, the investors had opinions, and every decision was his to make. He’s made the mistakes. He’s also made the right calls. Both inform how he works with clients.
Now he lives in Plymouth with his family — coaching youth sports on weekends, eating at the same restaurants, driving the same roads as the business leaders he works with. Coastal Growth Advisors isn’t a remote consultancy. It’s a local operating partnership built by someone invested in this region.
Career History
25+ years operating at the highest levels.
The full arc — from naval service to PE-backed CEO — now applied to Southeastern Massachusetts businesses.
2025 – Present
Coastal Growth AdvisorsFounder
Founder & Principal Advisor
Business advisory and executive coaching for privately held businesses across the South Shore, South Coast, and Cape Cod.
2022 – 2024
Fastr CorpPE-Backed CEO
Chief Executive Officer
Full P&L ownership, board management, GTM strategy, and investor relations at a PE-backed SaaS company.
2019 – 2022
ProcessMakerPE-Backed CEO
Chief Executive Officer
Led product repositioning, GTM rebuild, and international expansion at a PE-backed BPM SaaS platform.
2016 – 2019
EverbridgeNasdaq IPO
Chief Customer Officer / SVP Operations
Leadership team member through Everbridge's Nasdaq IPO (EVBG). Customer success, professional services, global operations.
2014 – 2016
Acoustic / IBM Watson MarketingEnterprise
Chief of Staff / VP Operations
Chief of Staff to the CEO at a major marketing technology platform. Strategic initiatives, operational discipline, cross-functional execution.
1998 – 2014
PTC · BMC · Pegasystems · TOMIA · BladeLogicEnterprise
Senior Operating Roles — COO, CCO, SVP
15+ years across enterprise software. Led global teams, rebuilt revenue organizations, managed through acquisitions.
1990 – 1998
United States NavyMilitary
Surface Warfare Officer — Nuclear Qualified
Eight years commissioned service. Nuclear qualified. The foundational leadership experience that shaped everything after.
What the Navy Taught Him
The lessons that don’t leave you.
Eight years commanding nuclear-powered ships taught Jeff things about leadership and operational discipline that no MBA covers. The same principles that applied on the bridge apply in a $20M business in New Bedford. Context changes. Fundamentals don’t.
Systems Over Heroics
Great organizations don't depend on heroic effort. They have systems that work consistently — so when a crisis hits, the response is disciplined, not improvised.
Standards Are Binary
A standard that isn't enforced isn't a standard. Tolerance for exceptions creates cultures where exceptions become the norm.
Accountability Without Blame
After-action reviews — honest analysis of what happened and why, without witch hunts. Learn from mistakes without destroying people.
Lead Through Others
A leader personally executing every critical task isn't leading — they're a single point of failure. Jeff works with leaders to stop being that.
Credentials & Roots
South Shore roots. Enterprise discipline.
Southeastern Massachusetts has an extraordinary concentration of privately held businesses that have built real things over real time. These businesses deserve enterprise-grade operating discipline. They just haven’t had access to it. That’s the gap Coastal Growth Advisors was built to close.
MBA — University of Rhode Island
Graduate business education with a regional focus.
BS Mechanical Engineering — UNH
An engineer's mindset: systematic, evidence-based, intolerant of solutions that don't actually work.
Certified Executive Coach — FocalPoint
Brian Tracy's FocalPoint methodology — one of the most established frameworks in executive coaching.
Certified Business Coach — FocalPoint
Dual certification covering executive coaching and business performance advisory.
US Navy Surface Warfare Officer — Nuclear
Eight years commissioned service. The foundation of everything that came after.
Plymouth, MA Resident
Not a remote consultant. A neighbor invested in this region and the businesses that define it.
“I’m not here to impress you with my résumé. I’m here to help you solve your actual problems. The résumé just tells you I’ve seen enough to know what a real problem looks like.”
“The best thing that can happen at the end of an engagement is that you don’t need me anymore. That means the system is working.”
From the Articles
Practical thinking for business operators.
Jeff writes about the operational challenges facing owner-led businesses in Southeastern Massachusetts — not theory, not frameworks for their own sake. Practical thinking from someone who’s been in the seat.
3 Lessons We Learned Going Back to the Office
Earlier this year we made the bold decision to make everyone come back to the office full-time after two years working from a dressing table in the corner of their bedroom.
Read more →Ready to meet your operating partner?
The first conversation is free. No forms, no assessments — just a real discussion about your business and whether this is the right fit.
Schedule Your Free Consultation
Plymouth, MA · Serving the South Shore, South Coast & Cape Cod