About Us

About Richard James & Partners

Business Consultants helping wholesale distributors outperform their competition by achieving customer-centric leadership and sales excellence.

Meet Our Team

James K. Schwab
Founder
Loyal Smith Jr.
Vice President of Business Development
Anthony Richmond
Executive Search
John A. Shand
Partner, Richard James & Partners
Dr. Jim Morgan
Chief Learning Officer
Nancy Weekley
WEE (Women Executives & Entrepreneurs)
Marc Mullis
Compensation Consulting

James K. Schwab

Jim Schwab co-founded RJP in October 2005 to focus on Executive Sales  Development. Previously he spent over 20 years  as a senior consulting executive with Manchester Consulting and SCA .

With  RJP he has extensive experience helping clients develop or renew their  Go To Market Sales Planning and Execution. His work focus is with stocking wholesale distributors, many who are private or family owned. He enjoys many extensive Executive Level Relationships with Distributors and their Manufacturing suppliers within many verticals .With RJP he is the lead consultant in many of the firms enterprise wide consulting or training client initiatives. 

Loyal Smith, Jr.

Loyal Smith, Jr.  is Vice President of Development and Client Services with Richard James & Partners.  Born in Cleveland, Ohio Loyal spent his early educational and business years there until moving to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2009.  Loyal is married with two children.

Loyal attended Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, at one time the practice location for the Cleveland Browns.  Loyal graduated with a degree in Business Administration. Loyal is still a fan of Cleveland’s professional athletic teams as well as the teams that play in Charlotte.  Loyal graduated from Cleveland State University with an MBA in sales and marketing.   

Loyal made a point of using that background to work as a Territory Sales Manager for the largest U.S. based privately held auto parts manufacturer.  Loyal worked for IBM for nearly a decade in administration and sales, covering clients as an Account Executive for large and small business organizations.  Loyal also served as Senior Sales Vice President for the premier company that generated business leads for Fortune 500 clients.  He also worked as Sales Manager for an engineering services company.  

Loyal’s focus for the last five years has been providing business development and customer relation services for Richard James & Partners, a very gratifying experience.   

Anthony Richmond

Anthony Richmond is Vice President, Talent Acquisition and Consulting Member with Richard James & Partners.  Born in Richmond, VA where Anthony spent his early educational years until moving to Fort Chiswell, VA for High School in 1993  .He  has lived in 14 different cities throughout his professional career, and currently resides in Charlotte, NC where he is determined to settle. Anthony has 3 children and 1 grandson. 

He attended East Tennessee University in Johnson City, TN on a football scholarship and graduated with a degree in Business Management. Anthony has always been a loyal Washington professional and a UVA sports fan. He enjoys golfing and most outdoor activities as well as attending live music and sports events. Anthony  holds 2 Black belts in martial arts.  

Anthony spent most of his career in the Freight, Logistics, and Supply Chain industry. He held many roles throughout his 19 years in the freight industry such as Regional Director, Vice President of Business Development, Agency Owner, and Vice President of Operations. He served as a contract consultant for multiple asset-based trucking companies to  develop a 3rd Party Logistics and Brokerage division within the company. 

Anthony’s focus for the last two years has been providing business development and talent acquisition services for Richard James & Partners, and finds it as a very gratifying experience.

John A. Shand

John Shand has over thirty years of business management experience in a diverse mix of corporate structures ranging from a large “Fortune 50” corporation to several medium size companies in various industry segments.

As a partner and senior consultant at RJP, his focus is to develop collaborative relationships with client top management teams to assist with improving top and bottom-line performance by delivering services that directly impact all phases of talent acquisition, management development, and sales organization improvement.

Additionally, he serves as RJP’s lead contact for its relationship with Affiliated Distributors’ member organizations. John enjoys family activities, golf, reading, and travel.

Jim Morgan

Jim Morgan, Chief Learning Officer and leads the development of RJP Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategic Sales Planning and Execution tools and techniques, enabling our clients to lead in their respective industries.

Dr Jim has 35 years of strategy and execution consulting experience, starting with Price Waterhouse Coopers and the last 10 as a partner with RJP. In addition, Jim leads a doctoral strategy and innovation agenda at Capella University’s School of Business & Technology. The result of direct application of this expertise? RJP clients enjoy a sales strategy execution rate that is 3x the success rate compared with the Global Fortune 2,000.

Dr Jim’s passion is adventure, travel and learning cultures. He has been to 31 countries and done business in 20.

Nancy B. Weekley

Nancy Boniface Weekley is a certified coach and coaching training facilitator. She is passionate in  helping people identify and reach their goals and fulfill their untapped potential. She has over 3 decades of banking, technology and software development experience, where she leveraged and enhanced several methodologies including Agile.

Her passion for identifying and coaching individuals to reach and leverage their full potential, has led her to partner with RJP as an independent consultant. Nancy is the Director and Creator of the Women Executive and Entrepreneurs Program(WEE Circle). She is working with RJP to develop a Coaching Mastery Program and an application to help coaches manage their sessions and prepare for results driven coaching.

Nancy established several community service connections through her leadership role at Wells Fargo. She continues to volunteer with Invest Write, Charlotte Family Housing and serving on the board of Product Development and Management Association.

She is currently raising and training her German Shepherd dog Hero for AKC Obedience

Marc R. Mullis

Marc is partnering with RJP for all compensation related projects including, but not limited to, incentive plan design and market labor rate research through his company  Payformance Partners.

As a Graduate of The College of Charleston with a B.S. in Psychology, He has always been interested in the art & science of motivation, as well as the statistical measures behind the motivating factors.

Through 25 years of compensation research and design experience. Marc is committed to co-creating environments that lead to employees reaching their full potential. Thus, increasing overall business performance.

When not engaged in human motivation, Marc can be found enjoying life outdoors or at concerts with his family and friends.