David Nilssen, CEO
David co-founded Guidant Financial and has been a featured speaker at over 350 national and international events, covering topics from entrepreneurship to small business financing. In addition, he and his company have been highlighted in such media sources such as CNBC, Fortune Magazine, Entrepreneur, CNN and The Wall Street Journal. In 2007, the Small Business Administration (SBA) named Nilssen the National Young Entrepreneur of the Year and his company reached the INC 5000 list four of the past six years. In both 2008 & 2009, Ernst and Young named him a finalist for their coveted Entrepreneur of the Year award. In 2011, David released a book called Making the Jump into Small Business Ownership and was named one of the Top 100 Small Business Influencers. Nilssen is currently an investor/advisor in seven local start-ups and together, with his wife as the operator, owns a massage franchise.