Bio
Randy H. Nelson is a speaker, a coach, a qualified entrepreneur, and a former nuclear submarine officer in the U.S. Navy.
In 1991 Randy began his entrepreneurial career, starting his first company, Orion International. In the past 24 years, Orion has placed over 33,000 exiting military personnel into industry and has grown to become the largest military recruiting company in the US. Orion was sold to Centre Partners, a Private Equity Firm in 2007. Randy held the titles of CEO, President and Chief Financial Officer at Orion, and has remained on the Board of Directors since the sale in 2007.
Randy founded NSTAR Global Services in 2002 and held the title of CEO until September 2012. NSTAR was selected for the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing privately held companies in the US in 2007 (#163 on the list). NSTAR focuses in the high tech Semiconductor Industry and was sold in 2010 to M+W Group based out of Stuttgart, Germany. Randy’s day to day focus after the sale was expanding NSTAR’s services throughout the US, Europe and Asia , as well as working directly with the Global CEO on projects related to expanding M+W’s global service capabilities., He completed his service for M+W in December, 2013.
Randy prides himself on building long-lasting and industry leading businesses, as was recognized in 2012 as NSTAR (#8) and Orion (#9) were selected for the Raleigh Fast 50 list as the fastest growing businesses (2010-2012) at ages 10 and 22 respectively.
Randy now runs Gold Dolphins LLC, a coaching, speaking and consulting firm to help entrepreneurial leaders and CEOs become Qualified Entrepreneurs and achieve their maximum potential. During his time in the Navy, Randy gained invaluable leadership skills at a very young age and became qualified in both submarine operation and engineering. As his career moved to entrepreneurial endeavors and business leadership, Randy found that CEOs are not required to become qualified in their skill sets as he was required on his submarine. Taking his experience from the Navy and applying it to the business world, Randy developed a system for entrepreneurs to determine their most efficient role and make the decision to become a Qualified Entrepreneur. With topics ranging from vision creation to career-long learning and from financial leadership to creativity and discipline, Randy Nelson speaks to each audience member/reader as a humble entrepreneur who has learned from the mistakes he has made along the way and promotes self-reflection and accountability.
Randy has been a member of both the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) and Vistage (Global CEO Peer Group) for over 10 years. He is a strong believer in continued learning and has attended the EO Birthing of Giants program at MIT from 1999-2001 in addition to the EO Advanced Business Program at MIT from 2006-2007. He recently graduated from the EO London Business School program with 70+ global entrepreneurs in March 2015. Randy has attended Gazelles events for over 10+ years with his organizations.
Randy has served on the General H. Hugh Shelton Leadership Center Advisory Board for the past 12 years and is the current Board Chair. General Shelton was the 14th Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997-2001, serving under both President Clinton and President George W. Bush.
Randy’s first book in his Decision Series for Entrepreneurs™ is “The Second Decision; The Qualified Entrepreneur™” and is available at http://randyhnelson.com/book/