John Ratliff

CEO, entrepreneur and investor 

With over 25 years of experience as an entre-preneur, CEO and investment banker, John co-founded align5 advisors in 2013 to advise growth company entrepreneurs and family enterprises on a variety of strategic issues including sell-side and buy-side M&A. Prior to this, John was a managing director with STS Capital Partners, a boutique investment bank. John was also the President and CEO of Appletree Answers, a call center company he founded in 1995. He grew the company organically by implementing strategies from Rockefeller Habits 2.0, and through a series of acquisitions to 24 U.S. locations and 650 employees. John sold Appletree Answers to a strategic buyer in June 2012. In addition to growing the company‘s revenue and profitability, Appletree Answers had a remarkably low turnover rate of 18% versus the industry average of 110%.