The BIG Wave Group

The Executive Team
Your Business Has
Been Missing.

Most advisory firms hand you a framework and a bill. We've run the P&L, closed the acquisition, and built the go-to-market motion ourselves. AI comes up when it actually moves a number — not because it's the pitch.

Schedule a Conversation Our Services
30K
Executive Network
$3.2B
PE Transaction Led
50+
Years Combined Operating Experience

Why BWG

Operators First. Advisors Second.

We've sat in the chair you're sitting in. That changes everything about the advice we give.

C-Suite Operating Experience

Thomas and Robert have run a multi-hundred-million-dollar P&L, navigated a PE transaction, and built organizations inside some of the most heavily regulated environments in the world. When we assess your business, we're doing it the way we'd assess our own.

AI, Applied Through the Right Partner

We don't keep an AI team on staff, and we're not trying to sell you one. Where AI genuinely changes an outcome for your business, we bring in vetted specialists from our network to do the work. Where it doesn't, we'll tell you that too.

A Network That Opens Doors

30,000 vetted executive connections across industries, functions, and geographies. When you need a CFO candidate, a channel partner, or a subject matter expert in a niche you've never navigated — we find them.

What We Do

Four Ways We Work Together

From ongoing advisory to targeted engagements — we match the right level to where your business actually is.

Flagship Service

Virtual Advisory Board Service™

Boardroom-level input without adding a board. We hand-pick the advisors your business actually needs from our network, then run the whole thing ourselves — selection, scheduling, follow-through. You don't give up equity, and you're not locked in past a quarter.

  • Access to our 30K executive network, matched to your specific gaps
  • Full board management — selection, facilitation, rotation
  • Simple monthly subscription, quarterly commitment
  • Defense, manufacturing, and software sector expertise
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Strategic Advisory

Growth Strategy & Exit Advisory

Whether you're building toward a sale or just trying to grow without breaking what already works, we've sat on both sides of that table. Thomas ran the operating side of a $3.2B PE transaction — he knows what a buyer is actually looking for, long before diligence starts.

  • Growth strategy and market positioning
  • Exit preparation and PE/strategic buyer readiness
  • M&A due diligence support
  • Board-level strategic planning sessions
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AI & Technology

AI & Technology Advisory

AI is one part of what we help clients sort out — through our partner network, not a sales pitch. We'll give you a straight read on where it's worth the investment and where it's a distraction, then bring in a specialist if there's real work to do.

  • Honest assessment of where AI actually helps your business
  • Introductions to vetted implementation partners, not vendors pushing a product
  • Realistic ROI and timeline — no hype
  • Available as a stand-alone consultation or folded into a broader engagement
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Custom Engagement

Custom Consulting Engagements

Some situations don't fit a standard scope — a compliance deadline, a messy system integration, a transaction that's further along than the board's been told. We scope those directly with you.

  • DoD/MOD compliance and ITAR-regulated program strategy
  • Enterprise-wide transformation and system integration
  • Complex organizational restructuring
  • Direct access to Thomas and Robert — no hand-off to junior staff
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The Team

People Who've Done the Work.

Every partner here has run something bigger than an advisory practice. That's who actually shows up on your calls.

Thomas Link
Thomas Link
Partner — Strategy & Operations

30 years as a C-suite executive in defense and technology. Most recently President of Ultra Maritime — $600M P&L, culminating in a $3.2B acquisition by Advent International. Thomas has sat on the other side of nearly every decision your board is wrestling with.

Robert Clark
Robert Clark
Partner — Network & Business Development

20+ years building companies and connecting the people who build them. Robert brings a 30,000-person executive network and a track record of helping businesses find the partners, talent, and pathways they couldn't find on their own.

Our Extended Network
Executives & Entrepreneurs, On Call

Beyond Thomas and Robert, we draw on a vetted network of former operators, functional specialists, and founders — brought in only when a specific engagement calls for it. You're not paying to keep an idle team on retainer.

Companies We Have Worked With

Ultra Maritime Boeing Raytheon General Dynamics Steel Dynamics Zimmer Biomet Schlumberger Our Sunday Visitor Bench Innovation Censys Bitoda Apple 80/20 Purdue University U.S. Army Special Operations

About BWG

Built for Companies That Need More Than Advice.

The BIG Wave Group was built on a simple premise: most companies don't need another consultant who's read the playbook. They need someone who's run the play.

We bring together C-suite operating experience, a 30,000-person executive network, and a partner bench for AI and technology work when it's genuinely needed — working directly on your business, not delegated to associates.

Based in the Midwest. Working nationally. Focused on manufacturing, defense, software, and any company serious about growth.

30K
Executive network across industries and functions
$3.2B
PE transaction led by our strategy team
100+
Companies advised across the BWG network
2
Partners. Direct access on every engagement — no associates, no hand-offs.

Let's Talk

Ready to Put Real Operators to Work on Your Business?

Start with a 30-minute call — no charge, no sales deck. We'll give you a straight answer on whether we're the right fit, and what a realistic path forward looks like if we are.

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