Murky Middle

Veteran high-level executives Doug Tatum and John Woelfel are on a mission to save entrepreneurs — from themselves.

They plan to do that through the Newport Board Group, an Atlanta-based firm growing quickly in nine locations nationwide, including Tampa. The crux of the firm's mission is to provide C-suite and board level expertise to companies in what's commonly called the middle market. Those are firms with 20 to 100 employees and $10 million to $50 million in annual revenues.

“That's a place where a company needs the most help,” says Tatum, founder and chairman of Newport. “They are too big to be small, and too small to be big.”