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Team

Built by operators.

Elevo’s principals have started, run, financed and sold real businesses themselves — including under real constraints, like operating a business under U.S. sanctions. Advice comes from people who have had to live with their own recommendations, not just issue them.

Principals and bench

Real, senior, human people.

Founder

Entrepreneur, strategic business advisor and attorney with experience from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

Growth & Value · Outside General Counsel · M&A and Capital

Nick York, Founder of ELEVO Advisors

Nick York

Founder

Growth & Value · Outside General Counsel · M&A and Capital

Nick is an Entrepreneur, Strategic Business Advisor and Attorney with experience ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies, universities and national non-profit organizations.

Prior to dedicating himself full-time to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Nick had a highly successful twenty-year legal practice with firms in Cleveland, Chicago and Columbus. As an Entrepreneur, Nick has been an owner, investor, director and partner in several companies throughout his career with domestic and international operations.

Nick’s motivation and passion over his 25-year career has been to inspire and help people and organizations maximize potential. He has played leadership roles in a number of community and nonprofit organizations focused on improving the lives and conditions of the communities around him.

Nick is the Co-founder and Board Chair of the Ohio Innovation and Technology Association (OITA). Nick has served as Vice Chair of the University of Akron Board of Trustees. He has been a champion of entrepreneurship on the national level as a Board Member of the National Small Business Association (NSBA) in Washington, DC, and as Vice Chair of the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE), the largest small business member organization in the country.

Attorney

Business entrepreneur and attorney with a 25-year career leading complex product liability matters for Fortune 100 companies.

Outside General Counsel · M&A and Capital

John Patterson, Attorney

John Patterson

Attorney

Outside General Counsel · M&A and Capital

John is an accomplished and dynamic Business Entrepreneur and Attorney driven to create innovative business solutions with a broad impact. He blends a profound understanding of legal intricacies and business acumen to be at the forefront of opportunities in competitive business landscapes.

As an Attorney, John built a longstanding reputation as a leading product liability practitioner serving Fortune 100 companies nationwide. His legal career spanned over 25 years, where he led some of the industry’s most complex legal matters, representing diversified clientele in manufacturing, distribution, and retail. Here, he executed complex case and negotiation strategies to create favorable business outcomes and disarm high-risk matters with uncompromising ethical standards.

John now pairs his legal acumen and business savvy to drive business innovation and visionary leadership across new ventures and opportunities. He leverages data-driven solutions to optimize processes, close performance gaps, and adopt best practices with an unyielding pursuit of excellence.

John ushers a steady leadership approach to build consensus and effectively manage expectations of key stakeholders, client partners, and cross-functional teams to achieve goals and outperform expectations. He skillfully navigates the complex intersection of business and law to deliver distinctive professional capabilities to business pursuits and transform ideas into thriving opportunities.

Growth Consultant

Growth consultant and entrepreneur who helps purpose-driven founders align vision, leadership and business infrastructure.

Growth & Value

Megan Hiles, Growth Consultant

Megan Hiles

Growth Consultant

Growth & Value

Megan is a growth consultant and entrepreneur who helps purpose-driven founders align their vision, leadership, and business infrastructure.

Megan brings more than 12 years of experience in marketing, branding, and growth strategy, including serving as the first Chief Growth Officer at a Top 400 accounting firm. She partners with organizations to create alignment between vision, strategy, and execution, so that growth is intentional rather than reactive.

At ELEVO, where clear counsel and sound business decisions go hand in hand, Megan adds a layer of strategic clarity that helps clients not only navigate complexity but also build the systems and relationships that sustain long-term success.

Enterprise Risk Advisor

Executive security and enterprise risk advisor with over 20 years across organized crime, supply chain security, cross-border operations and corporate security leadership.

Enterprise Risk & Intelligence

Karlo Villalpando, Enterprise Risk Advisor

Karlo Villalpando

Enterprise Risk Advisor

Enterprise Risk & Intelligence

Karlo Villalpando is an executive security and enterprise risk advisor with over 20 years of experience spanning transnational organized crime, supply chain security, cross-border operations and corporate security leadership.

As Global Director of Security for a multinational manufacturer serving OEM and aftermarket customers, Karlo oversaw security across manufacturing facilities and distribution center operations in complex jurisdictions. His work connected the protection of people, assets and supply chains with business continuity and enterprise objectives.

Karlo served in Mexican Customs from 2009 to 2019, specializing in interdiction and intelligence operations targeting transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) at ports of entry while protecting legitimate international trade. During his federal service, he collaborated operationally with national and international law enforcement and military agencies.

Advisor, Mexico Relations

Bicultural entrepreneur who has launched and advised companies in both the United States and Mexico.

Enterprise Risk & Intelligence

Francisco Martinez

Francisco Martinez

Advisor, Mexico Relations

Enterprise Risk & Intelligence

Francisco is a bicultural entrepreneur with an extensive background in launching and advising companies in both the USA and Mexico. His unique background across these two cultures have endowed him with a deep understanding of the business landscapes in both countries, enabling him to navigate and bridge the nuances of each. Francisco’s extensive background and diverse international expertise make him a pivotal leader dedicated to driving innovation and excellence.

Francisco is currently the President and CEO of Direx Factor Humano, an HR consulting firm he started in 2015 in Monterrey Mexico. With over nine years of leadership in business process and organizational institutionalization, human factor consulting, and strategic planning, Francisco has driven significant growth and development within the company.

In addition to his role at Direx, Francisco has been the Vice President of Mexico Relations for NASCO (North America Strategy for Competitiveness) since 2006, focusing on enhancing the competitiveness of the North American supply chain, workforce, the environment, and energy independence. He also founded and participated as a board member for various companies in the USA and Mexico related to the import/export of Industrial Consumables, International Logistics, Robotics and Education.

Francisco spent a decade in Overland Park, Kansas, where he earned his MBA from Baker University and gained valuable corporate experience. He worked for Marley Cooling Systems, where he led business development across Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and China.

Francisco has been a guest trainer for Sandler Training México for over a decade, where he delivers training in sales, strategic planning, conflict resolution, and business management.

Technology Advisor

Bilingual executive with more than 25 years of international experience with Fortune 500 companies.

Enterprise Risk & Intelligence

Miguel Gomez

Miguel Gomez

Technology Advisor

Enterprise Risk & Intelligence

Miguel is a bilingual Executive with +25 years of International experience with Fortune 500 companies in the Manufacturing, Consumer Goods and Consulting industries. His expertise is in providing vision, leadership, and management to teams to drive profitability, growth, visibility and process effectiveness through the architecture, design and implementation of technology- based solutions and best practices. Visionary, entrepreneur, change agent with a track record of success, Miguel has built performing organizations in multinational environments creating a culture of continuous improvement, partnership and customer focus, bringing value and positively impacting enterprise performance and customer satisfaction.

He has led large teams in domestic and international markets to deliver large scale programs including IT Strategic Planning, Shared Services, Business Process Outsourcing, IT Financial Transformation, Acquisition Integrations, Enterprise IT Governance and Security, Data Harmonization, Business Information Visibility / Data Warehouse, ERP & CRM implementations, Applications Development and IT Infrastructure modernization.

A firm believer of technology as means to maximize potential, Miguel has expanded his domain of proficiency beyond IT to a broader scope including IoT, Industrial Automation, Industry 4.0 and Energy Services. Objective, open-minded, trusted adviser with in-depth technology expertise and global mindset, Miguel builds organizations focused on true partnership and value creation.

Our story

We are entrepreneurs and business owners as well as lawyers. So, we get it.

We did not start Elevo to build another advisory firm. We started it because we believe that business, done right, is one of the most powerful forces for good in the world, and that too many businesses are operating below their potential.

We have sat where our clients sit: made hard calls, built teams, launched ventures, raised capital, navigated transitions, and learned what it actually takes to create lasting value. Elevo is headquartered in Cleveland, and the firm’s roots and relationships there are real. The practice is not regional: clients are located across the United States and in Mexico, and the Enterprise Risk & Intelligence practice is cross-border by definition.

“When you flip the light switch in the morning, you do not care how the electric company generated the electrons. You want the light to come on. That is who you want working for you.”
Nick York, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Proof

What the claims rest on.

Built by operators
Principals who have started, run, financed and sold real businesses — including under real constraints, like operating a business under U.S. sanctions.
In-country operating presence
Cleveland, San Luis Potosí and Monterrey — real operations with payroll, permits and institutional relationships, not representative offices.
Bench depth
Senior professionals with Fortune 100 litigation, manufacturing CEO, regulatory investigations, human capital and enterprise technology backgrounds.
Named methodology and products
The Elevo Method and Elevo Aperture: a firm with intellectual property rather than a collection of individuals.