Mission
We create and implement strategic plans to help businesses proactively solve recurring problems.
Vision
We envision a world where people think proactively and strategically. To that end, we help small and medium-sized businesses conduct comprehensive situational analyses, develop and implement strategic plans for sustainable growth and success, improve their personal and organizational structures, systems, and productivity, communicate and resolve team conflicts more effectively, and prepare for succession to cement a lasting legacy.
We help business leaders find the problems they are sick of, and we work with them to develop plans to solve and eliminate those problems for good.
Through proactive planning, rather than reactive responding, we help business leaders step back to work ON their businesses, rather than only IN them.
“We believe that by proactively planning, rather than reactively responding, business leaders can work ON their businesses, rather than only IN them.”
Craig A. Escamilla
Values
We believe in:
- Proactive planning and strategic thinking
- Data-driven analysis and decision making
- Future-oriented creativity
- Effectiveness and efficiency
- Exceptional quality
- Availability and responsiveness
- Integrity and ethical behavior
Goals
CAE Solutions, LLC, was founded to pursue the following strategic goals:
- Serve a select and limited group of clients annually, with excellence, through plan development and implementation
- Provide training and coaching services in using a proactive mindset
- Contribute extensive practice-based knowledge to businesses’ strategy and planning resources
- Establish “go-to” resources in strategic thinking for small-to-medium businesses
- Re-invest in the communities that support us
Craig A. Escamilla
Hi! I’m Craig Escamilla, and I am fascinated by the intersection of human behavior and business decisions. I like to help others develop proactive solutions to recurring business problems. With fifteen years of consulting, teaching, and senior management experience, I have firsthand, practical experience helping others work ON rather than in their businesses. I’m a huge Seinfeld fan, and I love Jerry’s quote that says “innovation comes from asking, ‘What am I really sick of?’” I look for innovative ways to help others identify problems they are sick of and implement results-driven solutions.
Advising
As an advisor, I help small and medium-sized businesses with strategic plan development and implementation, succession planning, developing their leadership and staff teams, internal communications, resolving conflicts, and finding and retaining customers . My current and past clients throughout Texas are in the oil and gas, commercial and industrial construction, accounting, higher education, health care, funeral services, events and food service facilities, community service, family enterprise, and nonprofit industries. Thanks to our work together, clients have launched successful new business lines, increased sales revenue, client bases, and charitable contributions, developed clearer and more sophisticated organizational structures, clarified their strategic goals, improved interpersonal relations, and increased productivity and efficiency.
Coaching and Public Speaking
I also coaches clients and deliver workshops and presentations on strategy, business communication, improving meetings, productivity, leadership, and ethics. My speaking and coaching clients include salon owners, insurance agents, IT teams, engineering professionals, HR managers, and family enterprise owners.
Experience
Prior to launching CAE Solutions, LLC, I practiced what I preach at the Symphony of Southeast Texas and Lamar University. As Executive Director at the Symphony, we increased our annual budget by 20%, increased ticket sales and individual contributions by 25% each, conducted a successful Music Director search, published two case studies, and eliminated all financial debt.
In my eleven years in Lamar University’s College of Business, I’ve taught over one thousand students in various management classes. As the College’s Director of Accreditation and Assessment, I helped establish the student success office, which saw retention increases over 20% in three years. As the University’s Executive Director of Retention and Student Success, I oversaw a nearly 5% increase in first-year retention to record levels in two years. I also served on the Enrollment Management leadership team that achieved two consecutive years of record enrollment, retention, and graduation rates, despite challenges from tropical weather and COVID-19.
I have published case studies and articles on strategic planning, leadership, ethical behavior, social media management, HR issues, and nonprofit management. I’ve given speeches and presentations at national and international conferences and to local civic organizations on leadership, decision making, strategy, and ethical behavior. I led and served on teams that created undergraduate and graduate courses on critical thinking and decision making, productivity, organizational behavior, strategy, and conflict resolution.
I am proud to have earned Bachelor of Music and Master of Business Administration degrees. In 2008, I was honored to be selected as one of thirty participants in the League of American Orchestras’ Essentials of Orchestra Management Seminar, and I was named one of Southeast Texas’s 40 Under 40 Young Professionals in 2014. During my undergraduate music studies, I was selected as a McNair Scholar, conducting undergraduate research in musical improvisation. I believe strongly in community service, and am actively involved in Southeast Texas, specifically with the Rotary Club of Beaumont and the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, where I’ve served on the Boards and chaired the strategic planning committees for nearly ten years.
I live in Beaumont, TX, with my wife and better half, Laura, and I am proud to serve and serve with clients and friends throughout my community.