Philip Akin

About

Operator-turned-CEO coach who founded and scaled a laundry services business from a $500 start into an international, multi-location chain. Led high-stakes retail merger integration and rapid store expansion at Advance Auto Parts (600→1,200 stores in ~9 months; 2,500+ additional openings over 5 years) and developed an OGSI operations framework adopted by dozens of companies.

Key Strengths

• Founded and scaled a laundry services business from $500 investment into a multi-location chain across 30 U.S. states plus Canada, Ireland, UK, and 9 Southeast Asian licenses
• Built and applied a repeatable operations alignment framework (OGSI) adopted by dozens of companies
• Operational inefficiency prioritization using Pareto analysis with senior leadership to focus on highest-impact issues
• Led complex retail merger integration as SPOC at Advance Auto Parts, scaling from 600 to 1,200 stores in ~9 months
• Drove large-scale retail expansion, helping open 2,500+ additional locations over 5 years at a public company
• Coached ~45 CEOs/companies via Vistage training, supporting growth from $1–2M revenue to ~$5M and advising larger organizations (including banks)
• Strong executive communication approach: teaching leaders to ask better questions and build open, non-pejorative team communication
• Demonstrated adaptability and internal mobility (promoted into 6 roles in 3 years within a 45,000-employee organization)

Experience

Education

Awards

• #1 laundry system in the U.S. (four consecutive years) - Entrepreneur Magazine

Skills

Languages

Certifications