We don’t just advise.
We activate!

Accentuate exists for leaders who are ready to scale. We started the firm in response to a pattern we saw repeatedly: strong strategies that never made it through execution.

We’ve led businesses through growth from tens of millions to hundreds of millions. Along the way, we learned that scaling only works when systems and cadences evolve as fast as the business itself. That belief is baked into everything we do.

At Accentuate, we don’t hand over decks and walk away. We activate. Through Acceleration Sprints for quick wins and proprietary frameworks for lasting scale, we help leaders move faster, grow stronger, and build generational companies that last.

SEE HOW WE SCALE

Building for the Long-Term

Accentuate is a family business, with three generations working together.

That perspective shapes how we think about growth. We aren’t interested in short-term wins that compromise long-term durability. We care about building companies that last; companies that can transition leadership, evolve across decades, and continue creating value over time.

We live the discipline we help others install.

OUR ACCENTUATORS

Marnie Kittelson

CEO, BUSINESS ENGINEERING STRATEGIST
Marnie helps companies stop tripping over their own growth by fixing the systems underneath the work.
She works with CEOs, founders, and leadership teams who are smart, capable, and frustrated that effort keeps increasing while traction doesn’t.
Her perspective comes from decades inside corporate America, leading both companies and global divisions, as well as building four businesses from the ground up.
Marnie has corporate and consulting experience, has been a professor, is a speaker, and brings lived experience to her work.
When she’s not working, she’s an avid pickleballer, enjoys adventures with her kids, plays with her 5-pound Miniature Pinscher (who prefers to oversee operations from atop her desk), and works with numerous non-profits and charitable boards.
This month’s crazy company question:
WHAT HILL WILL YOU DIE ON?
The Oxford comma, obviously.
Ainsley Schwerr

ALIGNMENT STRATEGIST
Ainsley keeps Accentuate running smoothly by managing the flow of work, coordinating moving pieces, and keeping priorities clear as projects evolve.
She makes sure the right conversations happen at the right time, details don’t slip, and momentum doesn’t stall. When engagements feel organized, responsive, and well-paced, Ainsley is usually the reason.
Outside of work, Ainsley is a competitive ballroom dancer, an ESL teacher (both volunteer and professional), and a busy volunteer (she just wrapped a food drive that brought an impressive 900+ pounds of food to a local food shelter!).
She’s also a sought-after speaker, emcee, and panel moderator on environmental and climate causes.
This month’s crazy company question:
WHAT HILL WILL YOU DIE ON?
Spinach is the best pizza topping.
Margaret Ann Gomez

DESIGN STRATEGIST
Margaret Ann leads Accentuate’s creative work. She’s responsible for turning complex ideas into clear, compelling visual systems.
She approaches design as translation, not decoration. Her work has a reputation for sticking, once creating a logo so memorable that people lined up to get her autograph at a client’s annual conference when it debuted.
Outside of work, Margaret Ann is a hockey mom extraordinaire. She doesn’t just cheer from the stands. She has held board positions, fundraises, plans events, manages social media, and offers her design services.
She also makes time to mentor the next generation of designers, speaking in classrooms about what creative work actually looks like in the real world.
This month’s crazy company question:
WHAT HILL WILL YOU DIE ON?
Taking a family photo on holidays
Catherine Turcins

ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIST
Catherine is Accentuate’s business development lead and client advocate. She’s the person who makes the first conversation easy, keeps communication clean, and ensures clients feel supported from “we’re interested” to “this is working.”
She’s equal parts relationship-builder and translator, turning client needs into clear next steps.
Catherine also runs a household that could qualify as a small logistics company. She has two girls following in their mom’s footsteps as softball standouts, which means practices, games, carpools, and the kind of calendar management that deserves a medal.
She’s the calm in the middle of the motion and somehow still shows up fully for the people around her.
This month’s crazy company question:
WHAT HILL WILL YOU DIE ON?
Snacks are not optional. Snacks are strategy.
Danielle Mowery

OPERATIONS STRATEGIST
Danielle is the backbone of Accentuate. She oversees operations and finance, making sure the business runs accurately, reliably, and without surprises.
She’s spent years running multiple family businesses, which shows in how she works: calm under pressure, fluent in details, and unflappable when things get complicated.
Danielle has a rare ability to see how everything connects and to step in wherever needed to keep the whole operation steady.
Outside of Accentuate, Danielle manages a maple syrup farm that produces an impressive amount of genuinely excellent maple syrup, loves to travel (especially to warm, beachy places), and has a deep appreciation for work that’s done well and done once.
This month’s crazy company question:
WHAT HILL WILL YOU DIE ON?
Dogs are sentient beings.
Ryan Schwerr

EXPERIENCE TECHNOLOGIST
Ryan keeps Accentuate’s tech stack running smoothly and intentionally, and works closely with Marnie on research initiatives, handling the heavy lifting of analysis, aggregation, and synthesis.
If the data is clean, the insights are clear, and the tech quietly works in the background, Ryan has probably been involved.
Outside of work, Ryan is an avid chess player, a gamer, and a dedicated football enthusiast. He enjoys games that reward strategy, foresight, and patience, which explains a lot about how he approaches his work.
This month’s crazy company question:
WHAT HILL WILL YOU DIE ON?
Spinach is for salads. NOT pizza.
Houston Harris

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIST
Houston helps leaders make smart technology decisions without making technology the point.
He brings deep experience advising organizations on how technology, strategy, and execution intentionally fit together. We rely on him for steady judgement, practical insight, and an ability to make the hardest problems feel manageable, and even fun.
A true Southern gentleman, Houston approaches his work with much more grace and humor than his somewhat serious photo might signify. Oh, and feel free to call him with an issue and say, “Houston, we have a problem.” He’s NEVER heard that one before!
Outside of work, he spends as much time as possible with his family, and travelling when he can.
This month’s crazy company question:
WHAT HILL WILL YOU DIE ON?
Ties are for weddings and funerals.
Yvonne Kittelson

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Yvonne is Accentuate’s executive assistant and handles administrative details, keeps things organized, and looks after the overall well-being of the team.
Working alongside two generations of family, Yvonne brings focus, reliability, and a calm presence to the business.
Outside of work, Yvonne is anything but idle. She’s a devoted puzzle junkie, designs and makes her own greeting cards, keeps a standing weekly coffee date with “the girls,” and is famous for baking quick breads and cookies for family and friends.
She’s proof that experience, curiosity, and energy don’t have an expiration date.
This month’s crazy company question:
WHAT HILL WILL YOU DIE ON?
Thank you notes should always be handwritten.
Barry Schwerr (in Memorium)

WORKPLACE STRATEGIST
Barry was part of Accentuate from the very beginning. Even while fighting pancreatic cancer, he remained deeply engaged in shaping the company. He was especially proud that Accentuate had become a three-generation family effort, often insisting, with a grin, that both kids were smarter than the rest of us anyway.
Barry spent his career helping organizations run better and helping employees’ lives improve, one practical change at a time. He held both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in HR from the University of Minnesota and brought a rare mix of sharp insight, strong intuition, and a willingness to say the thing everyone else was thinking but no one wanted to voice.
His sense of humor was warped, caustic, and unforgettable, getting him into trouble more often than not. It also made him trusted. Barry cared deeply about fairness and dignity at work, and he never lost sight of the human impact behind systems and policies.
Barry was a die-hard Gopher fan, maroon and gold through and through, and he and Marnie insisted those colors become part of Accentuate’s identity. They remain a quiet tribute to him and the values he helped instill here: honesty, courage, and the belief that work can be made better without losing its humanity.
Barry passed away on December 14, but his influence is woven into how Accentuate operates and how we show up for one another.
We miss him deeply. We honor him daily.