Core Acceleration Consulting
People = the Core
Our name says it all. We were founded on the concept that for businesses to accelerate, the people at the core of the organization must thrive. We specialize in turning processes and playbooks into elegant, actionable eLearning and training systems that help your business or trade group accelerate performance.
Max Olson, Founder and Managing Partner
Core Acceleration Consulting was founded by Max Olson, a strategic business leader with a career-long passion for developing entrepreneurs, driving businesses, and solving problems.
With experience in operations, recruiting, coaching, learning design, and strategy, Max founded the company with a focus on helping businesses and trade groups establish core learning systems. The company has worked with national & international trade groups and leaders in a wide range of industries in the strategic design and creation of learning systems in service of growth and performance.
Max’s business career began as a student at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he owned & operated a College Pro (CP) franchise. Upon graduation, he joined the corporate team, becoming the first US General Manager to achieve $10 Million in sales, and subsequently oversaw the Western USA as Vice President. In that capacity, Max ran the P&L for the business unit and consistently reached his profit, recruiting, and sales objectives.
After 12 years in operations, Max took on a North America portfolio in 2015 as the VP of Innovation & Learning for CP, a role in which he was able to fully embrace his passion for learning design & problem solving. Beginning that year, Max led a major company initiative to improve learning at all levels of the organization through a newly created Learning Management System (LMS) with original course design and a graduated learning approach to training. As a member of the PALM Committee at CP’s parent company FirstService Brands (which includes brands such as California Closets, CertaPro Painters, and Paul Davis), Max helped select and implement a cross-platform LMS for the system.
In 2019, Max founded Core Acceleration Consulting and has become a key partner in the growth of his clients ever since. In his free time, Max has a passion for running (he has completed 13 marathons), family, and continuous learning. He lives in Chapel Hill, NC with his wife, three year old daughter, and newborn son.
Scott Shaw, Partner
Scott Shaw joined Core Acceleration Consulting as a partner in January 2024. Scott has spent his career developing leaders and driving performance, with a focus on strong operations and growth-oriented systems development.
Prior to joining Core Acceleration, Scott was a key part of the "Big Shop" team supporting the largest franchises in CertaPro Painters (part of the larger FirstService Brands umbrella). Scott worked with owners and their leadership teams to drive productivity and problem solve key performance challenges as each business scaled. Scott has been an Examiner Coach in FirstService Brands since 2010 and more recently, earned CertaPro GM of the year honors in 2022. Throughout his career, Scott has been a leader of multiple teams, P&Ls, and strategic initiatives.
Scott brings a tremendous strategic and operational skill set to Core Acceleration. Among Scott's strengths is an ability to operationalize leadership & development training to maximize the impact it has on the front lines of an organization. This has been a major reason Scott and his teams have consistently outperformed productivity and performance expectations. A lifelong learner, Scott is passionate and genuinely driven by the concept of continuous learning, not only for himself, but for how it can impact others. Developing people is at the core of what Scott finds most fulfilling in his work.
Scott lives in Spokane, WA with his wife and three kids. He is a classic car enthusiast and spends his weekends on home improvement projects and spending time with family. An Eagle Scout himself, Scott is now an Assistant Scoutmaster with his son's scout troop and going on "outdoor adventures" is part of the family norm.