AvantGuard owner Josh Garner officially invited 11 familiar faces to share ownership of his business. The new owners come from the executive management teams of sister companies AvantGuard and Freeus. 

Previously, Garner was the sole owner of the holding company, Golden Aide, which served as an umbrella organization for AvantGuard and Freeus. It has since been replaced to accommodate the new ownership structure.

The new holding company is called Becklar, a name derived from the Bechler River in Yellowstone National Park. In addition to Garner, its ownership consists of executive-level members from AvantGuard and Freeus. Garner is the CEO of Becklar LLC. 

“The purpose of creating this new entity was to build a new ownership structure,” said Garner in an interview. “Our executives were really committed to this business as employees, and now they have the opportunity to participate on a deeper level.” He continued, “Collectively this group has invested $1 million into the business, so they are truly committed to seeing the company succeed.”

Garner explained the motivation for opening the ownership of the companies: “In 2017, we experienced significant growth, and we expect similar growth for the foreseeable future. We’ve strategically grown our team and added some very talented people to the mix. After we formed the team we wanted, the timing was right to add them as owners.” 

Becklar recently secured a $20 million revolving line of credit through Capital Source to give AvantGuard and Freeus dry powder for growth. Garner says, “That could take place in the form of acquisitions or starting new divisions.”

In order to position itself for continued growth and finalize its executive team, AvantGuard added a CFO, Brian Davis.