Board of Directors

Arthur ("Art") H. Baer

Arthur H. Baer serves on the Audit, Compensation, Governance and Special Subcommittee of the Board of SGRP. Mr. Baer was formerly the Dean of the College of Business Administration at Drexel University in Philadelphia. During his business career he held the positions of President of the $4B Europe/Middle East/African operations for Arrow Electronics, as well as held leadership positions at Standard Brands, Northwest Industries and Cablevision. He also served as a Director and Audit Committee Chair for Seneca Foods. Mr. Baer earned his undergraduate and MBA Degrees from Columbia University.

William H. Bartels

William H. Bartels serves as the Vice Chairman and a Director of SGRP and has held such positions since July 8, 1999 (the effective date of the Merger). Mr. Bartels served as the Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Senior Vice President of the SPAR Marketing Companies (SBRS since 1994, SINC since 1979, SMNEV since November 1993 and SMF since 1996).

Peter W. Brown

Peter W. Brown served as a Board Observer to the Corporation's Board of Directors from 2014 through December 2016, serves as a director of the Corporation's Brazilian subsidiary, SPAR BSMT and owns EILLC (which owns 10% SPAR BSMT). He also has served as a director of Business Ideas Provider, LTD, since 2012, and as a director of Affinity Insurance, LTD, since 2013. Mr. Brown received a BS from the University of Massachusetts's School of Natural Science and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts's Isenberg School of Management.

Robert G. Brown

Robert G. Brown rejoined the Board as a Director on April 24, 2020. Mr. Brown served as director of SGRP from July 8, 1999, the effective date of the merger of SPAR Marketing Force, Inc., and related companies, a business he co-founded, with PIA Merchandising Services, Inc. creating SPAR Group Inc., until his retirement on May 3, 2018. Mr. Brown served as the non-executive Chairman of SGRP from 2012 through such retirement, as the Executive Chairman and an Officer of SGRP from 2008 through 2012, and as the Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of SGRP from July 8, 1999, through 2008. Prior to the Merger in 1999, Mr. Robert G. Brown served as the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the SPAR Companies since certain of its predecessors were formed in 1979. He has a B.S in Mathematics and an MBA in Management Information Systems.

Panos Lazaretos

Panos Lazaretos serves as a Director of the Board of SGRP. Prior to that he was the Director of Business Development for Sales Services International and Director of Field Marketing Services for Adecco Group in CEE & MENA Region. Mr. Lazaretos started his career at the SPAR Group as a Programmer and has held titles of Director of R&D and IT Operations and finally as VP International Business Development. Mr. Lazaretos earned a BS Degree in Computer Science form SUNY New Paltz.

Jeffrey Mayer

Jeffrey Mayer serves as a Director and a member of the Compensation Committee. Mr. Mayer is currently the CEO of Soluxe Inc., a holding company of three subsidiaries, each with its own management team: Solomon Energy Inc., Solomon Energy Advisors LLC, and Solomon Community Solar LLC. Additionally he is the Executive Chairman of Oasis Charger Corporation d/b/a Juice Bar EV, a manufacturer and distributor of electric vehicle charger stations. Mr. Mayer also serves on the board of two privately held companies; Photobucket Inc. and Sperian Energy Inc., and as Advisor to and venture partner of Oak Investment Partners. Mr. Mayer holds a B.A. from Yale University and an L.L.B. from New York University.

Igor Novgorodtsev

Igor Novgorodtsev serves as a Director and member of the Audit, Compensation and Governance Committees. He has served in several technology leadership roles at Bank of New York Mellon, Bridgewater Associates, and Intercontinental Stock Exchange. He is also the CEO and founder of FlashAlert, low-latency market news service, and Managing Director of Lares Capital LLC, an investment fund. Mr. Novgorodtsev received MS in Mechanical Engineering from SUNY at Buffalo and MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.

Christiaan Olivier

Christiaan (Chris) Olivier serves as Chief Executive Officer, President and a Board member of SPAR Group Inc. since September 5, 2017.

As President & CEO he fosters a “culture of growth”, focused on innovating services, creating new technologies and spearheading complimentary acquisitions. With over 25 years as a retail executive he has successfully led global organizations bringing positive transformation in the areas of strategy, business development, sales, marketing, client service and operations. His ability to unite groups and executives have continually grown revenue and client base within each company he has served.

Prior to joining SPAR Chris served as President of Retail Activation with the Omnicom Group, during his tenure he considerably increased new business. Before that he was President at Advantage Sales and Marketing managing Sales and Marketing, then Chief Executive Officer at the Smollan Group a Sales & Marketing service firm located in South Africa.

Chris earned his BA and MBA from the University of South Africa, has been married for 28 years and has two daughters. He has resided in several countries and locations throughout the world.