Proven success driving strategic growth through revenue and profitability enhancement while balancing operational responsibilities and the need for strong controls. Open communicator applying a value-based approach to assess business models, simplify complex issues, identify key drivers, and lead transformative initiatives.
FINANCIAL/OPERATING PERFORMANCE & PROCESS IMPROVEMENT LEADERSHIP
Strategic Planning • Restructuring and Reorganization • Crisis Management • Acquisitions and Partnerships
Venture Capital & Equity Investing • Technology Enablement • Process Automation • IPO Planning • Board and Investor Relations
Versatile executive with an MBA in Finance and a powerful blend of financial and operations expertise gained over 20+ years of executive management complimented by top tier turnaround Big 6 consulting experience spanning diverse industries including health care, telecommunications, information technology, shipping/logistics, retail, and manufacturing. Equally adept at directing management of financials, identifying and executing investment and product strategies, driving/supporting growth through operational excellence, business realignment, process improvement, and cost reduction initiatives. Readily motivates teams, pushing for accountability at all levels. Routinely asks “What if?” and embraces dynamic, changing business models - thinks like an investor; acts like an owner.
Served as COO and CFO for two businesses of holding company, restructuring each for substantial cost, efficiency, revenue, and customer retention improvement and enhancing positioning of one for potential sale or IPO.
Transformed business incubator from dream works shop into real businesses, assessing and distilling nine ventures to core group of three profitable companies that contribute approximately $7M annually in revenues.
Orchestrated M&A/equity investment strategies for $2B manufacturer of broadband equipment that delivered a 1,600% return on $40M investment through IPOs and gains from execution of zero cost performance warrants.
Met market-leading public records service provider’s reporting needs by architecting and overseeing development of $10K quick solution that would have otherwise been part of estimated $10M total rewrite of billing platform.
Created bidding/proposal database that standardized product configurations and program management costs, eliminated errors, and reduced headcount for satellite network group of leading cable/telecom equipment manufacturer.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
VERTRUE, INC. (Holding Company) 2008 – 2009
BARGAIN NETWORK, INC., Santa Barbara, CA
Chief Operating Officer (COO) & Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Accepted interim role at request of Board of Directors to lead analysis and restructuring of troubled privately held data aggregator offering subscriptions to database of foreclosed homes and discounted automobiles to consumers nationwide. Reported to President of Bargain Network and to CFO of Vertrue, with P&L accountability for $46M operation. Worked with potential buyers, and as decision was made for company closure, transitioned responsibilities to CFO hired for that purpose.
Identified and corrected logic flaws in business model and restructured overall operation and financial function to deliver greater efficiency, cost effectiveness, quality, and accountability:
● Rebuilt business trending model, enabling dynamic re-forecasts of 3-year revenue streams based on observed performance at each month end with accuracy within 1/2% of plan on recurring revenue.
● Realigned financial operations to focus on decision-making support versus accounting and instill business unit leader accountability, creating dashboards to enable actionable decision making, better forecast accuracy, consolidation of required weekly reports from 9 to 1, and reduction of month end close from 7 to 6 days.
● Identified and tapped opportunities for cost savings and efficiency, including conversion of call center from self managed to third party and reviewing and instituting changes to improve return on marketing media spend.
● Enabled net 29% increase in average lifetime retained revenue per acquired customer. Accomplished this by leading analysis and testing of new price points and development of revised product pricing.
MY CHOICE MEDICAL HOLDINGS, INC., Alpharetta, Georgia
Vice President Finance & Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Approached to take on exit planning including restructuring of $70M physician practice management company providing lead generation, marketing, and financing services to 170 plastic surgery centers nationwide. Goal was to position this privately held company for profitable exit by sale or public offering within 3 years. Reported to My Choice President and Vertrue CFO, with responsibilities spanning accounting (including periodic and ad hoc Board of Directors reporting), forecasting/metrics, risk management, physician reimbursement negotiation/contract review, pricing and commission strategy, regulatory compliance, modification of loan underwriting policies and loan loss reserving methodologies, and interaction with IT (product development), Marketing (market spend analysis), and Sales (call center management).
Based on analysis of operating and financial structure, drove top line improvement and enhanced business value through multiple cost reduction, process automation, compensation/incentive, risk abatement, and pricing initiatives:
● Reduced operating costs by $4M (14%) by renegotiating terms with service providers.
● Automated and standardized lending process, moving from paper-intensive processing to electronic, web-based portal that reduced accounting department headcount requirement by 8 (62%) and shipping costs by 60%.
● Boosted cash flow and revenues with creation of alternate incentive structures that increased average prepaid cash component per procedure from 28% to 42%.
● Generated 6% year-over-year revenue growth despite 28% market decline by reducing pricing to better align with market and drive volume, based on competitive analysis.
● Reduced loan risk and default exposure substantially with new underwriting guidelines, though unsecured lending risk ultimately led to company closure (assisted with orderly shutdown).
CHOICEPOINT, INC., Alpharetta, Georgia 2001 – 2007
Provided M&A, divisional financial leadership, FP&A, and process improvement leadership for various entities and business units of nation’s leading provider of public records, insurance industry data aggregation, identification, and credential verification services.
Financial Officer/AVP Finance – Public Filings Group
Chartered as “Pricing and Process Improvement Czar” in combined operational/finance role to restructure and optimize processes of $115M division to offset planned elimination of high-risk customer segment comprising approximately one-third of business due to stricter credentialing and data security requirements. Integrally involved with pricing, product development, data purchasing strategies, and assisting sales team as co-presenter on large bids and proposals.
Identified and implemented strategies to align variable costs with revenue, improve billing and reporting systems, rationalize pricing and purchasing, introduce new offerings, and eliminate unprofitable revenue streams:
● Improved average revenue per billing customer by 17% with behavioral-based and ‘seat rate’ pricing models supported by data cost tracking templates to facilitate pricing decisions and data purchases (eliminated $1M in unprofitable revenue streams). Managed establishment of vertical sales groups, and assisted with conversion to new data providers.
● Played key role in development of new government data delivery solution that exceeded first-year sales target by 30%, working closely with Product Development to produce replacement for non-competitive, failing platform.
● Spearheaded low cost development of OLAP reporting application affording high quality, dynamic visibility into account, product, and vertical activity across 5 billing platforms, in 60 days. Workaround accomplished for $10K what would have otherwise been part of massive $10M rewrite and platform consolidation.
● Leveraged reporting database to create vertical and divisional monthly reporting packages providing insight into customer behavior and performance across products/divisions. Enabled identification of cross-sale opportunities yielding up to 100% increases in account revenue and elimination of non-contributing revenue streams.
Director of Finance (Departmental CFO) – Nursery Operations (In-House Incubator)
Selected by Chair to assess incubator’s 9 new businesses, validate business models, create pricing models and business cases, prepare for absorption into established business units, capitalize internal development, and develop Sarbanes Oxley documentation and controls. Managed accounting for all companies, and continued to support M&A and Corporate Finance groups with valuations, impairment testing, negotiation, and special projects as needed.
Turned around multi-million dollar think tank, shutting some ventures down and galvanizing remaining businesses from R&D stage to profitability point and ultimate generation of ~$7M per year in incremental, profitable revenue:
● Identified, valued, purchased, and integrated two distinct businesses.
● Delivered 70% ($15M to $4.5M) reduction in combined expense and capital spending in 2-year period.
● Eliminated new ventures’ need for manual invoice generation by directing creation of billing interface linking production platform to existing billing platform.
● Served as Strategic Pricing Lead for “ChoicePoint in a Box” project targeting data product sales to big box retailers.
Director of Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions / FP&A – Corporate
Reporting to CFO, worked with business unit leaders to manage acquisitions and improve operations.
● Executed 6 transactions ($200M combined value) in 6 months, including valuation, negotiation, purchase, and integration.
● Created new pricing models contributing to 22% business unit profit margin increase while retaining market share.
● Identified and executed on opportunities realizing in excess of $5M in annualized cost savings.
SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA, Lawrenceville, Georgia 1997 – 2001
Manager of Finance, Equity Investing, Mergers & Acquisitions – Corporate
Managed or assisted with all investment analyses, equity investment negotiations, IPO planning, FP&A prep work for analyst calls and earnings releases, and quarterly industry/competitor/customer trend analyses.
● Grew $40M in investments to $680M over 2 years driven by IPO’s and zero cost warrants tied to product purchases.
● Played active role in IPO planning for PowerTV, software division of Scientific Atlanta.
Process Reengineering Director – Satellite Networks Group
Reporting to CFO of $100M division, won Top Process Improvement Award for outstanding results delivered.
● Reduced lead time for budgetary quotes from 4 hours to 20 minutes with interactive bidding database that improved bid accuracy, tracked 3rd party custom price requests, and refreshed raw material costs via SAP interface.
● Drove value required to support sale of business with reorganization and headcount reduction.
PREVIOUS CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
● PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS, Corporate Finance Group – Senior Associate (Atlanta, 1996-97): Led turnaround as acting CFO of distressed clothing manufacturer and created acquisition funnel for one of nation’s largest shipping companies that reduced field of 450 possible companies to 15 strategically viable targets.
● THE LENOX GROUP, Corporate Finance Group – Senior Associate (Atlanta, 1995): Analyzed and presented business investment opportunities to investment board for startup private equity group.
● ERNST & YOUNG LLP, RESTRUCTURING AND REORGANIZATION GROUP – Manager (New York, 1993-95): Advanced from entry level staff position to management in two-year period, creating liquidation, restructuring, merger, and bankruptcy emergence strategies for businesses including sale of $3.5B retail business generating 121% recovery of pre-bankruptcy exposure.
● Early employment prior to and during graduate school includes Strategic Planning Manager at RepCo Marketing of Marietta, Georgia, and International Letter of Credit Specialist for First Union Bank of Charlotte, North Carolina.
EDUCATION / ARTICLES PUBLISHED
MBA Finance – International Emphasis, Georgia State University Robinson School of Business, 1993
BA Political Science/ Minor Economics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 1989
~ Senior Thesis on Governmental Impact on Product Demand nominated for publication ~
BOARD EXPERIENCE / ADDITIONAL CERTIFICATIONS
FINANCIAL EXECUTIVES INTERNATIONAL
National Board of Directors, Southeast Region, 2009 ● President and Board Member, Atlanta Chapter 2008-09
Active Board Member, Atlanta Chapter 2002 – 2010
AMERICAN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
Certified Strategic Planner, 2000 |
