EXPERIENCE
2007 - 2009 Broker/Dealer
Chief Operating Officer
Transformed Back Office Operations
I took over responsibility for back office operations of a mid-sized Broker/Dealer including Information Technology. Processing was largely paper based and manual. There was limited ability to track work on the floor. No metrics existed to measure performance. Policies and procedures were not well documented. Knowledge was passed from experienced processor to new hire resulting in inconsistent processing. It would often take a processor several months to reach full productivity. My challenge was to turn this into a scalable business.
My team and I developed and rolled out an imaging and workflow system that moved the company toward paperless processing and allowed tasks to be divided into smaller pieces that could be learned quickly. Systems for tracking work on the floor were developed. Productivity and error rates were measured at the processor level and for the first time processors were held accountable for their work. Service Level Agreements were established that defined the timeframes within which work was to be processed and achievement rates were calculated. Standard Operating Procedures were developed to ensure consistent training and processing.
As a result, new processors could be trained on a more narrow set of tasks and were able to become fully productive in about one week. When market volatility and regulatory changes led to a doubling of processing volume we were able to add additional processors and have them become productive rapidly. Service Level Achievement Rates improved from the mid-eighties to above 99.5%. Errors that impacted investors and/or our financial representatives were reduced by 67%
2005 – 2006 Financial Services Start-up
Chief Operating Officer
Positioned the Business for Sale
As a part of a reconstructed leadership team, I took over a company that had been growing very rapidly, but completely lacked operational integrity. There was no operations group and significant errors in revenue recognition were routine.
I created an operations group by consolidating multiple functions from across the company. My team and I then executed a systematic error reduction process by standardizing our offerings, establishing operational reporting metrics, putting in place a series of operational checks and balances, and implementing a process that identified and eliminated the root cause of errors.
Operational errors were reduced by over 80% and the integrity of our revenue recognition was significantly enhanced. We recently announced that we have agreed to be acquired by a Fortune 500 company.
2000 – 2005 Fortune 500 Financial Services Company
Vice President
Successfully Managed Several Divisions of a Large and Complex Organization
Installment Loans
When I took over Installment Loans it was thought that the business was well positioned and on a good trajectory. Within six weeks of my assuming responsibility losses on existing loans started to come in significantly above forecast, problems began to surface with a major IT project and response rates to our solicitations began to come in significantly below expectations.
My team and I revamped the loss forecasting process resulting in significantly more accurate forecasts. We made the difficult decision to shut down the major IT project on which the company had already spent approximately $50 million in favor of outsourcing the processes. Finally, plans were put in place to reinvent the business by developing a robust new set of products to address the response rate issue.
In spite of major write-offs associated with restructuring the business, we delivered $12.5 million of profit after tax in 2004 and booked $3.7 billion in new loans. More importantly, with the three major issues facing the business addressed, it was well positioned for the future.
Home Equity
Upon assuming responsibility for this business in September of 2003, I found a team of approximately 15 people testing direct mail marketed mortgages with a plan to lose $8 million in 2004 and no line of sight to profitability. The team was also pursuing the acquisition of a large mortgage company.
After thoroughly assessing the situation, my team and I discontinued the effort to purchase a large mortgage company because it was not a good strategic fit with the overall direction of the company. All efforts to market first mortgages were stopped and the business was refocused on direct mail home equity loans. The team developed a clear line of sight to a profitable business of significant size. Senior management had previously targeted this business for closure. However, after reviewing our new, more focused plan, a decision was made to allow the team to continue.
Results of the refocused Home Equity business were as projected. The business achieved profitability in the fourth quarter of 2004. The success of this business was the catalyst for the acquisition of a home equity lending business. This smaller acquisition combined with our internal business provided the company with a strong growth platform in the home equity market.
Risk Innovation
This group was charged with reducing risk across the US Card portfolio. I took over responsibility for three separate teams each working on testing a different platform for loss reduction. Unfortunately, the lines of business that would have to implement the platforms had not sponsored the work, and in fact, there was significant resistance to using the platforms in some cases. Further, at least one of the platforms lacked the analytic robustness needed to foster adoption by the lines of business.
My teams and I first worked to significantly increase the analytic robustness of the platforms. We then worked with the lines of business to develop a vision for Risk Innovation and secured their buy-in both for the existing platforms as well as future innovations.
This allowed us to develop line of sight to reducing charge-offs by $7 million in 2003, $83 million in 2004 and $286 million in 2005.
US Card Operations
In this role I led operations for four lines of business in US Card (i.e., Super Prime Card, Hispanic Line of Business, Young Adults and Installment Loans). Together these lines of business represented about half of US Card.
The challenge was to create a separate customer service and collections operation for each business from what had been a consolidated operation for all of US Card, and in doing so to capture the value associated with dedicated operations.
My team and I successfully disaggregated the operations. The final organization included approximately 3,000 associates in three states. In doing this we captured the following value in 2002: (1) $50 million of incremental Net Income After Tax, (2) Operating Expenses were 5% under budget, and (3) Net Adjusted Charge-Offs were 5.3% below plan.
US Card Collections and Recoveries
In February of 2000 I took over responsibility for US Card Recoveries. In January of 2001 I was given additional responsibility for US Card Collections while maintaining the responsibility that I had for Recoveries. In both cases I found operations that were being run as cost centers. Not exceeding budgeted spending levels and growing budgeted expenses year over year by as little as possible were the imparities.
I first recognized that there was a revenue component to these operations (i.e., dollars collected or recovered that would not have been received without the effort of this group). Next I refocused the group on profit maximization (revenue minus cost) rather than on cost minimization.
These changes led to higher costs but significantly greater revenue. The improvement was driven by things such as increased intensity, enhanced incentive compensation plans, the launching of an effort to pursue legal action against people who had the ability to repay yet refused to do so, more aggressive agency management strategies and a move toward outsourcing call center operations. The groups created incremental Net Income After Tax of $22.6 million in 2001 and $7.8 million in 2000 and exceeded Recoveries targets by $33.1 million in 2001 and $11.4 million in 2000.
1997 - 2000 German Owned Manufacturer
President and Chief Executive Officer
Executed a Start-up
A German manufacturer of switches, proximity sensors and enclosures approached me requesting that I start-up their US operation. When I accepted this challenge, they had no operations in the US. Therefore, I had to build the operations from the ground up.
The primary activities involved setting up basic infrastructure, hiring personnel, establishing a sales organization consisting of 18 Manufacturer’s Representatives and 30 Distributors, and setting up the warehouse and assembly operation.
The result of this effort was that we grew the business to nearly $5 million in revenue while operating profitably.
1994 - 1997 German Owned Manufacturer
President and Chief Executive Officer
Grew an Existing Business
The company is a German owned manufacturer of electrical and electronic connectors. When I took over as president and CEO of the US operation it had revenues of $30 million per year, was operating at breakeven, had about 100 employees and was growing revenue at 7% per year (slightly faster than the industry growth rate). The primary objective was to significantly increase sales growth and drive a meaningful increase in profitability.
After thorough analysis my team and I developed a vision to grow sales profitably by being the easiest company in the industry with which to do business. In support of this vision, we created an innovative new software package that made the customer’s job significantly easier by greatly simplifying the product selection process and automatically producing engineering drawings. This fundamentally changed the basis of competition in the industry.
The result was that sales growth increased from 7% per year to 15% per year. The company’s profits in the last two and a half years under my leadership exceeded the cumulative profits since its founding 19 years prior to my tenure. By the time I left, revenue had grown by 50% from $30 million to $45 million while the number of employees grew at a much slower rate from 100 people to 125 people.
1991 - 1994 Manufacturer of Industrial Sewing Machines
President
Led a Turnaround
In February of 1991 we acquired a nearly bankrupt manufacturer of industrial sewing machines. At the time of the acquisition, the company had an annualized cash flow of negative $12 million on sales of $50 million. The company’s far-flung operations spanned the globe and included manufacturing facilities in the US, the UK and Holland, as well as, sales and servicing offices in Hong Kong, the US, the UK, France and Germany. In total there were 714 employees.
My management team and I developed and executed a decisive plan to turn around the business and restore profitability. Key elements of the plan included: (1) Exiting three unprofitable businesses, (2) Rationalizing the product line to eliminate unprofitable models, (3) Reducing direct manufacturing costs by relocating the primary US manufacturing facility, (4) Significantly reducing selling and administrative costs by closing 16 facilities worldwide and reducing headcount from 714 to 350, and (5) Increasing the prices of spare parts by approximately 15% after determining that demand was relatively inelastic.
The result was that the company went from the verge of bankruptcy to the most profitable company in the industry. With revenues of $40 million annually, the company was throwing off $6 million of cash per year.
1984 - 1991 McKinsey & Company, Inc.
Senior Engagement Manager
McKinsey & Company is among the premiere strategy-consulting firms in the world. In my more than six years with the firm, I assisted a broad range of clients in the US and in the UK on issues of strategy, marketing, operations and organization. The work that I led resulted in significant improvements in client performance. Additionally, I was a co-leader of McKinsey’s Integrated Logistics practice. In this capacity I served as an advisor to numerous McKinsey teams around the world on logistics and operations issues.
EDUCATION
1982 - 1984 Harvard Business School
Received a Master of Business Administration Degree with Distinction. Awarded both first and second year honors. Finished in the top ten percent of my class. Served as a paid tutor.
1980 - 1982 Georgia Institute of Technology
Received a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering Degree with Multidisciplinary Certificates in both Computer Engineering and Energy Engineering. Received a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering Degree with High Honors. Held a Graduate Teaching Assistantship and a Graduate Research Assistantship.
Elected to membership in Tau Beta Pi honorary engineering fraternity (the top ten percent of the class is inducted) and Pi Tau Sigma honorary mechanical engineering fraternity. Elected President of the Student Branch of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers. Doubled club membership. Twice named Student Engineer of the Year.
1976 - 1980 Randolph-Macon College
Received a Bachelor of Science Degree with a major in Physics. My senior research project included the design and construction of a solar energy test facility. I successfully completed three years of Greek. Elected to membership in Chi Beta Phi honorary scientific fraternity and Eta Sigma Phi honorary classics fraternity.
A three-year letterman in varsity football, I won a starting position at the end of my freshman year. The team won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship three times in my four years. No other Randolph-Macon football class has won as many ODAC championships.
ADDITIONAL
Member of the Board of Trustees of Randolph-Macon College (2001 to present, and ex-officio member from 1997 to 1999)
Member of the Board of Associates of Randolph-Macon College (1988 to 1999, Chair from 1997 to 1999)
2002 Commencement speaker at Randolph-Macon College
Serve as an Elder at Bon Air Christian Church
Serve as Chairman of the Board at Bon Air Christian Church
Received the Randolph-Macon College Young Alumnus Award for Achievement in 1995.
Hold the following securities licenses:
Series 7 (General Securities Representative)
Series 24 (General Securities Principal)
Series 66 (Uniform Combined State Law Examination)
Series 27 (Finance and Operations Principal) |
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