Testa Produce, Inc. is Chicago’s premier distributor of domestic and international, fresh, local and organic fruits, vegetables, and dairy products as well as canned and frozen specialty items. Testa distributes to Chicagoland's foodservice entities including restaurants, hotels, hospitals, schools, country clubs, sports venues, and catering services. Testa Produce is the successor entity to Dominick Testa & Sons, a business started by the Testa family in 1912. Originally located in the Chicago Produce Market, the company’s state-of-the-art facility is located in the Back of Yards neighborhood (the old Stockyards) and is the first Certified LEED Platinum Refrigerated Food Distribution Facility in the US. As Chief Financial Officer, I am responsible for and supervise all accounting and finance activities of the Company.

During my six years with Federated, I supervised a staff as large as 20 people and implemented a number of cost and time saving measures and improved information reporting including, but not limited to:• Improved accounts receivable collection process, reducing receivable balance over 90 days old by 80% and cutting unapplied cash by 50%. • Streamlined work flow and repurposed staff to support workload while eliminating three staff positions. • Improved financial reporting process through stand-alone customer income statements summarizing revenues and direct expenses with optional allocation of sales support labor and administrative expenses allowing customer profitability analysis.• Revised cash management (both cash receipt and cash disbursement) procedures through technology to improve availability of cash and reduce costs of processing. • Improved budget creation process by increasing involvement of operations personnel and streamlined process so that budget was completed 5 months earlier than historical results. • Developed weekly sales reporting to provide timely revenue information to decision makers.• Identified health insurance plan design changes/surcharges and implemented Wellness Plan to limit insurance annual cost increases to single digit percentage increases. Zero premium increase for 2014.

In more than ten years at Oberweis Dairy I was instrumental in the growth of this family-owned company to the recognizable brand that it is today. Some of my accomplishments included:• Secured necessary capital to support growth of Company’s infrastructure. Successfully managed relationships with banks and leasing companies providing capital at efficient rates. • Integral member of management team responsible for development of Company and operating unit strategic plans. Supported reporting needs of manufacturing, distribution and retail departments. • Controlled growth of accounting department personnel to less than 50% while Company increased its volume by over 300% through development of personnel, use of technology and streamlining processes.• Streamlined financial close by cutting close schedule in half. Developed departmental and consolidated financial reporting requirements and financial statement policies and format.• Designed and developed consolidating departmental budget format for multi-company enterprise. Supervision of annual budget preparation and review of results for compliance with strategic plan.• Designed standard costing model for dairy’s production of milk and ice cream products. • Lead member of management team responsible for development of SEC S-1 filing for sale of stock to the public. S-1 was fully developed but never filed due to adverse market conditions.

Supervising a staff of eleven, I was responsible for all accounting functions of this publicly held company. Responsibilities included:• Monthly internal financial reporting requirements and external quarterly and annual SEC filings.• Annual budget compilation and review.• Streamlined customer invoicing process and weekly payroll process.

Responsible for all finance and accounting activities for this publicly held startup wireless cable tv company

Responsible for all financial/accounting matters for this publicly held start-up solid waste management company. My accomplishments include but are not limited to:• Completed purchase investigations and financial due diligence on numerous acquisition opportunities.• Developed detailed five-year financial projections by operating entity as an integral part of the Company’s strategic business plan.• Co-managed corporate relationships with private and venture capital investors and investment and commercial bankers. Raised $12 million through placement of convertible subordinated notes

Progressive financial and accounting experience, specializing in closely-held and emerging growth companies in the manufacturing, services, environmental, printing, distribution, technology and real-estate industries.