Dirk Armbrust Email & Phone Number

Dallas/Fort Worth Area

As a Managing Director, Dirk is a M&A transaction professional who helps clients with: business sales and carve-outs, acquiring businesses, growth and acquisition capital, and business valuations. He is also a leader in our Vant Business Advisors group where he helps business owners with: preparing for sale, growing revenue and cash flow, leadership effectiveness, interim executive needs, and corporate governance.Founded in 1999, The Vant Group is a well established Mergers & Acquisitions Investment Banking. Our team has over 100 years of combined experience and can assist you in all phases of the selling process, from valuing your company, to preparing it for sale, to actually selling it, confidentially and at the best selling price. The Vant Group is recognized throughout the United States as a professional in the arena of business acquisitions and divestitures. We have a significant presence with over 10 business listing websites as well as over 2,000 buyer and buyer groups in our extensive databases.* Orchestrated M&A transactions including both sell-side and buy-side advisory – facilitated acquisition funding* Earned the Better Business Bureau’s Torch Award for Ethics for our firm – wrote entire submission package* Led Operations Advisory practice for this established middle-market Operations and M&A Consulting firm* Led a Lean/Six Sigma project for a top-tier DFW construction company – drove annual sales from $17MM to $25MM* Client engagement project charters included: post-merger integration, supply chain optimization, exits, capital raises, governance, Lean/Six Sigma, turnaround, Traction, and strategic and financial acquisitions

Greater Los Angeles Area

B. Noble Inc., is a growth-oriented media and entertainment company seeking targeted strategic acquisitions. Our firm works with socially conscious business owners and media producers to transform their ideas in art and music into Noble ventures that make money and a difference. Our mission is to work with sponsors, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders to make sure our clients earn royalties, dividends and donations. The firm is owned by finance, legal, entertainment and production executives working together to develop and grow successful media projects and companies.In our transaction/business advisory division, we help clients capitalize their projects/businesses. We also help current business owners run their businesses better, grow their businesses (organically or through acquisition), help them prepare their businesses for sale through succession/transition planning, then ultimately help them sell their businesses.

* Drove contract execution and operational requirements for a $360MM Dell-MSFT Cloud subscription offering* Key interface with MSFT – led teams in resolution of complex business issues across this strategic relationship* Received Game Changer award for saving $25.8MM in invested Working Capital* Facilitate content for Dell-MSFT Executive meetings up to the Michael Dell and Satya Nadella level* Led the cross-functional digital inventory reduction team – delivered $97MM in working capital improvement* Led the creation of the WWP Software Global Supply Team – enabled key stakeholders to eliminate issues before they became mission-impacting to key technical programs – virtually eliminated the need for executive escalations* Part of team implementing Promotion Automation program – yielded $9.5MM in Microsoft rebates to Dell* Drove initiative to capture $1.5MM in MSFT funding for the Dynamic Store Bundling (DSB) program* Led WWP actions for supply chain enablement of a program in the Chinese Technology Ecosystem (CTE)* Executed mitigation plan to ensure global ARB facilities were able to continue order fulfilment after an IT change to the License Key Manager (LKM) tool – Received praise for finding “a solution, as this could have been a catastrophe”* Completed Project Management Professional (PMP) training

Dallas/Fort Worth Area

* Worked with client company management teams to better understand their business, focus on core competencies, and create Enterprise Value + Led turnaround initiatives to deliver substantial top and bottom-line results to a key healthcare client* Facilitated strategic deployment and operational improvement in support of revenue generation, increased EBITDA, and improved cash flow* Led project engagement for a renewable energy client – earned a $250,000 USDA Forest Service grant* Worked closely with our Investment Banking group to either support taking client companies to market or identifying additional targeted acquisitions in support of creating the best Enterprise Value for the company stakeholders* Collaborated with management teams to assist in deploying lean methods and procedures, improve operational costs and performance, create additional capacity and identify additional revenue streams to grow business* Certified Lean / Six Sigma Black Belt* Certified FINRA Series 7, 79, and 63

Dallas/Fort Worth Area

* Led 14 Field Consultants (district managers) and 123 stores generating $560MM in annual merchandise and gas sales + Aggressive growth in acquisitions, new stores, and same-store sales improvement + Organization included 78 franchised 45 company-operated stores - total headcount over 1,200* Led turnaround efforts to drive 23% Merchandise sales growth, and 38% Gas sales growth from 2011 to 2012Received the Servant Leader award from Joe DePinto for leading response to Austin Wildfire Disaster* People development: Ensured maximum effectiveness of Field Consultant (Division Manager) team: + Enabled four high-performing Field Consultants to be promoted to positions of greater responsibility + Hired and trained nine Field Consultants and turned them into producing leaders of up to 15 stores* Received praise from Gas department for driving DMA-wide price moves - improved gas margin throughout the Zone

* P&L responsibility for 8 sites producing $43 million in ann. sales; region covers western US and 15 of top 20 customers* Member of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) of the nation’s largest industrial crating and logistics company + Filled the critical corporate governance role in this privately-held company with no board of directors* Led turnaround to drive revenue growth of 21% and profitability growth of 62% ahead of the global economic crisis* Maintained EBITDA percentage over the 12-month period ending in Jun 09, while marketplace fell 25% in same period* Led region to a $4.8 million (21%) reduction in operating costs in the 6-month period ending in Jun 09* Drove a 68% reduction in past due accounts receivables, and a 15% reduction in accounts receivable as a % of sales* Lead 8 general managers (GMs), 38 sales professionals, 12 administrators, and 204 hourly employees

* Managed all aspects of four fulfillment centers — Austin, TX; Memphis, TN; Nashville, TN; and Winston-Salem, NC* These businesses provided packaging material to two key xpedx customers: FedEx and Dell; $96 million in annual sales* Project Manager for xpedx National Accounts’ acquisition of International Paper’s Dell packaging business* Selected to manage xpedx National Accounts Division’s first stand-alone fulfillment center* Designed and implemented an operation to execute a new piece of business -- additional $25 million in annual sales* Effectively managed costs during rapid sales growth; expanded ROIC by 218%

* Led start-up consumer packaged goods (CPG) facility for a division of xpedx that specialized in the rapid deployment of integrated operations + Allowed customer businesses to outsource key components of their value stream, while focusing on their own core competencies* Oversaw 33% increase in sales over first three months of tenure; increased inventory turns by 47% and ROIC by 25%

* Earned approval from Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) to provide products to Defense Department + DCMA evaluation included audit of financial health, financial controls, production capacity, and quality assurance* Established accounting system that allowed efficient operation of business while maintaining financial controls* Created financial plan for acquisition of facility, equipment, and net working capital* Wrote startup business plan and earned grant from Economic Development Corp. to secure operating facility* Completed all federal, state, and local filing requirements for the legal creation of this Limited Liability Company* Built a supplier network that rapidly delivers OEM-priced components on supplier credit terms

* Supervised a team of personnel responsible for supply chain management and production flow of four businesses* Conducted detailed cost/benefit analysis of a proposed method of executing build plan for new generation of servers + Analysis led to first-year savings of over $5 million in excess operating costs* Responsible for production scheduling using i2 Technology’s Rhythm Factory Planner* Part of a team developing i2 enhancements and solutions for Dell’s worldwide manufacturing facilities* Earned Process Improvement Green Belt from project reducing overtime; $256 thousand annualized savings* Completed Black Belt training; studies included Statistics, Design of Experiments and Hypothesis Testing* Managed two subordinate managers with 48 non-exempt employees responsible for $67 million in inventory * Initiated inventory reduction program; resulted in a 69% or $47 million reduction in warehouse inventory* Developed measures to ensure business continuation after Y2K; recognized by Michael Dell; earned “Gold Star” award.* Managed a visit by the Chilean Telephone Company; generated two sales leads for the Latin American Sales Group* Compiled a comprehensive analysis of material and logistics requirements for the new Brazil factory

* Supervised 50 people conducting the training of over 6,600 recruits annually* Managed all logistical requirements for a $7 million training facility - lowest operating costs in the Air Force* Led 85 people protecting mission-critical aircraft; orchestrated police operations for a community of 13,000* Selected as "Company Grade Officer of the Year, 1994" for the entire base* Directed law enforcement and security operations as Chief of Police in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Great Britain* Mediated a potential international incident when American personnel arrested an Egyptian officer* Volunteered off-duty time to serve in a local soup kitchen

Master Of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Operations Consulting And Manufacturing Management

Activities and Societies: Student Government representative; member Operations, Finance, and International Business Clubs.

International Business

Activities and Societies: Immersion program to study the global impact of the European Union

Bs, Management, German Minor

Activities and Societies: * Studies included numerous engineering courses (e.g. mechanical, electrical, aeronautical, thermodynamics). *.

Education record