Kara Merrill Email & Phone Number

Londonderry, Nh, Us

The Boxford Community Kitchen is a local restaurant that has been in our family for 75 years spanning 3 generations. It has evolved from a general store back in the 40s to 70s to a coffee shop & lunch spot from the 70s through pre-pandemic. During the pandemic, we transformed it to a destination restaurant for the local area and a staple in the community.• We have grown the top line by over 200% in the last year through menu expansion, marketing & social media efforts during a pandemic that has had material adverse effects on the restaurant industry.• Oversee all areas of daily treasury & financial operations.• Create financial reporting to continuously evaluate / improve profitability.• Manage all recruiting, hiring, onboarding & staff scheduling as well as payroll for a staff of 30+

Garden City, Ny, Us

• Senior-level team member and direct report to CFO, with management responsibility across multiple divisions, and provides leadership on all special projects, managing people and efforts multi-laterally for optimal results• Provides FP&A support for 7 product divisions and dotted line reporting to 6 divisional presidents across industries; conducts annual P&L bottom up budgeting, quarterly re-forecasts, and monthly analyses of sales, margins, expenses• Core member of the deal team for 4 of the last 9 major acquisitions since 2012, added post-acquisition integration support, and added these to existing portfolio of personally supported product divisions • Maximizes profitability per deep analysis on controllable expenses, inventory, demand, purchase planning, etc., and oversees budget and expense management for 3 locations (MA, RI, PA) via a proven purchasing approval process • Performs manufacturing reporting and analysis for company-owned manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico• Provides direct, comprehensive financial support to CFO:> Develops a 5-year outward looking financial model including P&L, BS, CF, EBITDA, and bank covenants, e.g. Fixed Charge Ratio and Credit Facility Borrowing Base> Estimates all possible changes in based on operating assumptions and close financial analysis, plus researches and identifies appropriate funding and credit sources for financial sustainability> Provides comprehensive analyses and reports for C-Suite and Executive leadership team to include daily orderflow analyses, borrowing calculations, monthly operational forecasts per 8 locations across the US and UK and Direct Import Business overseas, with post-mortem analysis for accuracy> Perfom ad hoc acquisition scenario planning and acts as post-acquisition integration finance and operations liaison for diverse acquisitions

Garden City, Ny, Us

• Senior-level team member and direct report to CFO, with extended management responsibilities• Directed inventory and control initiatives for key items, e.g. planner tools, exec-level summaries• Published summaries of 30-store closing initiative in Direct to Consumer Division for Exec. Team• Created industry-specific curriculum on Excel and trained 75+ intermediate and advanced staff• Member of Qlikview Development Team, standardizing a platform for company-wide reporting• Summarized earnings calls of customers and competitors for use by Executive Team

Garden City, Ny, Us

• Actively involved in SAP implementation and served as key internal support during post-launch• Executive team member, developing financial and management reporting best practices post-SAP• Developed long range (3 year) revenue forecasts for diverse divisions based on Product Category• Analyzed inventory levels and divisional performance, and procured comprehensive reports• Core member of the deal team for the asset sale of the Rochard business

• Direct report to CFO and core member of acquisition processing and transition team• Interfaced with Investment Bankers and potential buyers• Guided company through acquisition to closing• Created and generated annual plan for sales, gross margins, SG&A, and EBITDAR• Executive Steering Committee member for SAP implementation; Business Owner post-launch• Conducted monthly reporting and advanced analyses for Board of Directors and Executive Team • Oversaw inventory planning across business units to sustain visibility, purchasing, & best practices• Identified opportunities to improve financial performance, e.g. gross margin and expense issues• Provided financial analyses and business model insights to external agency charged with financial restructuring during the pre-packaged bankruptcy process in 2005

• Managed divisional Gen. Managers / Planners to develop Sales & Margin rolling monthly forecast• Instituted standardized monthly reporting for trade channels, customer, and item-driven reports• Implemented a daily sales and margin recap report, and a current backlog breakdown• Developed and implemented a quarterly inventory review process across all divisions to assess items based on time in warehouse and margin performance, aimed at inventory targets and aligning the reserve methodology

• Member of Senior Management Team, driving major efforts to develop a brand new start-up• Performed extensive research and analysis in the start-up and development process• Closely interacted with a wide range of external partners, upper leadership, and personnel• Negotiated and maintained contracts with all vendors (office space, ISP providers, hardware, etc.)• Developed, coached, and supervised a core Finance and Administration team of 3 personnel• Responsible for all controller activities, P&L, balance sheet, budget, re-forecasting, risk mgmt.• Developed and communicated cost allocation structure for internal clients • Served as core financial advisor during the consolidation of two Los Angeles hosting facilities

• Continued to perform all previous responsibilities of Financial Analyst role with additional tasks to include diverse treasury functions, and managing all financial statements, client invoicing, and payment collection

• Produced financial reports, coordinated mgmt. discussions on budget and quarterly re-forecasting• Helped develop product offering selections and pricing models• Presented products and pricing to Global President of Reed Business Information• Oversaw, reported, and monitored expense portion of monthly P&L, balance sheet reconciliations• Managed Finance, Administration and Facilities of East Coast office remotely post-acquisition• Coordinated core activities related to the acquisition by Reed Elsevier> Performed risk analysis during due diligence and participated in post-acquisition internal audits> Coordinated Microsoft licensing audits in compliance with partnership/subsequent agreements> Facilitated the closing and relocation of East Coast office> Coordinated with facilities, real estate groups, and performed asset management clean up> Developed/ implemented compliant monthly and quarterly re-forecasting & budgeting processes > Transitioned financial data from QuickBooks to company’s enterprise system/budgeting software

• Procured comprehensive financial analysis packages for Executive Team and Board of Directors, including written Highlights, Income Statements, Sales & Gross Margins, SG&A Details, Inventory • Created a database to facilitate planning, reporting and analysis of 3,000+ SG&A accounts • Oversaw and maintained all licensing and usage of the trademarked name Farberware• Served various ad hoc projects, e.g. evaluation of an international distribution program, formula pricing of over 2,000 SKUs and indirect SG&A costs, analysis of Far East office’s operating expenses

• Reduced processing time by 75% by redesigning, implementing, and automating daily sales reports in Excel, and automated all monthly Journal Entries through Access and/or Excel• Handled reporting for manufacturing facilities including monthly income statements and analysis of production metrics• Performed month-end entries for all Inventory and COGS related activity

Mba, Corporate Finance

Bs, Accountancy

Education record