Mentor to senior leaders in growth businesses.Advisor to private equity firms on target acquisitions, reporting intelligence and management development.

Prestige (Amika) and mass (Eva-NYC) next gen leading haircare brands. Omnichannel selling to specialty retail, mass retail, Amazon, DTC, salon wholesalers and international markets. Hired by founders to take the business to the next level in performance and financial management in preparation for banker lead sale process. Successfully completed that sale at high multiple in July 22.Point person in the sale process working with bankers, accountants, lenders, auditors, management and attorneys to position the company, move through multi-bidder diligence and close the sale. This included a corporate reorganization and negotiation of complex tax issues. Developed analytics that identified inaccuracies in financial reporting in 2019 and 2020 necessitating restatement that produced an accurate compelling picture of business growth to support the sale. Rebuilt finance team, realigned the ERP system, and created analytics team to fully support decision making throughout the org with clear financial data. Business grew EBITDA from 10 to 20%+.

Garden leave period

Premium curly haircare leader with large professional, wholesale, branded salons and e-com business. A true innovator that answered the very personal needs of women and men who want to keep their hair natural and celebrate their curls. Hired following purchase of brand by Ares Management. Tasked with building finance function to support growth for future sale. Successfully sold at high multiple to Henkel in December 2019.Implemented new ERP and CRM. Developed detailed budgeting, monthly and weekly reporting. Introduced a channel-based reporting approach to enhance our insights and drove EBITDA to 20%+. Lead the rebuild of the Brazil business. Renegotiated sales representation, rebuilt manufacturing relationship, reorganized the corporate structure to reduce unworkable local tax burden leading to profitable operation. Completed acquisition accounting on both acquisition and sale of the business.

Recruited to provide practical advice and support in identifying, approaching, and acquiring innovative disruptive growth businesses. Worked within the office of the chairman with direct access to senior management across the SCJ organization. Developed working relationships with key stakeholders and supporting teams to mobilize the benefits of big company resources to our small nimble high impact unit.Our group built out a targeted prospect sourcing function centered around defined verticals. Developed advocates in multiple markets giving access to possible targets. Created detailed financial models to evaluate key prospects and arrive at financial terms that protect while delivering above metrics upside returns. Successfully closed three acquisitions and on-boarded them.

Innovative developer of baby personal care and household products designed to create a "baby safe world" for young children in which they are free to boldly explore. Joined business with second round of financing. Cultivated collaborative relationship with investors.Built strong bond with CEO and ultimately a high level of trust and friendship. Built out finance team. Adding analysts focused on business effectiveness. Added 7% to gross margin percentage while managing through hyper sales growth. Moving from negative EBITDA to +20%Implemented ERP System (NetSuite). Created KPI dashboards and exception reporting providing real time management tools to each department.Created structured pricing process around customer segments, acceptable margins, competitor positioning and related marketing costs. Teamed with sales VP to understand and nurture the drivers of growth while identifying opportunities to improve margin.Worked with ops team to evaluate and then relocate our 3PL locations to take best advantage of our growing scale. Cultivated relationships with contract manufacturers and worked alongside production team to evaluate ways to create shared savings.Managed HR with a focus on open collaborative culture. Used PEO to bring big company benefits and controls at lower cost. Added twice yearly appraisal focused on employee development.Banker lead process resulted in successful sale of business to SC Johnson in 2016.

Tasked with fixing the economics of this fast growing pharmacy based pet e-tailer – Brought business into a positive variable contribution while maintaining high sales growth. Built strong bond with founder and key investors (Goldman Sachs Investment Partners). Successful in raising two rounds of financing. Launched daily, weekly and monthly reporting. Used KPIs to drive to effectiveness.Developed product pricing models that evaluate competitor prices, discount offers and single or mixed product basket economics. Improved margins and dramatically changed economics of the business. Worked with marketing team in developing a multi-attribution model to better understand the financial effectiveness of marketing sources and promotional offers. Used data cubing software to created customer decile + cohort analysis that measure improvement in customer retention, re-buy rates and lifetime value across the business. Focused management team to align tactical campaigns with sustained improvement in customer value. Built HR organization focused on supporting our mission driven culture. 80% of our employees rated us a great place to work.Went through failed banker sale process. Learned a lot from this experience and business continued.

Affordable luxury jewelry and gift retailer and e-tailer with sister business managing major employee recognition solutions to Fortune 1000 companies globally.12 years as a key executive working alongside the long-time owners of the business which grew 400% from a regional player to a national and international business. Supported the transition of family ownership from one generation to the next. Years of experience in reinventing the operation of the business as it grew. Developed customer segmentation and analytics tools to support the marketing and sales department growth. Created pricing models and related commission plans to maximize profitability in the changing marketplace especially in regard to the development of e-com as a major channel. Responsible for human resources. Championed a culture built around a “best company to work for” philosophy of trust, pride and camaraderie.Lead negotiations for the purchase of the UK business to launch us into Europe and the purchase of a technology business to support the development of the recognition business. Negotiated multiple bank lines, mortgages and lease arrangements to provide capital necessary to support growth in the US, Canada and Europe.

Leading fashion brand worldwide. Responsible for Finance, IT and HR for newly acquired fast growing retail hair division (Frédéric Fekkai). Integrated reporting into parent while developing financial structure to support new store openings and revamp/expansion of product line. Incredibly innovative period where understanding financial impact early was key to ultimate success.

Procurement outsource organization to Fortune 1000 customers which more than doubled in size to several hundred million in sales. Financial head for the company. The business outgrew its accounting processes and reporting capabilities. Remapped processes and implemented system changes doubling productivity. Developed customer profitability reporting in early big data environment to identify areas where profitability was greatest and used this in negotiating pricing with customers to maximize returns. Became a trusted advisor to the CEO and President. Worked alongside investment bankers to secure a successful sale of the business to Wesco.

Built from scratch the finance and HR functions for this Cable TV infrastructure start up. Business launched as single New York location and built into multiple operations in New York, Detroit and Atlanta. Negotiated system wide contracts with Cable TV operators and unions. Focused analysis on optimize productivity leading to consistent and growing margin. Added COO responsibilities in my last year.

Large NE regional partner firm of Mazars International firm. Specialized in large and international business audit, business consulting and hedge funds. Qualified as a CPA and promoted to senior manager.

UK national firm of Chartered accountants. Specialized in large and international audits. Qualified as a Chartered Accountant and promoted to manager - youngest in the firm at that time. Seconded to US to join US affiliated firm.