Michael Lash Email & Phone Number

Responsible for financial oversight, planning, and periodic reporting of a $50 million specialty retail organization with over sixty locations in fifteen states. Stabilized accounting department after previous period of high turnover, making key personnel moves and rebalancing positional responsibilities. Teamed with COO to devise and deploy corporate strategies to ensure efficient use of company’s resources and reduce overhead costs. Directed team of five accounting professionals to excel in several additional key functional areas such as Lease Administration, Regulatory Compliance, and Operational Support.•Developed and enforced organization’s first company-wide operating budget, bringing accountability to departmental leaders for spending decisions and increasing monthly Operating Margin from 16.4% to 19.8% since implementation.•Created weekly store KPI scorecards for Owner and COO, highlighting trends in product margins, identifying opportunities to reduce store payroll costs, and benchmarking individual store performance.•Brought crucial licensing and compliance functions in-house, a personnel decision which saved the company over $125,000 annually in legal expenses.•Strategized cash flow management, especially when 54 of 61 retail locations temporarily closed due to COVID-19, including modeling cash burn rates, negotiating $200k of monthly payment deferrals, and procuring $2.1 million in SBA Paycheck Protection Program funds.

Key member of corporate leadership team. Worked jointly with Owner-President and VP of Construction to develop and monitor budgets for single-family home, market rate apartment, and LIHTC apartment construction projects with completion dates ranging from Q1 2017 through Q3 2018. Collaborated with Owner-President and Director of Business Development to capitalize on development opportunities by identifying and analyzing future pipeline projects. Led quarterly status meeting to update Owner-President and equity investors on project progress and future capital needs. Reviewed and verified financial results with Senior Accountant and third-party management companies.•Negotiated permanent non-recourse financing for an HOA constrained 24-unit multifamily building which returned 64% of invested capital to equity holders.•Strategized capital structure of a $33 million, 142-unit LIHTC apartment complex to position company to perform development with considerable uncertainty in federal tax credit pricing and without requested state tax credit allocation.•Secured $1.6 million of infrastructure funding and initial $4.2 million of construction funding for phased development of a 56-unit single-family home community, which reduced required capital from investors by 37% for horizontal development while fully funding Phase 1 of vertical construction.•Facilitated organizational growth by obtaining a lease for office expansion space, including $27,500 of tenant improvement allowance, five additional parking spaces, and two months of free rent.

Denver, Colorado, Us

Top financial position-holder in the organization. Insourced and instituted internal accounting and financial reporting functions of the organization. Designed system of internal accounting controls. Managed corporate cash flow and communicated with CEO on short and long-term cash projections and capital requirements. Developed monthly financial reporting package for company founders and key investors.•Worked jointly with company founders to raise a total of $6.3 million in two common stock offerings with the goal of funding increased working capital needs to support planned annual growth of 185%.•Successfully proposed revised contractual terms with contract manufacturer, resulting in a 6% COGS decrease in company's flagship product line and an immediate $171k cost savings.•Collaborated with CEO and Sales Director on various pricing strategies for new and existing products, including an initiative to reprice international-bound goods, which increased annual gross revenue by $220k, and a pricing proposal for club outlets which resulted in increased sales of $761k.•Negotiated high-volume purchasing contracts with raw materials and packaging suppliers, increasing product line manufacturing margin 5.8% and net income $50k. Collaborated with cross-functional team to devise recently-adopted supply chain plan, which is expected to increase annual net income by $500k.

Arvada, Co, Us

Promoted corporate growth through financial and operational analyses, authoring business cases, and identifying/measuring several Key Performance Indicators. Presented results and recommended actions to executive management. Partnered with Executive Team to develop dynamic, forward-looking financial processes and reports. Created efficiencies in finance and accounting functions through automation and consolidation of key processes. Introduced and administered several improvements in the areas of financial reporting and inventory management.•Designed and implemented company’s first annual budget, assigned ownership of expense categories to appropriate departments, and devised periodic forecasting methodologies to adjust for operational changes.•Wrote several business cases, including a comparison of expansion vs. franchising as possible growth strategies, a study to support increased financial backing of the corporate call center, and an analysis detailing the benefits of a corporate wellness/kiosk program, which is expected to generate $3 million of revenue in its first full year of operation.•Increased detail of financial data by introducing Profit & Loss reporting at the individual center level, which resulted in streamlining operations through closure of negative EBITDA centers.•Designed comprehensive monthly financial reporting package, which included a Key Performance Indicator dashboard, trend analysis of several key financial metrics, detailed center-level inventory turnover ratios, and an operational scorecard for each business location. Efforts provided Executive Team and Area Sales Managers crucial insight into areas of operational strength and opportunities for improvement.

Directly responsible for the oversight of the financial and accounting operations of the organization. Directed cross-functional efforts to prepare and produce operating and capital budgets. Coordinated external audits. Produced monthly, quarterly, and annual reports detailing the financial position of the organization and subsidiary entities for management, investors, and joint-venture partners. Performed variance analysis and reforecasts of periodic financial data to reflect updated expectations of fiscal operating results. Managed and developed staff of three accounting professionals.•Valued potential real estate acquisition targets by using multivariate scenario analysis of pro-forma financial statements, which led to purchases of a hotel for $7.2 million, an office building for $8.7 million, and retail shopping complexes ranging from $8 million to $93.9 million.•Led financial due diligence efforts, including analysis of historical operating performance and potential income growth, for various distressed retail ventures, which culminated in asset purchases of $10.5 million for a luggage company and $4.1 million for a retail sporting goods company.•Implemented and administered financial reporting, fixed asset, and property management software packages, resulting in a 15% reduction in tax preparation billable hours.•Developed a strengthened internal accounting control environment which increased accuracy of financial reports to stakeholders.•Collaborated with institutional joint venture partners to ensure mutual understanding of partnership entity terms. Efforts directly resulted in resurrection and successful closing of a $93.9 million commercial real estate purchase.

Tampa, Fl, Us

Assisted client Northwestern Mutual in New Securities System project, a large-scale conversion of financial data to PAM for Securities. Met with cross-functional teams to plan important aspects of the conversion strategy.• Devised detailed financial scenarios to identify vital PAM data table elements, which successfully addressed outbound reporting needs for derivative securities• Collaborated with private investments group on a strategy for manual conversion of complex securities, which resulted in an accurate and effective conversion of over 200 preferred stock and private placement securities• Wrote specifications for PAM enhancements, which facilitated accounting for swaps and replicated securities

Ensured timely and accurate net asset values of various mutual funds, performed reconciliation reports for management and auditors, and researched payment discrepancies. Was promoted twice in three years eventually to Senior Portfolio Accountant. Verified accuracy of accountants’ work, provided market information to key members of investments division, and solved reconciliation problems of staff accountants. Efforts resulted in saving investment division money and increasing daily fund processing efficiency of accountants.• Designed a spreadsheet to calculate market value of portfolio forward currency contracts, which saved the investments division an average of $25,000 a year • Created a method of reconciling gains on futures contracts to counterparty activity statements, which resulted in reducing reported net asset value errors by forty percent• Produced linked worksheets to expedite retrieval of vital accounting information, which decreased fund processing time by an average of twenty minutes a day

Master Of Science (M.S.), Finance, General

B.S., Business Administration - Finance