Robert Masson, Cpa, Ca Email & Phone Number

Markham, ON, CA

Mississauga, Ontario, CA

Redberry is a private equity-backed company that is a corporate franchisee of approx. 200 quick service restaurants across Canada, operating under the BURGER KING®, Taco Bell and Jersey Mike's brands. With signed agreements to build more than 350 new restaurants, Redberry is one of Canada’s fastest-growing restaurant companies. Responsible for Business.

Mississauga, Ontario, CA

• Financial Strategy and Capital Markets
• Responsible for all financial functions including FP&A, reporting, tax, audit, treasury, and AP/AR in addition to the IT function.
• Built financial forecasts based on growth trends and market expectations that directly informed strategic plans, funding strategy and capital structure.
• Forged and maintained trusted relationships with stakeholders across the ecosystem including bankers, franchisors and the sponsor firm (City Capital Ventures)
• Successfully completed the acquisition of 14 Taco Bell stores and 200+ area development agreement across Canada.
• Successfully negotiated a C$150M credit facility to fund new stores and the acquisition of 14 Taco Bell stores.

Toronto, Ontario, CA

• Dentalcorp is a private equity-backed company that owns a network of 400+ dental practices across Canada. Report to the CEO and part of the executive management team.(5 direct reports, 52 indirect reports, $25M capex.
• Responsible for all financial functions including FP&A, reporting, tax, audit, treasury, and AP/AR in addition to the IT and procurement functions
• Built financial forecasts based on growth trends and market expectations that directly informed strategic plans, funding strategy and capital structure
• Forged and maintained trusted relationships with stakeholders across the ecosystem including bankers, ratings agencies, institutional debt holders and the sponsor firm (L Catterton)
• Successfully raised US$100M in Term Loan B from international investorsFinancial Operations
• Collaborated with the COO to improve AR collections by establishing collection policies and procedures and set up deferred payment schedules as required to reduce bad debt exposure

Brampton, Ontario, CA

• Sleep Country is a TSX-listed company (previously sponsor-owned) that is a specialty retailer of mattresses and bedding accessories.(5 direct reports, 59 indirect reports, $35M capex budget, $7M opex budget, $712M.
• Analyzed growth opportunities including e-commerce, new store launches, new market entry and product expansion; synthesized competitor actions, capital costs and market research to evaluate financial impact
• Pioneered the launch of the e-commerce site as part of the executive team, participating across all aspects of its planning, feasibility study, capital budgeting and go-to-market to align performance to financial.
• Negotiated a contract for a new Oracle ERP system and an e-commerce platform, and managed the end-to-end implementation of a company-wide BI tool focused on sales and inventory optimization
• Implemented KPI dashboards and other performance management tools to provide insights to private equity owners and institutional investors, and initiate corrective action plans as needed
• Liaised with bankers and consultants to conduct deep-dive company, financial and industry due diligence on prospective acquisitions before negotiating suitable valuations, deal structures and other terms

Mississauga, Ontario, CA

• The Second Cup Ltd. is a public company listed on the TSX. As a franchisor of 360 gourmet coffee cafés, the company generated annual revenues of $200M.
• Spearheaded 6 direct and 13 indirect reports across financial reporting, taxation, treasury, internal audit, IT and investor relations functions, most notably leading the company’s transition to IFRS standards
• Scaled the e-commerce website for the company to grow revenues by 147%, and managed the development and implementation of a loyalty program that bolstered overall customer retention
• Converted the company from an income trust structure to a public corporation
• Supervised the implementation and roll-out of new systems including a new retail POS in 360 locations over 18 months, and a new BI tool focused on extracting value-add sales and marketing insights
• Negotiated the extension of a $13M term loan facility

• Manchuwok is a Canadian subsidiary of Cafe de Coral, and is a franchisor of 200 Asian quick service restaurants, with revenues of $140M. Reporting to the President and managing two direct and 9 indirect reports.
• Manage the Accounting, Taxation, Treasury and IT functions
• Managed the sale of 9 loss making stores in California which resulted in the company making a profit for the first time in over 5 years.
• Formulated and implemented a strategy to close loss making stores, which resulted in a reduction of losses of $2M per year.
• Implemented a new POS system for all franchisees to increase the visibility into franchisees sales performance.
• Re-engineered the Budgeting process and successfully implemented a new Budgeting and forecasting application, which reduced the length of the budgeting process from 3 months to 6 weeks.

Etobicoke, Ontario, CA

• WSI is the largest franchisor of Internet marketing, Web development and Web design with revenues of $66M. Headquartered in Toronto, has been developing Internet Solutions for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs).
• Managed the Accounting, Taxation, Treasury functions through 1 direct reports and 9 indirect reports
• Re-engineered the financial statement close process which resulted in a reduction of the time taken to prepare the month financial statements from 30 days to 5 days.
• Responsible for evaluating various accounting systems for implementation.
• Headed a team responsible for mapping all existing financial processes within the business. This was done to determine the extent of customisation required for the new ERP system (Oracle).
• Held weekly training classes for new franchisees to teach them accounting and cash flow basics for their new business.

Armonk, New York, NY, US

• IBM is one of Canada’s leading providers of advanced information technology, products, services and business consulting, with revenues of US$3.2B and assets of US$3.1B. Reporting to the S&D Finance Senior Executive and.
• The revenue team provided revenue forecasting & planning support to the Sales & Distribution Division. The expense team provided forecasting & planning support to the Infrastructure expense units (RESO/IT/HR).
• Assisted the CFO with various cost reduction projects.
• Managed all expense and hiring approvals for IBM Canada.
• Responsible for revenue recognition for products and services sold by the industry sales teams.
• Managed the allocation of employee benefits pooled expenses for all of IBM Canada.

• A start-up division of Deloitte (50% owned), specializing in CRM software packages. Recruited to assist the CEO with the start-up, responsibilities included:
• Documenting and assisting clients in determining their customisation requirements for the CRM application prior to installation.
• Assisted in the sales process during client initial meetings to explain the benefits of a CRM system.
• Supervised and appraised the performance of 6 employees.
• Managed the implementation of an accounting software package at inception of the company and designed monthly management reports.
• Assisting the CEO with the strategic direction of the company.

London, GB

• Selected as candidate for a 4 month secondment in California to assist with year-end audit of various US companies in the information technology sector.
• Prepared a due-diligence report on a National Brewing company in South Africa.
• Planned and executed financial audits for companies with sales ranging from $100m to $2b;
• Responsible for audit staff (up to 10), client and executive management relations;
• Identified business opportunities and system weaknesses and recommended solutions to these weaknesses.

Cpa, Ca

Bachelor Of Commerce, Accounting And Finance

Post Graduate Diploma In Accounting And Auditing, Accounting & Auditing