Stephen Jones Email & Phone Number

Hudson, Ohio, Us

Hudson, Ohio, Us

Hudson, Ohio, Us

Cleveland, Ohio, Us

Hiram, Oh, Us

Oversee financial interests, key operational areas and 10 direct reports in areas of accounting, finance, human resources, technology, physical plant, dining, purchasing, service center and business office. Serve as an officer for Hiram College Property Management (20 rental properties) and Hiram Ventures. Review; negotiate all contracts for the college including outsourced services.* Slashed costs from high-interest bonds. Worked with banks to issue private bonds and eliminate existing swaps. Saved $1.1M in annual interest. Negotiated low interest rate loans, favorable terms and covenants.* Oversaw $32M in construction projects: residence hall, townhouses, dining facility, and renovation of existing space. Renovated a nursing suite; converting a light industrial building into a home for the art department, reconstructed a 150-year old building to create meeting space and offices for the Garfield Institute for Public Service and classrooms. Garfield project involved taking a church where former President James A Garfield, one of first principals at Hiram, spoke at in the 1850’s; reconstructing on campus.* Launched monthly financial reporting system replacing semi-annual reporting.* Worked with CIO to create software program for users - point & click environment in portal to access real time information from enterprise software. New tool virtually eliminated paper reports and provided exporting capabilities with Banner data. Efforts benchmarked and beta software being sold to other colleges through Hiram Ventures.* Work with utility companies to save up to $400K annually.* Brought in a new food service vendor; negotiated contract and remodeled retail space into a Bistro; tripled sales in 3 years.* Liaison to the Finance, Investment, Physical Assets, Audit, and Technology Committees of the Board.

Buckhannon, Wv, Us

Recruited to lead, organize and direct Operations Management, Finance, and Process Improvements as an adviser to campus leadership. Developed strategic plan to reduce operating expenses and eradicate deficit. * Collaborated with senior management to identify and eliminate a $4.1M deficient within three years. Increased revenue and slashed expenses.* Eliminated previous financial reporting process. Introduced a new reporting infrastructure that produced monthly financial statements within 10 days of close. * Consolidated and restructured miscellaneous debt. Reduced interest rates and expense without increasing monthly cash flow. Converted non-performing assets to cash and reduced the line of credit.* Managed campus maintenance and capital improvements projects for more than 900,000 square feet of facilities. Administered contracts with outside vendors to manage food service, building and grounds, and bookstore operations.

A $13 million 98-employee multi-site business offering office products / furniture, printing, mail services, and advertising.Reporting to the President / CEO, recruited during a competitive acquisition and challenged to integrate two diverse companies, cultures and customer bases into a congruent organization. Partnered with five different divisions to establish strategic plans, targeted marketing programs and customer segmentation processes, aligning the business with market demands in both the Fortune 1000 and small to medium size corporations. * Recruited a new Controller and reassigned key managers while realigning responsibilities, accountabilities and operational flows to better suit the new business structure.* Integrated the customer service and a call center; installed new CRM software and decreased headcount 20%. * Enacted a disaster recovery plan that relocated 30 employees and equipment with operations up and running within 48 hours after a major fire. Moved operation again to a larger facility within three months.* Settled long-term / unresolved billing and quality problems arising from M&A activities. Reduced over 90-day receivables by 50% within six months.

A $15 million publisher / distributor of supplemental educational materials with 55 employees. Company sold to Primedia. Promoted to President, becoming the youngest corporate executive in Company’s history. Challenged to boost revenues, overcome lack of cohesive infrastructure and accelerate business expansion while leading Company through organizational change and revitalization. Led strategic planning, sales, marketing, M&A’s, business / product development and partnership / client relations.* Grew sales from $4.2M to $15M through bottom-line growth, repositioning and market development.* Led high profile acquisition and JV programs to drive business growth. Managed projects from candidate identification through due diligence, financial structuring and contract negotiations. Acquisitions included: * Meridian, $5M video / CD-ROM publisher. Integrated business and delivered $500K in cost savings. * Shopware, $1.75M CD-ROM developer / publisher. Eliminated $250K+ in overhead costs. * Collaborated with CEO and majority stockholder to facilitate sale of Cambridge to Primedia, a multi-billion dollar publicly-held NYSE company. Transaction culminated in successful cash sale.* Traveled to Europe, Brazil and Mexico to expand global market presence, establish partnerships and structure / facilitate new product licensing agreements. Increased global business revenues 50%.* Solidified relationships with resellers while identifying new partners. Propelled sales 100% in 5 years.* Sustained sales growth by 10-15% YOY by meeting needs of diverse market segments and customers.* Leveraged the Internet to identify federally funded programs, third-party mailing list brokers and industry organizations. Developed direct mail campaigns for catalog sales - 65% of total business volume.* Expanded benefits while lowering costs by $200K Devised self-insured health, 401(k) and cafeteria plans.