Tom Matthews has over 30 years of financial management and operational experience. While working as a CPA gave him experience in many industries, he has specialized in all aspects of real estate. He also has specialties in travel, small and medium sized manufacturing companies and retail. He has been involved in multiple M&A transactions – on the buy side and on the sell side. Tom’s best role is as a financial visionary. The role of the new CFO has expanded into operations, IT, customer service and RD while still controlling finance. This unique positioning has made Tom invaluable at the companies with which he has worked. Some of Tom’s most challenging engagements have been the source of his greatest learning. He has been brought into the chaos of business crises by investors afraid of losing their investments. Tom’s finely tuned HR skills are brought to bear in these situations. On the one hand, staff at these companies usually have to be trimmed and on the other hand the remaining staff’s morale has to be kept at high levels. Tom’s previous work has given him the unique experience of really knowing and understanding the commercial loan officer and the loan committee to which he reports. There are many good deals that are turned down because the banker doesn’t know the business and the business owner doesn’t know the banker. Tom has very successfully created the bridges needed to get loans approved.To know Tom is to like him. He and his wife (his high school sweetheart) have three children and one granddaughter. The entrepreneurial spirit demands that we work hard and we play hard. That is Tom’s mantra for life. And the playing is extraordinary: scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, medical missions to South America and photographing the polar bears in the Arctic Circle. Never a dull moment. There is nothing better for Tom than sharing these experiences with family and friends.