Work Experience

MSeed, Fractional CFO                                                                                       2023 – Present

• Hired to handle bank negotiations for an existing LOC and bank audits for a privately held manufacturing company on the verge of violating their bank covenants
• Directed staff in clean-up of back-log of 12 months of transactions and ERP system conversion that had some major glitches causing reporting and inventory valuation errors.
• Set in place with the help of MSeed a new Controller, who was successfully onboarded, along with a Staff Accountant.
• Continues to advise and review financials quarterly for company.

Northstar Aerospace, Chief Financial Officer                                                  2021 – Present

• Lead Accounting, Financial reporting and Technology shared service team of 25 for 3 plant locations and HQ.
• PE owned company responsible for financial health and strategic finance decisions for organization.
• Evaluate and implement a new ERP system, Blackline tool and various other process improvements.
• Manage Program Finance for compliance with DOD.

Wastebuilt Environmental Solutions, Chief Financial Officer                          2019 – 2021

• Led the sale of the business, including reviewing proposals, giving presentations and
• Led Accounting, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable functions for $90 million multi-site refuse parts distribution, whole goods sales, and refuse vehicle service repair organization.
• Completed three open financial statement audits and bank audit while enterprise was in forbearance, allowing enterprise to extend forbearance agreement and ultimately recapitalize with strategic buyer.
• Primary source of data schedules and financial diligence process during strategic acquisition, handling several diligence calls with Buyer, Investment Banks and third-party auditors.
• Responsible for accurate accounting records and reducing 45-day month-end close cycle to 5 business days
• Produced and prepared SBA Loan Application package for $2.4mm PPP Loan during COVID-19. Produced all subsequent documentation for full forgiveness of loan.
• Provided daily asset-based-loan (“ABL”) calculations during forbearance to receive ongoing cash flow.
• Reduced AR Aged 90 days from >$2mm to <$0.1mm in six months via strategic monitoring and customer outreach with less than $10k write-offs.
• Provided clarity on true profitability of Parts sales linked to supplier rebates, resulting in Company expanding product offerings with GP that was higher than originally assessed.

Sparton Defense, Director of Business Systems & Analysis                            2017 – 2018

• Developed and integrated a strategy for ERP solutions, meeting Compliance, Finance and Operations needs while mitigating the types and number of solutions necessary to maintain a balanced and expected ROI.
• Integration director for all Mergers and Acquisitions activity from a business and process development side. Promoting integration, automation and responsibility at the source.
• Developing tools that allow for external financial reporting while meeting the requirements of DFAR and CAS and producing automated government reporting and audit tools.
• Leading a team of expert Key Users and support organizations for the integrated template.

Sr Business Architect (July 2016 – July 2017)

• Led a business team of Process Owners in the design and implementation of Oracle ERP solution supporting both financial and operational needs of a Fully CAS Compliant defense contractor.

UPM – The Biofore Company, Director of Financial Services, Americas         2008 – 2016 

• Managed teams responsible for Financial Reporting ($3B in revenue) for the Americas Region in both IFRS and all local statutory reporting principles (US and Canadian GAAP)
• North American lead in all M&A activity. Responsible for on-site asset and management transitions.  Developed and implemented a global transition plan for all M&A financial activity
• Tax planning and asset management for $300M of Deferred Tax Assets in US and Canada
• North American Transfer Pricing Manager responsible for policy, pricing and agreements. Global Operational Transfer Pricing BPO fluent in both US482 / OECD Guidelines
• North American Manager for all regional implementations of global ERP solutions including SAP and OTM
• Member of the Global Financial Services Management board designing and advancing the vision of financial shared services including Global Transactional Services, Global Closing and Reporting and Local Country Finance
• Corporate Director and Board member, North American legal entities, Regional Risk Management Director, Pension Fiduciary Board Director

UPM Financial Controller, Closing and Reporting (2006-2008)

• Managed the financial closing and reporting processes for the Americas region in both IFRS and local statutory reporting principles
• Managed the internal control environment thru SOX certification and ongoing audits of both operational and business controlling areas
• Led and partner with both Internal/External Audit teams for financial and internal control audits
• Managed all external tax and customs audits including: state level sales and use tax, Canadian governmental and provincial VAT tax, and US and Canadian customs audits and clearance
• Finance Implementation manager for global ERP solutions focusing on legal operating models, transfer pricing controls and financial reporting integration.
• Responsible for business and financial analysis of transfer pricing methodologies and operating profitability
• Treasury Manager responsible for regional banking relationships and cash pooling
• Regional Transition Manager for the development and implementation of Financial Shared Services concept focusing on centralization of Global Transaction services and Regional Closing and Reporting. Centralizing AP, AR and CM to Tampere, Finland while regionalizing Closing and Reporting to a central location within the Americas responsible for GL, CO, AA, and Monthly, Interim and Annual reporting.
• Responsible for reducing monthly closing cycle times to 4 workdays and Annual reporting reduced to 7 workdays including external audit and full tax provision preparation.

UPM Accounting Operations Manager (2003 – 2006)

• Responsible for the Accounting operations team for the US Sales Company, responsible for General Ledger, Asset Accounting, Cash Management, Accounts Payable, Travel Expense and preparation of interim financial reporting packages.
• Designed and Implemented SAP FICO Module including business process designs, creation of period end closing template, implementation of the new SAP cash pooling and internal banking transactions and led the team to develop a global chart of accounts.
• Designed and implemented T/E corporate and PCard program.  Program included proprietary interfaces for automated cash reimbursement, monthly corporate card transactional posting and processing, and automated accounting reclass processing.
• Led pilot for shared services in a region by centralizing cash management and accounts payable processing for all US and Canadian legal entities.

Fairrington Transportation Services, Financial Controller                           1999-2002       

• Managed Finance, Human Resources, IT and Order Entry teams for a mid-size privately held 3PL in the bulk mail industry. Finance teams included A/P, A/R, Revenue, Invoicing and General Ledger.
• Transitioned company from cash to accrual basis to improve efficiencies and maximize tax benefits
• Responsible for financial analysis and reporting for operational and services entities
• Built logistics profitability model to enable the NLRB to understand industry labor needs
• Implemented a proactive customer oriented collections process bringing DSO from 48 days to 32 days
• Member of the Executive Management Team
• Implementation Manager for operational and financial ERP solutions, including a proprietary order fulfilment solution designed by my team to be marketed externally for 3PLs. System included integrated EDI track and trace, document imaging, 24 hour procure to pay process for carriers, electronic invoicing and cash application.
• Designed and developed a real time scanning and inventory control system for the Warehouse to use to ensure accurate loading and tracking of warehouse inventory moves without leaving the forklift.

 

Amoco Corporation, Business Implementation Manager (1996-1999)

• Managed the business implementation team for the global order fulfilment ERP solution for SAP integration. Business teams included pipeline operations/ measurement, production scheduling, accounting, revenue and tariffs.
• Global Shared Services Design team member responsible for the definition and development of financial shared services including economics, site selection, function selection, roles and implementation.
• Led the first Buy vs Build cross functional analysis team to determine the best practices for Amoco systems implementation going forward.
• Partnered with external IT Consultants to design, develop, test, and implement the first fully integrated order fulfilment module. Started with a proprietary software base designed by an industry competitor and completed Fit Gap and Design analysis to determine ultimate scope of the project (this SW is today owned and integrated into standard Oil & Gas industry package within Oracle).
• Led a team of Change Management and Training specialists to assist in the effective roll out of a companywide business process and systems change.
• Developed own in house training model focusing on business process change and support.

Amoco Pipeline, Variable Cost Manager (1994-1995)

Amoco Pipeline, Revenue Team Lead (1991-1994)

Amoco Pipeline, Accounting Coordinator (1990-1991)

Amoco Supply & Trading, Staff Accountant (1990)

EDUCATION

BS Accountancy, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb IL

CPA, Illinois, 1990 (Top 1%)