Principal/Owner at AE ***** January 1999 - Present
AE *****’s Belief: The primary job of every manager at every level of every firm is to efficiently and effectively utilize the people he/she manages to accomplish projects at least up to the quality standards of the firm and the client. Yes, we believe in and respect project design and quality, but profit is necessary, too!

AE *****’s Mission: To support improvement of your firm’s operations, your firm’s profitability and your firm’s managerial knowledge and abilities. Our purpose is to provide the expertise, focus & training to you and your staff to help your people produce – and keep producing – bottom-line results.

AE ***** helps you & your firm develop that knowledge, understand it, and utilize it, providing actionable information from those numbers that all managers – from PMs to Principals – actually use to be better managers, to better and more profitably manage projects, manpower, and the firm as-a-whole on a timely basis – and without having to be an accountant.

AE *****’s Job is to provide sophisticated simplicity: providing timely essential, vital & actionable information you & your managers must have, while culling out reports that provide no actionable information. If you do not understand and track the key factors – by phase, project, department, and division – you will not know how you are doing quickly enough to do anything about it.

AE ***** has been increasing bottom lines, strengthening balance sheets & helping firms like yours better understand and manage their firms. We are proud of fostering successful relationships with exceptional*****bined, we are an exceptional resource to you and your firm.

TYPICAL ENGAGEMENTS
Affinity for details & a skilled precision with numbers

Interim CFO, THE PORTICO GROUP May 2011 - April 2012
Seattle, WA-based & the 2012 #153 ENR architecture firm with strong specialties in architecture & landscape architecture for zoos & aquaria, public gardens, museums & visitor centers, and parks & recreation areas. Their portfolio includes projects nationwide & international.

• Uncovered & reconciled $160K of over-accrued sub-consultant fees
• Corrected filings for five years of State taxes resulting in refunds totaling over $400K.
• Developed & instituted in Vision system phase-level planning, tracking & forecasting of projects
• Recommended & received approvals for significant increase in working capital
• Developed & implemented a pre-bonus stockholders’ guaranteed ROI distribution plan
• Comparative analysis of historic results led to establishing significantly different financial benchmarks for budget & strategic planning

Mead & Hunt
Madison, WI-based firm is the ENR #156 design firm & #190 architecture firm.

• With M&H’s CFO, developed budgeting & monitoring system for 14-business unit organization with 12 offices
• Developed & prepared monthly performance reports for CFO, CEO & Board
• Presented proposed annual budget, rationale & supporting date to Board

Confidential Client
Mountain states, multi-service environmental firm that, through internal growth and acquisitions, has moved from a 3-office, 2-state firm to a 12-office 8-state firm.

• Reconciled historic internal financial statements in preparation of an ESOP
• Assisted in writing a four-volume manual used to train all employees in the non-technical aspects of the firm
• Facilitated conceptualization and developed a formula-based incentive bonus system that links performance to strategic objectives & ownership transition, recognizes stockholder ROI priorities, and provides a mechanism for acquisition owner earnouts
• Conducted analyses, initial valuations & financial requirements and potential pro-formas for 14 acquisition targets, several of which were completed

PREVIOUS
VP & CFO at Wight & Co. *****
CFO on new management team that restructured, redirected, and expanded struggling, money-losing 40-person, $6-million company into rapidly growing, multi-office, 100+ person, $25+ million architecture, engineering, environmental, and eventual design/build firm with international & numerous government contracts. Currently the ENR #189 architecture firm & #495 design firm.
 Developed and implemented operations, financial, and management information systems and controls.
 Re-established financial credibility with managers, bank and insurance company. Acquired bonding capacity.
 Managed successful FAR audits by government agencies.
 Firm became profitable, revenues increased 400% in seven years, while operating line-of-credit usage decreased 40%.
 Those were the most profitable years in the company’s history - And Managers Knew Why.

MBA – ***** from the University of Maryland
BS – Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

• ACEC Management Practices Committee
• ACEC Financial Survey & Industry Trends Subcommittee Chair
• AIA Best Practices & “Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice” Author & Review Committees
• AIA Chicago Practice Management KC Past Chair
• ACEC/AIA Peer Reviewer

Publicans
Strategic Planning: Know Thyself - A Case Study
AIA Practice Management Digest September 2007
“Not all projects or clients are profitable. In fact, certain project or client types might not be profitable for your firm. Or the converse could be true: Certain project or client types – or projects of certain sizes or in certain geographic areas – may be incredibly profitable. But do you know which ones are? No matter what project-based accounting software you use, this information is already available.”
http://*****/aiaucmp/groups/aia/documents/pdf/aiab*****.pdf

Accounting Basics: The Income Statement & Key Performance Indicators
AIA Best Practices November 2011
“The basics of accounting for architecture firms are not complex. However, an understanding of certain fundamentals – by every manager at every level of a firm – is imperative for the firm to be able to manage towards profit. Fir*****eed to make profit; those that do not, literally, will not be able to keep their doors open.” http://*****/aiaucmp/groups/ek_members/documents/pdf/aiap*****.pdf

The Price of People
Chicago Architect April 2008
“A veteran practice executive details why your biggest cost—and your biggest payoff—is your staff. …The one element that is central to all financial talk at an architecture and engineering firm is the importance—and cost—of people. The salaries and salary-related costs of people constitute up to 75 percent or more of a firm’s total operating expenses." [Not online; available on request.]

Developing Budgets & Financial Forecasts
15th ed of the AIA’s “Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice”
“Regardless of the accounting or ***** topic of concern to an architecture firm, the analysis and answers will always come down to people, more specifically, the salaries and salary-related expenses for the people working for a firm. Recognizing and understanding this is as essential for developing overall firm budgets as it is for monitoring and managing all operational activities of a firm.” [Not yet published; 2013]

Also, peer reviewer of other Handbook articles on accounting & financial management.