“Righting the Ship ”
As a member of the Executive Committee at a travel tech firm, I had the challenge of developing and executing a plan to save the company from bankruptcy. Within one week, my team delivered a plan that was subsequently delivered to our Board. The plan called for a complete reorganization, reducing the cost structure by $40M (45%). We created budgets, gave P&L owners their savings goals, set up an 18 hour per day hotline, and with one financial analyst, we gathered their cost saving plans via the hotline for one full week. The plan was successful and I became the company CEO. The end of the story: we ultimately increased EBITDA margins by 25%, the stock price increased 9X and led to a sale of the company three years later at a premium of 1.45 of our then stock price.
“A Friend and A Creative Advertising Agency”
This was truly a “forest for the trees moment.” In this case, the owner knew what to do and simply needed some reassurance on his plans. I added a few wrinkles, and within 48 hours we had made major adjustments to both the cost and the organizational structure. Over the next 30 days we implemented new process and rigor: a more expedient billing and collections process, a traffic light methodology for project management health, more formalized pricing models and maybe most importantly, a performance scorecard to share with the team. We worked together off and on for almost one year, but my work was done there. He had firm control over the outcomes and the company was restored to profitability.
“A Parking King and An Acquisition”
The company asked me to assist with a newly acquired entity in the Parking management business. I acted as their GM on a fractional basis to build trust amongst the new team, implement theft control solutions, payroll models, and cash management solutions. We established relationships with the retail customer base, developed co-operative signage solutions and generally improved the outcomes. Within 120 days, my work there was done and the business was thriving.
“A Start Up Taking on The World”
Imagine coming up with the idea to take on Expedia, American Express, Concur and other behemoths of the online travel booking space. In 2016, a start-up led by an attorney with a brilliant idea and exactly zero industry experience did just that. He sought our counsel on product development resources, product design, and third party contract evaluations. We delivered on all three requests in a very short period of time, and off he went. Since that time, they have raised financing from a preeminent B2B SaaS venture capital firm, and partnered closely with an established travel management firm to build a new kind of travel firm with a global infrastructure. Mission accomplished.
“A Family With an Incredible Business”
I was retained to address an overall complacency across the enterprise of 250 employees as well as lagging financial results. I essentially followed my tried and true plan, conducted interviews and got to the bottom of what was happening. The result was a 22-page report, along with 20 specific action items. We helped the organization implement a dozen recommendations over the next 90 days. Later, I was asked to become the interim CEO of the firm while the family focused on other matters and our results were tremendous. Over the next 12 months, we executed the plan we had developed during the consulting engagement resulting in annual sales growth of 25% ($6,000,000) and a net income increase of 20%.
Projects and General Assistance
Solving turnover and morale challenges.
Documenting key roles and sourcing the ideal candidates.
Implementation of world class Client Service models.
Creating product /service offerings and implementing specific sales models to increase closure rates.
Establishing world class employee on-boarding processes.
Developing creative pricing strategies to maximize revenue. Identifying alternative sources of revenue
Creating and rolling out both client and internal communication strategies.
Designing client portals to house deliverables and updates.