| Prior to CFO Consulting, I was CFO of Amergent Hospitality Group, Inc. I was brought into the predecessor organization, Chanticleer Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:BURG) in January of 2019 to lead the transformation of the accounting and financial platform. Through my experiences as CFO, I have become well versed in what is needed to create a high-performance team and develop a culture of accountability. Besides transforming the accounting and finance department, I am charged with improving investor relations and communication, lead the acquisition of concepts, and assist in raising capital from institutional investors. While at Chanticleer, I right-sized the operating expenses of the business through development of weekly KPI report for operations, reduced G&A expenses by 30%, closed numerous underperforming assets to reduce cash outflows of the business, sold a non-core, five unit concept to investors, sold our international businesses in South Africa through a management buyout, completed a rights offering raise of approximately $6.1 million, refinanced and restructured $6.0 million of debt, closed on a bridge investment of $1.5 million, and ultimately led the efforts from an accounting and finance perspective to complete a reverse merger and spin-off of the operations into Amergent Hospitality Group, Inc. (OTC: AMHG), the deal which closed on April 1, 2020 even during this challenging environment. Due to these experiences, I am well versed in handling and understanding extremely complex accounting and financial transactions. Prior to joining Chanticleer, I worked with an accounting and finance recruiting firm, where I led and managed the Financial Consulting Division. In this role, I was tasked with developing a “bench” of CFO and Controller candidates that I could market to companies throughout the Carolinas on a project and interim basis. I was focused on business development and building a pipeline of opportunities for a team that I fostered and developed. Therefore, I am very comfortable in developing a sales and marketing plan and executing this plan to drive financial performance. Previous to my role at Sherpa, I was hired by Carolina Financial Group to be the interim CFO for Trinity Frozen Foods, a portfolio company of CFG. My mandate while interim CFO at Trinity was to provide the financial and operational leadership the Company had lacked. When I joined, Trinity was losing close to $180,000 per month. While at Trinity, I revamped and created the accounting policies and procedures, created the financial systems and reporting needed for the investors and Board, developed the KPIs, and enhanced the overall workflow and accountability. After six months with me as CFO, Trinity was near break-even cash flow. Due to this turnaround, Trinity was acquired by an investment group involved in the agricultural and food processing business. Through my leadership, I was able to help turn the financial and operations around to allow the company to be sold to generate a return for its investors. Prior to my interim CFO role at Trinity, I served CFO of Landmark Leisure Group (LLG), a $60 million in revenue development company with a national footprint that created, owned, and operated original restaurant and pub concepts, including Blackfinn Ameripub, Vida Mexican Kitchen, and Strike City Lanes. While at LLG, I raised close to $25 million in capital through every avenue you can imagine – from high net worth accredited investors into single locations, to a $10 million investment from a mezz fund, to local banks, SBA loans, and equipment leases. During that time, I had to manage over 40 individual accredited investors, as well as manage the relationship with all the banks and lending relationships, including Fidus Capital (www.fdus.com). Additionally, I led the design and implementation of an ESOP in 2005, and I was the Fiduciary that had to maintain and oversee all the regulatory policies with a third-party Trustee, annual valuation firm, and administrative agent. |
