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I obtained my degree in Business Studies from Newcastle Upon Tyne Polytechnic. After

graduation, I qualified as a Chartered Accountant and have worked for four companies

during my career.

 

I joined Robson Rhodes immediately after college to obtain my professional certification

and worked on many audit and forensic accountancy related assignments. I was assigned

the lead auditor role on a worldwide computer software company and visited, reviewed

and suggested improvements in internal controls at all of their locations.

 

My ambition after qualification was to move to work in a commercial environment and I joined Gordon & Gotch a $75m public company as Assistant Financial Controller. The company was a holding company with subsidiaries in book & magazine distribution, real estate, travel, and computer services. After only 6 months I was promoted to Group Chief Accountant [the most senior accounting position] with almost 100 staff reporting to me. The financial staffing was organized by subsidiary with many duplicated positions and during my time I re-organized the team to eliminate the duplication and to provide services to all subsidiaries from a central group. I also returned the preparation of Financial and Stock Exchange Reporting to the finance team from the Auditors to reduce costs.

 

Aged 28, I felt that I needed to join a larger company to broaden and deepen my experience. I joined Fisons plc a multibillion-dollar public company with three Divisions in Pharmaceuticals, Scientific Equipment and Horticulture. I joined the Scientific Equipment Division as Financial Controller of their Laboratory Supplies Group. During my 18 years at Fisons I held 6 different positions and moved to the United States as part of a team to assimilate a large acquisition in Houston. That acquisition, Curtin Matheson Scientific [CMS] was a $750 million distributor of Scientific Equipment. During my time at CMS I worked as a financial analyst on acquisitions and business planning, was appointed as General Manager of one of the acquisitions and led projects on supplier and customer profitability, automated Board reports and ISO 9002 certification. In the late 1990’s Fisons ran into financial difficulties at their Pharmaceuticals Division and as a result all of their Divisions were sold. Fisher Scientific purchased CMS and absorbed the entire head office staff of 400+ into their existing operations. I was offered the chance to move to their head office in Pittsburgh but decided to leave and return to Phoenix where my family and I had lived for many years.

 

I joined Smalley and Company a small construction supplies distributor as Vice President responsible for managing three of their eight branches [later expanded to 10]. During my time at Smalley & Company I was part of the executive management team that ran the Company. One of my first major projects was to assist in investigating, recommending and managing changes to implement an Employee Stock Ownership Plan [ESOP]. We achieved 100% employee ownership in 2017. We also managed the conversion to an “S” corporation [to achieve tax exempt status of the ESOP allowing for faster purchase of shares]. The ESOP conversion led us to institute a rigorous Business Plan that we developed and updated every year to guide and facilitate our growth. We developed a Vision and Mission and employee centric values to ensure that we could articulate our reasons for, and the destination of, our journey and gain buy-in from all employees. The Company grew from $25m to $125m and achieved 7% compound growth in Sales and Share Price over a 20-year period which included the 2008/9 recession. During my time I was appointed to the Board and was Chairman of the Management Succession Committee. I was also Leader of the Resource Planning Team which managed and developed our property portfolio of over 500,000 square feet. [The company was sold for $80m to a large public company in 2024.]

 

In 2023 I established Business Expansion & Development Services LLC to provide Business Planning, Financial Analysis, Key Performance Indicators & Operating Improvements services to America’s growing businesses. Our overriding goal is to improve profitability and company value.