Minnesota born and raised, I have over 35 years of business experience and expertise. Upon graduation from U.C. Berkeley, I accepted a sales position at Informix Software, a 35-person startup in Silicon Valley, which went public and eventually sold to IBM. Over the next 15 years, as the VP of European Marketing, and later, VP European Business Development, I worked for several software companies, including Vantive/Peoplesoft, i2 Technologies and Novell. At Novell I managed a 30-person staff throughout Europe and South Africa and was responsible for a $30 million annual budget.
In 2006, I returned to Minnesota and purchased Exterior Building Services (EBS), a specialty construction company. EBS provided me with exactly the sort of challenge that drives me. Under my ownership, it was completely transformed from a small, struggling masonry cleaning company to a thriving commercial air barrier and waterproofing subcontractor. With a 12-fold increase in revenue, it became the leading moisture protection business in Minnesota. I was able to sell EBS to a private equity firm for an attractive valuation and move into investment banking.
My broad experience and passion for taking on new challenges, helps me work with a wide range of clients who are company owners. Every business is unique, and each owner has different objectives and priorities when making the decision to sell. I bring my lifetime of skills and experience to each opportunity to listen and understand the owner's unique needs, and work with them, and the rest of the CFA team, to achieve the best possible result.
