Industries
Fractional CFO experience by industry
CFO advice is more useful when it reflects how your business earns money. The same financial statement can hide very different operating realities. I focus on the drivers, risks, and decisions that matter within your business model - not a generic list of profit leaks. I’ve led finance inside these industries, not just advised them from the outside.
30+ years
as a CFO
MBA
in Marketing
CPA
Georgia State Board of Accountancy License #CPA012637 (inact)
Trusted by leaders at
01
Marketing and media agencies
Agency owners need to understand profitability below the company total. The real questions live at the client, project, service line, and staffing level.
Highlight
I co-founded Baywalk Media and built the 36-month models that steered $1M/month in media spend across 1,000+ campaigns.
Focus areas
Client and project profitability.
Utilization and delivery capacity.
Scope creep, work in progress, and write-offs.
Retainer versus project economics.
Hiring and contractor decisions.
Pipeline-based cash and capacity forecasting.
02
Call centers and BPO
Call center and BPO economics depend on program mix, staffing, utilization, service quality, refunds, payment risk, and cross-border operations. A lower labor rate does not create durable profit when these elements are managed separately.
Highlight
At Quatrro Direct, six onshore employees ran a 600-employee, four-center offshore operation to 20% EBITDA at peak.
Focus areas
Center, program, client, and service-line profitability.
Workforce mix, utilization, and delivery capacity.
Pricing, contract economics, and contribution margin.
Service-quality cost, refunds, and chargebacks.
Payment risk and processor cost.
Cross-border cash planning and currency exposure.
03
PEO, payroll, and workforce services
PEO and workforce businesses carry obligations and risks that require more than a monthly P&L. Profitability, liquidity, insurance exposure, payroll taxes, benefits, and client pricing interact.
Highlight
As CFO of CertiPay, a $285M PEO moving $3.5B in client payroll, I led an 11x EBITDA turnaround and the sale to Vensure.
Focus areas
Client and worksite profitability.
Workers’ compensation exposure and claims trends.
Payroll tax and benefit-funding obligations.
Pricing and contract economics.
Receivables and liquidity planning.
Growth capacity and operating controls.
04
SaaS and software development
Recurring revenue hides its problems well. Pricing that hasn’t moved in years, churn that eats growth, and CAC that outruns payback all look fine in a monthly P&L - until they don’t.
Highlight
At CertiPay I reset a decade-frozen pricing model on a B2B payroll software business - annual profit up 50% with under 1% client attrition. At Baywalk we built a B2C software and technical-support business to $35M.
Focus areas
Pricing, packaging, and price-adjustment discipline.
Churn, retention, and client lifetime value.
CAC, payback, and unit economics.
ARR and recurring-revenue reporting.
Billing, payment operations, refunds, and chargebacks.
R&D spending and platform investment decisions.
05
Distribution and wholesale
Revenue can grow while inventory and working capital consume cash. Financial visibility must connect purchasing, landed cost, freight, fleet, and inventory productivity - and reverse flows when they’re part of the model.
Highlight
At Ace Auto Parts I lifted inventory turns to 3.0 and fill rates to 98%, led the 1996 IPO and seven acquisitions, and doubled sales to a $90M peak at 20% EBITDA.
Focus areas
SKU, customer, location, and branch profitability.
Landed margin and freight impact.
Inventory turns, fill rates, and purchasing.
Working capital and the cash-conversion cycle.
Fleet, last-mile, and reverse-logistics cost.
Workers’ compensation and insurance economics.
06
E-commerce and online retail
The dashboard can show growth while marketplace fees, fulfillment, returns, ad spend, and payment costs quietly consume the margin - and inventory consumes the cash right when revenue climbs.
Highlight
I ran the models behind $1M a month in media spend and the payment operation behind 1.2 million consumers - refunds below 15%, chargebacks below 3%.
Focus areas
Contribution margin by product and channel, after all fees.
Ad-spend efficiency: CAC, payback, and channel reallocation.
Inventory purchasing and seasonal cash planning.
Pricing, promotion, and attach-rate economics.
Payment operations: processing cost, refunds, and chargebacks.
Returns, shrink, and fulfillment cost.
Experience is the starting point, not a substitute for diagnosis
I bring relevant operating and financial experience, but each engagement begins with your actual model, data, and decision. I don’t copy recommendations from one industry into another. Engagements begin with the 10-day CFO Decision Diagnostic or an ongoing Fractional CFO plan.
Discuss the financial decision behind the numbers
Or text me directly at (727) 455-9905.