Verto Partners

Professional Experience

Randy Ahuja is a senior global executive with extensive experience leading special situations with multinational exposures at several Fortune 500 companies.  He has conducted business in six continents giving him a unique global perspective and solid understanding of the multicultural elements that influence business decisions worldwide.

Prior to Verto, Randy served as the Chief Financial Officer of Nissan’s Global Electric Vehicle Battery Business headquartered in Japan and led a realignment of the battery strategy to capitalize on evolving market trends.  In Japan, he also served as General Manager for Nissan’s Corporate Strategy Group developing and managing initiatives to ensure Nissan’s successful navigation through the global financial crisis.  In addition, he led strategic alliance and emerging market activities including negotiating agreements to manufacture vehicles in Russia.

Prior to joining Nissan, he held leadership positions at General Motors, including the New York Treasurer’s Office Troubled Suppliers group where he developed strategies to protect GM from negative repercussions of the American steel industry bankruptcies.  He also earned 3 Chairman’s awards for contributions to highly strategic initiatives including liquidation of a 20,000 employee global powertrain joint venture headquartered in Italy, formation of a technology company owning all of GM’s global intellectual property, and participation in the execution of a $17.8 billion global bond issuance.

Randy started his automotive career in Canada working in Labor Relations at a Ford Motor Company assembly plant. He also managed Employee Relations at a copper smelter and refinery, and worked as a mill production operator in a gold mine.

Professional Experience

Mary-Beth Anthony began her career with Beber Silverstein Advertising in Miami as a media buyer, planner and supervisor responsible for major accounts such as Helmsley/Harley Hotels, Norwegian Cruise Line, Turnberry Isle, Southern Cross Yachts, and Austin Rover Cars. She went on to account management and supervised clients such as the Florida Division of Tourism, Carnival’s Crystal Palace Resort and Casino/Bahamas, Bonaventure Spa, Fountainebleu Hilton and Jackson Memorial Medical Center, one of the country’s top hospitals. She was on the board of directors of the Advertising Federation of Greater Miami and served as chair of the most successful ADDY awards in its history.

She moved to the client side of the business as Advertising Supervisor for the southern half of the United States for Mercedes-Benz of North America, where she developed the first multi-media ad campaign in the key Hispanic markets of South Florida, Texas, Arizona and Puerto Rico and developed key micro-marketing multi-media events. She opened two casinos for Circus Circus Enterprises (now MGM), the largest gaming organization in the world. As Director of Advertising for Luxor Las Vegas, she was responsible for start-up operations that included strategic development, advertising, promotions, and international diplomacy (Egyptian Ambassador and renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass attended the opening of Luxor). At Circus Circus Mississippi, she was Director of Marketing, Entertainment and Retail Operations.

She has worked as a marketing consultant on strategic respositioning of a public cable TV company, development of internet marketing strategy and site development for a professional recording media company and local fund raisers. She has worked with an international promotional products firm and an international retail producer and distributor of private label organizer bags. Mary-Beth has been teaching in one of the southeastern region’s most well respected private schools for the past four years, providing compelling discussions and critical thinking from her students by incorporating real world knowledge and events.

Mary-Beth has been involved with international print, television and radio, sales videos, collateral materials and high-tech multi-media shows. Her experience includes travel and corporate international marketing within Europe, Latin America, Asia, Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean.

She is a member of the American Advertising Federation/Raleigh/Durham Chapter and the Board Education Chair-woman for 2013-2014 and a member of ISES/International Special Events Society/Greater Triangle Chapter.

Most recently, she continued her education and received certificates in event management from Duke University and social media marketing management from Chatham Community College/Martin Brossman & Associates.

Professional Experience

Pete Bassi is a Managing Director/Partner of Verto Partners. He was the Chairman and President of Yum Restaurants International (YRI), overseeing all activities associated with the International Restaurant Division of Yum, including more than 12,000 KFC (leads McDonalds in Korea, China, Thailand, Malaysia), Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants spread over approximately 100 countries. Under Pete’s tenure, Yum opened more than 1,100 new units annually with system sales of approximately $10 billion.

Pete held other senior executive positions at YRI, including Executive Vice President and CFO. He was also CFO of Taco Bell, where he personally negotiated several key acquisitions as Pepsico was fostering a restaurant diversification strategy. Under his tenure, Taco Bell emerged from a niche Mexican food player to a powerful chain fueled by leading the industry with value initiatives. Pete also held a number of officer positions at Frito-Lay and Pizza Hut, as well as numerous planning roles at Pepsi-Cola U.S. and Pepsi-Cola International.

Professional Experience

Martin Bell has been providing valuation, financial modeling, corporate development, M&A advisory, due diligence, and forensic accounting services to large, medium, and small companies for more than 20 years. He has worked closely with senior C-level management on a pre and post-acquisition basis. In addition to working with Verto Partners, Martin has worked in the U.S. and abroad as an independent consultant and as a senior member of the following international organizations: Deloitte, Navigant Consulting, and American Appraisal Associates, Inc.

Martin’s consulting experience encompasses a unique mix of purposes/uses including: mergers and acquisitions (advisory, valuation and due diligence); corporate divestitures; strategic planning; privatization; financing; real estate development; feasibility studies; economic loss compensation; litigation support; insurance; intellectual property infringement and divestiture; fraud detection; investigative retrospective deal analysis; shareholder dispute analysis; financial reporting; tax planning; compliance; and business development.

In addition to working with U.S. private and public corporations, Martin also has extensive experience working with international companies in the U.S. and abroad including: Spain; Hungary; Czech Republic; Russia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Italy; France; Germany; Austria; United Kingdom; Ukraine; Kazakhstan; Japan; Trinidad and Tobago; and Brazil. In the mid to late 1990’s, he led the start-up and initial management of American Appraisal Associates, Inc.’s operations in the Czech Republic and Russia (with the latter continuing to be one of the company’s most successful and profitable operating units worldwide).

Professional Experience

Randy has more than 20 years of experience supporting private equity funds and small to mid-sized clients as hands-on C-level and senior management, functional area expert in finance, operations, sales and marketing, as well as business development and M&A. He has deployed to and advised the boards of both domestic and international portfolio companies.

In the area of Private Equity and M&A, Randy has been involved in raising over $100 million for PE investments. As part of the founding group at DirecPath, they raised $65 million of equity capital from Hicks Holdings, DirecTV, and pension funds. He then led the M&A team in successfully negotiating and closing purchase agreements, and managing all aspects of the legal, financial, and operational due diligence process, and successfully closed 5 acquisitions in the first year of operations. In 2004, he helped raise US$50 million for Fluviomar S.A. from Darby Overseas Investments, Cargill Value Investments, Exim Bank to fund and create the 2^nd largest barge operator on the Parana river system based out of Argentina. Post funding – Assisted in the acquisition of 2 other operators in Paraguay & Brazil, sourcing and purchasing of over $30 million in capital equipment, establishing policies and procedures, selection and implementation of an ERP/financial systems required to support the growing operation. At Citicorp Equity Investment. he was part of the mergers & acquisitions teams involved in over $2 billion in transactions for CATV, Media, Telecommunications and Internet assets during 1997-98. Partners included TCI International (TINTA), and Telefonica Internacional (TISA). Acquisitions included: (Torneos y Competencias, Pramer, Canal 9, Editorial Atlantida, Cablevision, VCC, Supercanal, Mandeville and various internet companies).

As an operating partner Randy’s corporate performance experience spans several industries and companies ranging from $10 – $500 million in revenue. In the last 4 years he has helped develop and implement a supplier management program for the largest publicly traded property management company (FSRV); as interim CFO, he steered a small company through 40% annual growth rates, increased operating margins and brought the company to sale by a strategic buyer, and recently turned around a mid-sized portfolio company for a private equity fund. He worked with Hicks Muse Tate and Furst (HMTF), a leading private equity firm, as an executive at Davivo Management Group, serving as an operating partner where he led implementation teams for ERP, billing and customer care systems and corporate IT infrastructure projects for their portfolio companies in Latin America. Randy was also the Regional Sales Director of Latin America for Kenan Systems, an enterprise billing and customer software solutions, responsible for enterprise software solution sales and corporate partnerships/alliances for the Latin America, Spain & Portugal markets. He successfully drove sales from $17 million to $70 million. The company was sold to Lucent Technology S.A. in 1999 for $1.4 billion over 4× revenue.

Professional Experience

Don Bibeault, is one of the nation’s leading turnaround practitioners. He is the first-ever recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for corporate turnarounds from the Turnaround Management Association, the highest honor bestowed by the turnaround industry peers and experts. Don created the established frameworks for the underperforming company segment and is widely regarded as one of the world’s experts on strategy and investment returns in the context of underperformance.

During a turnaround career that has spanned more than forty years, he has served as Chairman, CEO, or Chief Operating Officer of numerous corporations, including Pacific States Steel, PLM International, Best Pipe and Steel, Inc., Ironstone Group, Inc., American National Petroleum, Inc., Tyler-Dawson Supply, Iron Oak Supply Corporation and Bsquare Corporation. He was the special turnaround advisor to the CEOs of Silicon Graphics Inc., Varity Corporation (formerly Massey Ferguson), and Yipes Networks. He has been a portfolio company board director and corporate performance advisor to many of the nation’s premier private equity firms such as TA Associates, and he has also been a special workout advisor to Bank of America, as well as the resident corporate performance improvement and turnaround expert for a leading global fund.

His best-selling book, Corporate Turnaround: How Managers Turn Losers Into Winners!, has been in print for thirty years and is widely regarded as the leading text in the field of turnaround management.

Virtually no other practitioner has both the sustained operating track record and major contributions to the intellectual capital of the turnaround industry. The conceptual framework for turnarounds—first articulated in his Ph.D. dissertation and later popularized in his best-selling book—set the stage for the growth of the professional field of turnaround management. They make up a large portion of the Certified Turnaround Professional Management Body of Knowledge curriculum.

Professional Experience

Greg Calaman has two decades of company-building experience creating value at the nexus of lifesciences, healthcare, and technology. Before partnering with Duncan Steels and then recently bringing the firm together with Verto, Greg founded Wavelength Strategies – a transformations consulting firm that became a “go to” resource for public and private life sciences and technology companies, investment banks, and private investors in need of a different approach from that of traditional management consultants. At Wavelength, Greg provided strategic and commercial operations advice to the C-suite of a leading biorepository/personalized medicine company, strategic globalization guidance to the CIO of a major public generic pharmaceutical company on the heels of a multi-billion dollar acquisition, recruited and placed members of the executive team of a rising bioinformation systems company, and led the requirements specification and initial construction of a new business process and system to mitigate a multi-billion dollar commercial operations compliance risk for one of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies.

Prior to Wavelength, Greg served as North American VP & GM for venture-backed lifesciences software company Definiens AG where he built the North American operation. At Pfizer, he reported to the CTO, and led and assisted in strategic re-engineering programs including support of several multi-billion dollar acquisitions and divestitures, the elimination of three quarters of a billion dollars in operating expense, and the elimination of a potentially catastrophic business continuity risk.

Earlier, Greg founded and ran iArmor, a health-tech venture to improve the lives of at-risk populations of outpatients with cardiovascular disease and to establish a new platform for therapeutic compliance and clinical trial support. Greg also served as regional services director for and built a services business at BEA Systems, earned his “top 8 firm” consulting qualifications working on large scale life sciences re-engineering projects at Computer Sciences Corporation, and served as a leader in the technology organization at leading investment bank Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette. Greg began his career as a surface warfare officer in the US Navy.

Professional Experience

Patricio Casillas has US and international management experience, primarily in the Life Sciences industry. He’s built, developed and led high caliber organizations ranging from startup enterprises to PE-backed portfolio companies and has spearheaded business units within Fortune 100 companies.

Patricio is an alumni of Johnson & Johnson’s leadership program and he spent the early part of his career with Eli Lilly & Company. His foundational sales, marketing and strategy background combined with his strong P&L management and operations experience have allowed Patricio to generate significant value for shareholders. He has launched multiple $100M to $1B products and has generated millions in cost savings for companies.

He is relentless about finding big, needle movers for top line growth and operational efficiency. Idea generation and creative thinking starts with deep customer empathy. Patricio is fanatical about behavioral science and understanding customer attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. He is a purveyor of design thinking and similar innovative thinking concepts that are process-driven and teachable. He is practitioner of continuous improvement / six sigma lean management concepts and is versed in robotic process automation.

Ultimately, Patricio is focused on how to best deliver transformational growth.

Professional Experience

Timur Colak has a 16 year track record of success as an international performance improvement consultant and business manager.  He has helped small, medium and large companies improve bottom line results and cash flow in a variety of industries including consumer packaged goods, travel and entertainment, industrials and transportation.  Prior to joining Verto Partners, Mr. Colak managed results-driven projects for a variety of Fortune 1000 companies while at McKinsey & Company and WKI.  He has held management positions and served clients with strategic as well as operational challenges including overhead reduction, sourcing, product proliferation, international expansion, organizational structure and revenue enhancement.

Professional Experience

Skilled Industrial Engineer, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Senior Consultant with experience in operations leadership, turnarounds, delivering projects with high return on investment and creating powerful portrayals of data to drive decision support.

Jared is highly motivated to deliver results to organizations by reducing complexity, creating and delivering different types of solutions (Interim Leadership, Lean, Six Sigma, Layout Optimization, 5S, Kaizen Events, Automation, Programming, Dashboards, Business Process Reengineering, etc) and installing systems of sustainability so gears are still in motion post implementation. Jared has experience end-to-end; from receipt of raw materials to the movement of product through the supply chain, to corporate finance and analysis.

Jared has experience in process improvement and leadership in varying industry types, including: manufacturing, food processing (USDA, SQF, BRC, AIB, HACCP, etc), retail chains, IT and business intelligence (BI), fashion, merchandising, aerospace, marine operations, finance, supply chain and logistics.

Professional Experience

Harry Gray is a broadly-skilled executive with a unique range of general management, strategy, operations and finance capabilities. He has been a middle-market President/CEO, COO, CFO and large cap Board-level Advisor for investment firms such as Goldman Sachs Capital, UBS Capital, Arcapita, Hanseatic Capital, MB Financial and TA Associates. He has also been a private equity professional, investment banker and M&A specialist at leading global firms.

Harry is a Managing Director and Co-founder at Verto Partners. The firm’s professionals have provided corporate strategy, operational improvement and management best practices advice to clients such as Kleiner Perkins, CS First Boston, Bass Family, Technology Crossover Ventures, JMI Equity, GE Capital, Hambrecht & Quist and NEA Associates. The Verto team includes Fortune 500 CEOs, Big Four partners, and McKinsey, Bain and BCG alumni. Harry was also Managing Director at RKG Osnos, the nation’s oldest corporate performance advisory firm.

Harry was a private equity professional at Highland Capital, a $35 billion global investment firm. His responsibilities included governance, strategy development, corporate finance, and talent hiring, as well as hands-on deployment to spearhead growth and profitability initiatives and execute comprehensive portfolio company transformations.

Harry was an investment banker at two leading firms; first at Alex Brown & Sons, the nation’s oldest investment bank, and then as a Vice President at Wasserstein Perella & Co., a premier mergers and acquisitions firm. His experiences included corporate strategy, M&A, valuation and fairness opinions, restructurings, and public and private capital markets transactions.

Harry’s profit/loss leadership began in the US Navy, where he was head of numerous large operations encompassing logistics and procurement, food service, retailing and grocery, lodging and hospitality, and fleet and fuel management. In addition to specific combat-line responsibilities, he was a US Treasury Agent by way of a federal disbursing officer appointment, as well as a US Postal Officer and certified contracting officer. He was promoted early to Senior Supply Officer and handpicked for the US Navy’s elite warship construction program at General Dynamics.

Professional Experience

Chad Greenway has been involved in troubled company situations as a professional in numerous capacities, ranging from parachute executive and hands-on crisis manager to debtor-side and board-level advisor to principal investor for the past decade. His experiences not only span the continuum of distressed venues, from crisis and cash preservation to underperformance and growth acceleration, but he has also provided strategic, financial and capital markets advisory support to the boards of numerous public and private companies, ranging from early-stage and middle market growth companies to the Fortune 1000. Chad has been a corporate performance and restructuring advisor to leading private equity firms such as TA Associates, JMI Equity and Technology Crossover Ventures, including a parachute executive for TA Associates. He has also provided Adjunct-CFO leadership to distressed clients.

Chad was a Principal at MHT Partners, L.P., a leading middle-market-focused merchant bank founded by Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (DLJ) and McKinsey veterans. He was also an investment and restructuring banker at Wasserstein Perella & Co., a premier merger, acquisitions and restructuring investment bank. His experiences at Wasserstein Perella included corporate strategy, takeover defense, special committee advice, public, private and distressed M&A, fairness opinions, as well as public and private capital markets transactions. His restructuring scope was broad, including comprehensive board-level strategic and financial advisory services for a number of firms, including global conglomerates such as McDermott International and Halliburton as they negotiated complex multi-billion dollar asbestos liability settlements. Chad’s responsibilities included the formation of strategic alternatives for clients, implementation of takeover defense strategies, providing extensive valuation expertise for a wide range of industries and complex transactions and formulating capital markets recommendations for public and private clients.

Chad began his career in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Banc of America Securities, providing board-level advice to a number of clients on strategy, buy-side, sell-side and private placement transactions as well as transaction fairness opinions. His clients included a range of publicly-traded and privately-held industrial companies.

Professional Experience

Bill Hass is a Certified Turnaround Professional, a past National Chairman of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA), and recipient of the TMA’s Outstanding Individual Contribution Award. Bill was instrumental in developing TMA international’s Troubled Loan Workout Program.

Bill has more than 25 years of experience with turnaround and strategy clients, including both healthy and distressed Fortune 500 companies, such as Allstate Insurance, Baxter International, LTV, National Steel, Continental Airlines, as well as a variety of smaller public and privately-held companies such as Jiffy Lube, Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel, Florida Steel, Cross & Trecker, and Specialty Equipment. Bill’s industry experience is broad based and includes retailers and consumer and industrial manufacturers such as: valve manufacturers, mini-mills, homebuilders, publishers, newspapers, automotive suppliers, machine tools and electronics.

Bill is CEO of TeamWork Technologies, a consulting and research firm in Chicago. Prior to launching TeamWork Technologies, Bill’s consulting career spanned work at two of the Big Four accounting firms, including Partner at Ernst & Young, where he was a leader in both the Special Services, Strategy and Restructuring Groups. He focuses on turnaround strategies, failure prediction, strategic options analysis and valuation, corporate renewal and dramatic change. Bill co-authored Building Value Through Strategy, Risk Assessment and Renewal (600 pages, 2006, CCH) and The Private Equity Edge: How Private Equity Players and the World’s Top Companies Build Value and Wealth (440 pages, 2009, McGraw-Hill). He is a frequent contributor to The Journal of Corporate Renewal and The Journal of Private Equity.

Professional Experience

Richard (Dick) Lindenmuth has been a corporate performance advisor and Chief Executive Officer in a number of industries, with business models ranging from high-technology and services to heavy- and basic-industries. He has more than 30 years general management experience in domestic and international operations, and he is noted for his comprehensive execution skills in both high-growth and distressed environments.

Dick has advised many of the nation’s premiere private equity and investment firms. For Highland Capital Management, one of the world’s largest distressed investment funds, he was a primary crisis manager and corporate performance executive. Dick has served as CEO for more than ten companies and corporate performance advisor to numerous others. A short list of his executive roles includes Amcast Corporation, Quantegy and number of corporate performance leadership positions for global banks and private equity firms.

Dick’s corporate leadership experiences are broad and international. He began his career at the Singer Sewing Machine Company in treasury and international finance, where he advanced rapidly to General Manager of The Middle East and Africa. He was also the Director of International Operations for Bendix Automotive, where he helped spearhead industry-changing joint ventures, such as RENEX (Renault and Bendix) and brake manufacturing operations in Korea for Hyundai before the Hyundai automobiles were imported into the USA. He also forged the acquired technology companies that were part of Burroughs (now Unisys) into one strategic unit.

He was President of ITT’s Business and Consumer Communications Group, where he led 20,000 employees through rapid deregulation and grew the revenues four fold to record profitably in record time. After his successful turnaround at ITT, the company was sold and is now part of Alcatel.

Professional Experience

Dick Redden is a nationally recognized turnaround expert, with more than 40 years experience in operations, marketing, and finance, and a very successful track record of general and interim management, profit improvement and strategic repositioning in numerous companies.

Dick has been the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Operating Officer of two Fortune 500 companies and has led more than twenty successful crisis-to profitability turnarounds as “Turnaround CEO” in nine industries. He has also served as board-level adjunct to the CEO or Chief Restructuring Officer in the reorganization and return-to-profitability of twelve companies in seven industries, including portfolio companies of leading investment firms such as Highland Capital. Throughout his career in turnaround advisory, Dick has spearheaded a number of successful corporate divestures.

Dick has been sought after repeatedly for his governance on the board of both public and private companies, including directorship of seventeen companies in packaging, banking, real-estate, textiles, apparel, plastics, medical services, consumer products, telecommunications, and civic and charity organizations.

Professional Experience

Jeff has over 25 years of experience in strategic planning, business development, regional and national operations, market analysis, marketing, and product/service development. Jeff’s career has been mainly focused on healthcare services and technology and can be defined as entrepreneurial, having been involved as a founder or on the founding teams of six ventured capital backed start-up companies, a consultant to numerous start-up and middle market companies and an advisor to an early stage ventured capital firm.

Most recently, Jeff was the founder and Vice President of the Corporate Wellness division of Eat Right America, a nutrition and technology company that was recently acquired by Whole Foods Market, Inc. Prior to Eat Right America, Jeff was Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development of Delphi Health Systems, a diabetes technology and physician specialty network company that developed a patented diabetes patient management technology for physicians. He was also the founder and President of Argus Healthcare, a veterinary telemedicine service company with a global network of specialists. Prior to that, Jeff served as a roaming executive working with numerous portfolio companies of a technology focused venture capital fund, where he eventually took a permanent position as Vice President of Business Development with a portfolio company (Vertrax, Inc.) focused on providing logistic and route planning software to the heating oil and propane delivery markets.

While serving as Vice President of Strategic Planning at Kelson Pediatric Partners, the largest ambulatory pediatric company in the U.S. that provided healthcare services to over 600,000 children, Jeff founded a company that developed a CRM application for pediatric practices. The company was spun off and was successfully merged with a healthcare technology firm. Jeff has served on founding senior management teams for MedPartners (NYSE:CMX), where he managed a strategic planning department that serviced over 1,500 physicians; PrincipalCare, a woman’s healthcare company where he helped the company grow from five physicians in one market to 80 in five markets prior to its sale; Aesthetics Medical Management, an aesthetic plastic surgery center company where he was Chief Marketing Officer and was responsible for the development and marketing of regional plastic surgery centers; and Xtramedics, a woman’s healthcare product company where he managed all of its test market research and product rollouts before it was successfully merged with a publicly traded company.

Jeff lives in Connecticut with his wife and daughter. Over the past 10 years he has been very involved with the Angel Charitable Trust which sponsors the AngelRide, an annual weekend bike ride that has raised over $4,000,000 for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp’s Hospital Outreach Program. Jeff has also served as a board member or trustee for other not for profit organizations focused on the wellbeing of children, healthcare access, and other social issues.

Professional Experience

William S. Russell’s most recent positions have been in the role of Chief Operating Officer for Primary Management Resources (PMR), a consulting company in the healthcare field specializing in IT conversions and overall transformations of healthcare clinics, and for Take Stock in Children (TSIC), a Florida-based non-profit organization, which helps low-income children succeed in life by providing college scholarships and other long-term support. Dr. Russell’s responsibilities included short- and long-term strategy, managing corporate office operations including finances, information technology and HR in addition to field operations in dozens of client locations.

Dr. Russell also has experience as a consultant at McKinsey & Company where he gained expertise in generating and evaluating strategic options for Fortune 500 clients, developing and implementing business-building strategies, building and refining business models, assessing market and competitive landscapes, and developing rigorous financial models focusing on budget management and cost-reduction strategies.

Professional Experience

Mr. Stuecheli brings over 25 years of broad experience in working for and consulting with companies facing the challenges of growth and financial re-structuring.  Before joining Vertopartners, Stuecheli provided financial and operational advice for Phoenix Management Services, Wimmer Associates and Buccino & Associates.  During the most recent five years, he has served in interim CFO and Chapter 11 advisory positions.

From October 2008 to January 2009, Stuecheli was interim CFO for Texas based general aviation airplane manufacturer; coordinated downsizing and shutdown of operations in response to severe downturn in single engine airplane sales.

From February 2009 to January 2010; Stuecheli was Financial Advisor to Houston-based commercial lumber company.  His initial role was to stabilize cash flow and search for a replacement working capital lender.  Because of a slow recovery in housing market, he continued as financial advisor in a Chapter 11 reorganization resulting in family owners maintaining ownership of downsized operation and 100% payment to lenders and trade creditors.

From August 2010 to May 2012; he was Interim CFO for Atlanta-based $80 million electronic parts distributor.  In addition to regular financial management responsibilities he assisted the CEO and other senior management with planning and implementation of operational and capital restructuring to include delisting as a public company, conversion of senior debt to equity, elimination of sub debt and consolidation of three divisions.  He coordinated his financial responsibilities with outside professionals including attorneys, accountants and valuation firms.

Mr. Stuecheli has extensive bankruptcy experience.  His roles have included providing financial advice to debtors, sale of companies as going concerns and expert witness testimony in Court for debtors and creditors.  Specifically, he was an expert witness for a large European bank in a Delaware case involving a collateral valuation issue.  He was a financial advisor to a Virginia based lumber treatment operation, a $60 million Oklahoma carpet mill and a Texas based chain of home improvement stores.   He also served as financial advisor to a Texas based $20 million mail order operation through a Chapter 11 Reorganization resulting in a 100% payout to all creditors.

Several of his clients were family owned businesses in need of assistance as they faced an economic downturn.   In addition to the financial aspects of the business, he advised these clients on management succession issues.

Earlier, Mr. Stuecheli was the director of financial planning and acquisitions for Intelogic Trace, Inc., a $250 million computer service company.  His financial and administrative responsibilities included identification of potential acquisition candidates, financial modeling, due diligence and integration of acquired companies in addition to ongoing budget and financial analysis.

Prior to Intelogic Trace, Mr. Stuecheli held several positions with Datapoint Corporation, a computer manufacturer.  While at Datapoint, he participated in several operational reviews and cost containment programs in response to severe revenue losses.

Mr. Stuecheli has held financial positions with Nordson Corporation, a multinational special equipment manufacturer.  He joined the company as General Accounting Manager and advanced to Controller of the Packaging and Assembly Division, which had sales of $80 million.  During his tenure with Nordson, the company grew from $22 million to $150 million in revenue.

Mr. Stuecheli began his career at Ernst & Young, and progressed to the position of Audit Senior, with in-charge responsibility for audits of medium-size manufacturing companies.

Professional Experience

Professional Experience

Carl Youngman is respected as one of the deans of corporate growth and renewal in America. For more than thirty-five years he has been helping management team, investors and creditors of public and private companies maximize their operational and financial opportunities. While he is frequently tapped for “due diligence” in support of acquisitions, he is one of the nation’s leading “hands-on” practitioners, with roles ranging from active director to trusted advisor to mentor to the CEO—always with an emphasis on leadership and execution, rather than report writing.

Carl has been involved with performance improvement of more than 250 companies. He has been CEO, President and Director of more than 50, including Chairman of the Audit and Compensation Committees for NYSE companies. He is also regarded a financial expert as defined by Sarbanes-Oxley.

Carl is regarded as one of the top brand resuscitation experts, guiding many well-know firm such as: Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc.; Vie de France Corporation; Au Bon Pain; Inc.; Omni Facility Services of Canada, Inc.; Uniscribe Professional Services, Inc.; Ultimate Franchise Systems, Inc.; Food Research Corporation; Red River Barbeque and Grill; Boston Chicken (c/k/a Boston Market); Tony Maroni’s; Champions Sports, Inc.; Tabi Corp.; Cotton Ginny; Jreck Subs Group, Inc.; Mountain Mike’s Pizza; Cuisine Solutions, Inc.; Hub Mail; The Sun-Times Company; Bonner-Vawter Printing Company; The Concord Group; and Bertram Yachts.

Professional Experience

John Zombolas is a seasoned finance and management professional, investor and operator with extensive experience in private equity, investment banking, investment management, and operations consulting.  John can be characterized as a results-driven serial entrepreneur with a talent for maximizing value extraction from available resources and driving growth through both organic and acquisitive means.  He is a proven team leader, project manager, and business developer with a “high-touch, high-quality” approach to client relations and service.  As an M&A specialist, John engages in all aspects of project management and deal execution, including target search, due diligence, valuation and financial modeling, financing, fundraising, and negotiation to definitive agreement.

Prior to joining Verto Partners, John was the co-founder and Managing Director of Promethean Strategies, which delivered financial and strategic guidance, M&A advisory, debt/equity placement, operations improvement, turnaround, and management consulting services to lower middle market companies.  At Promethean, John assisted clients in a multitude of industries and sectors across the country, with a heavy emphasis in manufacturing and financial/professional services.  His efforts in growth strategy implementation, turnaround consulting, interim C-level management, performance improvement, deal consummation, and post-merger integration realized over $3 billion in capital value creation to his various clients.

John is also an active private equity investor and operator who has owned several manufacturing companies in the U.S. and Europe.  He provides strategic direction to these companies and has held management roles within them in order to drive sales growth or lead improvement initiatives.

Prior to his private equity efforts, John co-founded an institutional investment consulting firm, which he subsequently helped develop to reach more than $8 billion in assets under management.  In this capacity, John consulted on the full spectrum of asset classes and administrative functions to middle market retirement plans, foundations, and endowments.  These activities continued the asset management practice he had begun as a Senior Vice President with Kidder, Peabody & Co., where he also served as a Vice President of the Asset Consulting Group, Director of the Pension Fund Services Group, and an investment banking associate.  Additionally, John has held positions in asset management and financial analysis at other Fortune 100 companies, including General Electric and the Walt Disney Company.