Chief Financial Officer
Long Beach, CA
Our client is a leading Apparel company generating nearly $300M in annual revenues. Backed by a prominent private equity firm, the company seeks a seasoned CFO with Apparel or CPG experience to join the executive team during a period of growth, and ultimately a successful sale of the business within three years or less.
Role Overview
Reporting to the CEO and the private equity group, the CFO will strive to ensure the organization is making intelligent business decisions informed by strategic fiscal considerations. This individual will also provide leadership, direction and support to the Finance team, as well as being a partner to Department Heads, investors, and the Board to ensure the company's resources are managed effectively to achieve the company's growth and profitability targets.
We are looking to identify someone who will bring strategic perspectives and a proactive approach to running the Finance organization in a highly creative, fast-paced entrepreneurial environment. The ideal candidate will thrive on being close to the business operations and not in a "typical large corporate role." This leader will be a driver who is also down-to-earth, approachable, highly motivated, and can embrace the ambiguity and quick direction changes that come with an entrepreneurial environment. We are looking for a leader, a teacher, a mentor and a coach to help educate the organization to higher levels of learning as it relates to the financial aspects of the business.
The CFO is a vital strategic position within the Company, responsible for the following: ensuring complete and accurate financial analysis, planning, reporting, accounting practices, internal controls, and budgeting, while developing best in class operating analyses to help drive business decisions. The CFO will work closely with the senior leadership team to provide strategic financial input and counsel on critical issues affecting the organization.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide senior management and the company's stakeholders with all relevant financial and related information on a regular and timely basis and as otherwise requested (incl. Monthly Financials and quarterly Board packages).
• Review of all monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting and potential regulatory compliance as well as any other required filings including taxation.
• Proactively provide analysis and recommendations on business performance, including variance and historic trending analysis; provide strategic guidance and financial input on issues affecting the organization.
• After gaining a thorough understanding of the Company's costs, implement improved costing metrics to forecast, plan, develop, and organize fiscal budgets, and identify trends, market conditions, and competitive intelligence for comparative purposes.
• Work in conjunction with the Finance team in implementing a rigorous analytics model, and direct and evaluate the Company's fiscal performance while looking for continuous improvement in the budgeting processes.
• Work with the CEO and Board of Directors in linking business goals to financial targets, and in establishing and meeting these targets - revenue, profitability, organic growth, new business growth, profit margins.
• Lead the finance team in the business planning process: annual budget, forecasts, quarterly staff utilization, revenue targets, long term strategic planning.
• Develop strong relationships with executives and others within and outside finance, and maintain an open flow of communication, thus enabling deep knowledge of current events in the business.
• Coordinate, design, implement and monitor internal financial reporting systems, financial controls, and management information systems - ensure that the current systems are providing world-class information that is used to drive business performance.
• Plan and manage audits and reviews performed by the Company's independent auditors.
• Training, developing, mentoring accounting & finance staff as well as business leaders to the "learning through the numbers."

• Optimize the handling of banking relationships in conjunction, manage and ensure a reliable cash flow projection process and reporting mechanism to meet operating needs and forecasted financial position for business activities.

Key Selection Criteria
The ideal candidate will be an experienced CFO who possesses a solid understanding of key strategic, financial, and accounting principles preferably coming from one of the following industries: Apparel, Retail, or Consumer Packaged Goods. Experience with a Direct Sales channel is a plus.
We may also be flexible on industry experience if the right candidate has the core empirical skills, an entrepreneurial spirit, is a strong culture fit, and is comfortable in a fast-paced highly dynamic creative environment. The CFO will possess a broad mix of strategic business experiences including: day-to-day accounting and diverse finance exposure(s) in entrepreneurial, consumer facing companies that built out value added financial and reporting infrastructures. It is also critical he/she have strong inter-personal capabilities and enjoy interacting with others with the ability to collaboratively solve business problems with creativity and adaptability. The CFO should have experience working closely as a business partner with a creative entrepreneurial leadership group, have a strong "customer service" orientation. He/she will be down to earth, collaborative, comfortable in a hands-on environment, and have a true passion for being part of a team that is executing in a high growth organization. It is critical this individual lack the ego and political agendas that often go along with larger companies.
Experience Profile
Successful candidates will possess:

• A bachelor's degree in finance, Economics, or similar studies. Possessing an MBA or CPA is a plus.
• A minimum of 15 years of professional experience including:
  • Current or recent experience as a Chief Financial Officer, ideally at a company of $300M or more in annual revenues.
  • Experience in founder-run and/or PE backed companies.
  • Preferred industries: Apparel, Retail, Consumer Packed Goods; experience with product licensingbusinesses is a plus.
  • Demonstrated track record of enhancing and ensuring timeliness of accounting, finance, management reporting, budgeting, and strategic planning functions.
  • Experience helping an organization to navigate through accelerated growth, business transformation, expansion.
• Significant depth in applying techniques of analytic operational benchmarking and competitive analysis; a track record of understanding the data and applying best practices.

Posted On: Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Compensation: 375000 bonus equity