Boston University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Chief Financial Officer at Parts Town, LLC

Barrington, Illinois, United States

Parts Town supplies genuine OEM replacement parts for commercial cooking equipment to the restaurant industry. Parts Town has been named to Crain's "Fast 50" list of the fastest growing companies in the Chicagoland area for five consecutive years as well as the "Inc 5000" list of fastest growing private companies for five consecutive years.Parts Town is committed to living our core values of integrity, passion, courage and innovation to deliver the highest level of personal customer service for food equipment replacement parts, commercial kitchen accessories, and selected food equipment. The magic of Parts Town is created not through bar-codes and buildings, but rather through outstanding people who are passionate about taking care of customers.At Parts Town, I partner with the senior leadership team on business initiatives. In addition, I lead the Finance and HR teams and oversee the company's legal activities.

Parts Town

Chief Financial Officer

Huskie Tools is a leader in battery-operated and hydraulic assisted hand tools for use by utility industry professionals. At Huskie, I lead the accounting, finance and information technology functions. • Revamped the company's internal and external financial reporting in conjunction with private  equity ownership (Harren Equity Partners).• Created internal and external reporting to provide the information required to efficiently operate the     business while meeting the requirements of equity partners and lenders.• Participated in auction process to sell the company to new investors. Led due diligence efforts.• Developed variety of improvements to business enterprise systems (NetSuite) to improve   process efficiencies and provide better information to internal and external business partners.

Huskie Tools

Tippmann Sports is a premier manufacturer and marketer of paintball markers and accessories.As CFO, I directed all accounting, finance and information technology functions, including budget, audit, tax and internal controls. In addition, I managed all bank relationships, acted as the company's Risk Manager, and managed the company's litigation portfolio. I also directed the company's strategic planning process. Significant accomplishments included:• Built financial and information technology organizations after a private equity partner (Summit Partners) invested in a formerly family-owned business.• Refinanced debt multiple times in challenging credit environments.• Coordinated the evaluation of manufacturing / outsourcing options with respect to maintaining a US manufacturing presence, shifting manufacturing to China, or maintaining a dual-source manufacturing strategy.• Led or participated in a variety of operational initiatives including pricing reviews, new product development, SKU management and packaging reviews.• Launched Tippmann Sports Europe, a distribution and service center in Belgium, after extensive market and financial analysis. Responsible for managing the legal, regulatory and accounting requirements for an international subsidiary.• Led reimplementation of and ongoing improvements to business enterprise systems (Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains) to improve efficiency and accuracy of information across the entire organization.• Managed the company's annual audits, implementing improvements over time which led to clean audits with no posted or waived adjustments and no internal control issues.• Led a variety of acquisitions of small paintball product manufacturers.• Managed legal portfolio, including product liability portfolio, with consistently favorable outcomes. Also responsible for contract review and negotiation and ongoing regulatory analysis.

Tippmann Sports, LLC

Vice President & CFO

LMA North America is a distributor of medical devices used in airway management and anesthesia procedures. As VP & Corporate Controller, I managed all accounting, finance, contract management and information technology functions, including internal reporting, budgeting, cash management, audit and tax. Significant accomplishments include:• Improved timeliness of budget process and implemented quarterly forecasting procedures.• Improved cash collection cycle to reduce DSO by 10%.• Negotiated terms and conditions of contracts with hospital group purchasing organizations.

LMA North America

Vice President, Finance

Bell Sports (currently Easton-Bell Sports) is a premier manufacturer, designer and marketer of sporting goods products, specializing in bicycle and winter sports helmets and accessories.As VP Finance & Corporate Controller, I managed all financial functions, including internal reporting, budgeting, strategic planning, cash management, audit and tax. Provided analysis on mergers & acquisitions and strategic planning.• Conducted due diligence and participated in road show in order to sell the company to new private equity investors (Chartwell Investments) and issue $185 million in new debt.• Led divestiture of three divisions of the company totaling $25 million in operating budgets, including negotiation of contracts and terms of sale, and accounting for the transactions.• Increased cash collections by 5% over plan, improved vendor payment terms by 25%.

Bells Sports

Vice President Finance & Corporate Controller, Secretary & Treasurer

Responsible for worldwide strategic and financial planning. Directly accountable for financial results of $200 million US divisions.• Shortened the annual plan cycle from five months to three months.• Improved quarterly financial review time from one month to two weeks.• Conducted due diligence and prepared for road show to take the company private with private equity partners Brentwood Associates and Charlesbank.

Bell Sports

Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

Led project team on a major business system implementation, including financial functions and reporting, inventory forecasting, purchasing, importing, order entry, and distribution.• Implemented business system (Trend) on time and 10% below budget.• Trained staff on all financial systems, purchasing and importing processes.

Systems Project Manager

Conducted month-end close and managed financial issues for US divisions. Consolidated worldwide company plan and forecasts. Led financial aspects of system conversion effort.• Shortened plan consolidation time from three days to one day.• Created and implemented new financial reporting structures after a merger doubled the size of the company.

Finance Manager / Senior Financial Analyst

The American Trucking Associations is a trade organization representing the interests of trucking companies on federal and state issues.At the National Accounting & Financial Council, we published industry specific information on federal and state tax issues and analyzed the impact of changing tax law, regulations and administrative decisions on the trucking industry.• Published monthly technical articles focused on taxes, workers' comp and risk management.• Reduced the time required for an annual industry-wide compensation survey by 25%.• Published a bi-annual survey of independent contractor issues within the trucking industry.

American Trucking Associations

Assistant Director, Technical Services, National Accounting & Finance Council

HP (formerly DEC) is a leader in computer hardware solutions. As a Financial Analyst in the Financial Development Program, I worked in a variety of financial analyst roles in three distinct operating and corporate divisions.

Lori Sherwood