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Jeff Maclaren
Principal at Proper Orange
Professional Background
Jeff Maclaren is a seasoned senior executive renowned for his extensive experience in managing both high growth and turnaround situations across a wide spectrum of industries. His impressive career trajectory spans multiple roles in both small and large firms, where he has left an indelible mark through his strategic leadership and financial expertise. Notably, he has excelled in prestigious organizations such as McDonnell Douglas, ITT, Barr Associates, and Williams Advanced Materials, embodying a wealth of knowledge and practical skills that enhance organizational success. In his current role, he provides part-time CFO and COO services to small businesses, navigating them through the complexities of financial management and strategic planning.
Education and Achievements
Jeff's educational background sets a strong foundation for his professional success. He completed a Diploma at Lawrence Academy, which paved the way for his further studies in engineering at Brown University, where he earned a B.S. in Engineering. His academic journey culminated in an MBA with a focus on Finance from the internationally recognized Wharton Graduate Division at the University of Pennsylvania. This prestigious educational framework has provided him with the analytical skills crucial for strategic decision-making and financial modeling.
Throughout his career, Jeff has developed a diverse skill set, including strategic planning, budgeting, financial modeling and analysis, and cash management. His expertise also extends to mergers and acquisitions (M&A), systems and controls, contract management, and employee stock ownership plans (ESOP). Furthermore, his familiarity with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) showcases his capability to navigate complex regulatory environments effectively.
Professional Experience
Throughout his career, Jeff has held numerous influential positions that underscore his leadership qualities and financial acumen. He is the principal at Proper Orange, guiding small businesses through the intricacies of financial management and offering valuable insights drawn from his extensive experience. As an Independent Consulting CFO/COO, he has demonstrated flexibility and creativity in meeting diverse organizational needs.
Previously, he served as the Chief Financial Officer at mondCloud, Inc., driving financial strategies while ensuring fiscal responsibility and sustainable growth. His outstanding leadership was also exemplified during his tenure at Williams Advanced Materials, where he acted as the Director of Finance and Administration, refining the company’s financial processes which ultimately contributed to overall operational improvements.
Jeff held pivotal roles at Barr Associates, Ltd., first as the Director and later as the Chief Financial Officer, where he spearheaded initiatives that enhanced financial planning and operational efficiencies. As the Controller for the Pacific Division at McDonnell Douglas Information Systems International (MDISI), Jeff gained significant experience in managing large-scale financial operations while ensuring compliance with corporate regulations. Earlier in his career, he made impactful contributions as a Senior Financial Administrator at Microdata, Inc. and as a Senior Financial Analyst at ITT Cannon, where his analytical abilities drove crucial financial insights.
In addition to his corporate roles, Jeff has also shown commitment to community involvement. He previously served as a member of the Board of Trustees at Merrimack Repertory Theatre, demonstrating his dedication to supporting the arts and fostering community engagement.
Achievements and Skills
Jeff's career is characterized by a series of notable achievements in each role he has undertaken. His comprehensive understanding of financial strategies has helped many organizations navigate their unique challenges successfully. His strategic planning capabilities have resulted in enhanced profitability and operational efficiency for various firms.
In the realm of financial management, Jeff's hands-on experience with detailed financial modeling and analysis has proven invaluable. He has a knack for budgeting, ensuring that organizations can effectively allocate resources while maintaining fiscal responsibility. Moreover, his experience with administrative and human resources management complements his financial expertise, enabling him to oversee organizational dynamics holistically.
With a continuous drive for improvement, Jeff leverages his extensive knowledge of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) to guide organizations through regulatory requirements effectively. His flexibility and creativity further distinguish him in the field, allowing him to tailor solutions that meet specific business needs.
In summary, Jeff Maclaren stands out as a prominent figure in executive financial management, offering a blend of rigorous educational credentials and rich professional experience. His proficiency in strategic planning, M&A, budgeting, and performance management, combined with his unwavering commitment to supporting small businesses, makes him an asset to any organization seeking to thrive in today’s competitive marketplace. Jeff's successful track record of navigating complex financial landscapes and delivering exceptional results underscores his commitment to fostering economic growth and operational excellence within the companies he collaborates with.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.