University of Oklahoma

Vice President, Head of Strategy & Corporate Development

Propeller Industries is the leading provider of outsourced, tech-enabled CFO, FP&A and accounting services to startups and venture stage companies. The team of over 350 finance executives, accountants and entrepreneurs serves clients in consumer products, food & beverage, SaaS, professional services, and health-tech. The company leverages broad industry experience, technology and deep access to data to help clients scale their businesses successfully. 

As part of the Executive Leadership Team I helped shape the firm's multi-year strategy and led all Corporate Development efforts, focusing on the long-term direction of Propeller while developing and  executing the firm's M&A strategy. This included partnering with Propeller’s Executive Team, Board Members, PE investors, and broader Senior Leadership Team to plan and execute on a portfolio of strategic initiatives / commercial projects. I contributed to a range of planning and finance activities, including the annual budgeting and long-range planning process and financial forecasting and business case development for new business lines, service offerings and acquisitions.

Led Propeller’s (pre-remote) office in Boulder, where I spent time expanding relationships across Colorado.

Propeller Industries

Vice President, Corporate Development

Led Propeller’s global accounting organization -- transforming the group from fragmented teams to a single delivery organization as it grew from 100 to 225 people in 2+ years. Responsible for goal setting (OKRs), hiring, leadership development, and succession planning, as well as revenue, gross profit and headcount forecasting and achievement. Developed and led managers across offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sun Valley, Austin, Boulder & New York, Bangalore and Manilla. Implemented team-wide processes, improving quality and increasing utilization and efficiency ~10% over 2 years.

Vice President, Head of Global Accounting

Outsourced finance lead for several clients, focusing in professional services and consumer products. Responsible for strategic advice, fundraising, annual budgeting, balance sheet and cash flow management, financial analysis and reporting, and accounting oversight.

Vice President, Finance (Client Facing)

Responsible for aligning people strategy with business goals, including recruiting, succession planning, employee engagement, performance management, and learning & development. Partnered with business leaders to define people needs in support of annual business targets. Created best practices for HR analytics, performance management and succession planning, including trend reporting, planning, defining competencies, performance evaluations, and leadership development. Worked across HR functions (Business Partners, Employee Relations, Compliance, Legal, Compensation, HRIS) improving tools related to engagement, performance evaluation and people data analysis.

Chipotle Mexican Grill

Business Partner

Responsible for day-to-day operations, full P&L and financial performance across $20 million portfolio of stores. Led team and day-to-day operations — including sales forecasting, financial planning, recruiting, training, employee relations and customer experience. Opened 6 new restaurants from construction to grand opening. Hired and built a team of over 45 managers and 250 team members. Successfully developed several managers to become multi-unit District Managers themselves, and mentored several District Managers across Pacific region.

Team Leader, Operations

Responsible for implementation and financial success of culinary development and supply chain initiatives. 
Coordinated efforts across the organization when developing and launching new menu items and procedures in the U.S. and Europe. Collaborated with Culinary, Supply Chain and Finance to model volume, pricing and sales forecasts for new items. Worked directly with food suppliers and commissaries to develop procedures to source, manufacture and distribute new items and recipes to 2,000+ restaurants nationally.

Manager, Research And Development 

Oversaw projects to bolster the company’s procurement strategy and to build out the Food With Integrity program—an effort to source more responsibly and effect change across the industry. Led efforts to develop several new programs: an end-to-end food traceability program, a master repository for all supplier information, an auditing and farm-visit program, and a company-wide food quality tracking system

Consultant, Research & Development

Mentoring Hub's class of social venture startups. Providing insights and guidance on strategy, fundraising and financial management.

Hub Ventures

Start Up Mentor

Responsible for full financial management at ~$5MM venture-backed ice cream company leading up to successful sale of the company. Performed fundraising and financial planning, including multi-year forecasting and internal/external reporting for debt and equity stakeholders. Oversaw accounting operations and staff, including payroll (HR), AR, and AP. Managed outside relationships—suppliers, co-packers, attorneys, and bankers—and production planning as Interim COO.

Laloo's Ice Cream Company

CFO & Interim COO

Worked with Founder/CEO, CFO, marketing team, and brokers to develop revenue model and forecast new products and sales categories for seafood brokerage and marketing company as we grew revenues from $5MM to $20MM. Created sourcing models and product forecasts (P&Ls) aimed at improving margins. Acted as liaison to investors, environmental groups, nongovernmental organizations and national trade groups active in seafood industry, particularly environmentally and socially responsible seafood production.

CleanFish, Inc.

Director, Business Development

Senior member of Financial Planning & Analysis (Strategic Planning) group. Managed portfolio of client-focused business development projects, and developed revenue and growth strategies for large client relationships that totaled more than $450mm in annual revenue. Responsible for ongoing financial reporting to bolster executive decision making, including revenue, financial, and market analyses, financial modeling, and market research.

Sidley Austin LLP

Manager, Financial Planning & Analysis

Senior management consultant and project lead. Scoped, managed, and oversaw the delivery of corporate reorganization, SEC/SOX compliance, and technology projects for global financial services, manufacturing, and nonprofit clients. Managed a portfolio of 20+ projects for JP Morgan, while integrating organizational structures, IT infrastructure, and business processes after the JPM's acquisition of BankOne. Participated in large-scale technology implementations for large manufacturing and service industry clients, including the implementation of Oracle across Cannon's North American operations.

Lucas Barrowman