PUBLIC COMPANY CFO OF THE YEAR
ALAN EDRICK
CFO
OSI Systems
At the time information was gathered for the LABJ’s CFO Awards, OSI Systems was at a 52-week high stock price – trading over $100 per share. The company has been growing top-line revenue and earnings, with earnings up north of 40% during this period
What Allan Edrick has done to contribute to this growth over the past year has included three strategic M&A transactions in the past twelve months. He provided leadership in productivity enhancements and expense control and brought the financial department to the cloud to improve the operational efficiency of accounting and finance. He also acted as the main executive contact and worked cross-departmentally with Sales to negotiate and win two contracts worth more than $500 million and $200 million respectively. He also had the foresight to manage interest rate swaps to fix floating rate debt before rates got too out of control.
DAVID SACHS
CFO
ImmunityBio
David Sachs joined ImmunityBio as its chief financial officer in July 2019. He offers over two decades of operating, development and investing experience as a finance, private equity, venture capital and investment banking executive. Previously, Sachs served as CFO for several NantWorks subsidiaries, including NantHealth and Integrity Healthcare. He also served as a principal and executive at NantCapital, acting as a member of the investment committee. Prior to his roles with Nant-Works, Sachs was an investment banker for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, holding senior operating roles at Abraxis BioScience and Celgene (Now Bristol Myers Squibb).
He currently serves as a director of Ziosoft, KK, Mox Networks, LLC, Packetfabric, Inc., and the Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber. Sachs received his MBA in Finance and Strategy from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and his BA in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles.
LIYUAN WOO
CFO
The Beauty Health Company
As chief financial officer for the Beauty Health Company, Liyuan Woo oversees finance, accounting, analytics, infrastructure and technology, M&A and investor relations. She was overseeing operations up until Sept 2022. She helped the company set up its factory in China. She scaled the backed operations and raised $750 million in convertible debt. Woo used the cash raise to acquire the smaller entities and fold with systems, etc. She also established the first-ever Investor Relations Department at the Beauty Company, and provided purchase demand planning as well.
Woo sees herself as a people leader. She has brought in a significant number if staff members from all different departments of other prior employers to the organization, not just people in Accounting & Finance. She works in an experiential style and is always looking for new ways to do things successfully.
RSM MIDDLE MARKET AWARD
JUDY LEWIS
Chief Financial Officer
NORMS Restaurants
Judy Lewis is the chief financial officer for NORMS Restaurants, an iconic SoCal diner chain headquartered in Bellflower that has been serving up homestyle hospitality since 1949. As a key member of NORMS’ executive team for the past six years, Lewis leverages 35 years’ worth of experience in the food service industry to help streamline and update several finance processes. She also served a pivotal role in helping successfully guide the chain through the pandemic.
Lewis oversees accounting, payroll, finance, budgeting, cash forecasting and information technology for the expanding, private equity-owned family dining restaurant concept. In the last six years, Lewis has found ways to operate more efficiently and reduce costs. She has led her team in establishing and setting financial goals in support of business operations and strategic directions. She has restructured the finance department to now provide financial insight and analysis for new initiatives.
CHARLES THUSS
Chief Financial Officer
Inter-Con Security
During his two years at Inter-Con, Charles Thuss transformed Finance & Accounting to a forward-looking, value-added team by inspiring, aligning and supporting his team to work with their peers and customers. Working with key team leaders for Accounting, Treasury, FP&A, Billing and Collections, Tax and International operations to align activities, use key performance indicators, reorganize and select the proper people and empower staff, he brought a leadership style that created a positive environment of accountability and continuous improvement. This enabled the F&A team to improve performance in the cash cycle, transaction processing and overall staffing, FP&A and accounting.
Thuss’ first-day focus was to improve the cash cycle where DSO was over 70 days. As a result, the company’s DSO fell by over 10 days since he started and has remained there as revenue has grown by over $300 million in less than two years.
PRIVATE COMPANY CFO OF THE YEAR (LARGE COMPANY)
SETH BRODIE
CFO
Anonymous Content
After the CEO and COO resigned from Anonymous Content in early March 2023, Seth Brodie continued to support the Anonymous Content division head leaders and the company’s growth plans. The company has not yet replaced those roles and Brodie has proactively and voluntarily added many of those C-suite responsibilities and strategic decision-making duties to his role in order to sustain, stabilize and help grow the company.
Brodie works alongside the Board of Directors to shape and execute the company’s content and financial strategy in order to double revenue in three years by strengthening Anonymous’ Commercial and Management divisions and by growing its Studio division by selling film and television content to global streamers, acquiring premium IP, and developing local language international content. He rebuilt and oversees a strong FP&A and corporate and production accounting team (20 employees), enabling them to become leaders by guiding responsibilities and providing cross-functional training.
STEVE MEILICKE
Chief Financial Officer
Wedgewood
Steve Meilicke is the chief financial officer of Wedgewood, a real estate investment company established in 1985 to revitalize communities by restoring real estate. Meilicke oversees Wedgewood’s accounting and finance departments, and since joining in 2015, he has been instrumental in transforming these teams. Under his leadership, Meilicke has facilitated the raising of growth capital and has substantially reduced the com- pany’s cost of funds. Most recently, he has spearheaded initiatives and implemented processes that supported Wedgewood’s financial growth and enhanced its ability to make strategic decisions amidst challenging real estate cycles.
Some of Meilicke’s accomplishments include diversifying financial facilities and navigating the business through the regional banking crisis, leading the sale of Wedgewood’s mortgage lending business, and providing operational teams with critical data access. One of the ways Meilicke has impacted Wedgewood’s success is through the diversification of Wedgewood’s financing facilities ensure that impact from market fluctuations is minimal.
PRIVATE COMPANY CFO OF THE YEAR (MID-SIZED COMPANY)
CHARLIE BORSHEIM
CFO
Keslow Camera
Charlie Borsheim, the CFO of Keslow Camera, developed the first-ever five-year plan to set strategy for growth and stability of the organization. He implemented an acquisition strategy program that led to multiple acquisitions of strategic targets and also implemented program to acquire properties used by the company to control long-term operating costs. He has taken the company through five debt restructurings, leading to a material decrease in balance sheet debt and cost of capital.
Borsheim helped to establish an annual leadership conference and implemented formal company culture programs. He has played an instrumental role in helping the company be prepared to deal with uncertainties and disruptions such as COVID’s effects on the shutdown of the entertainment industry’s pipeline of productions (Keslow rents equipment to production companies), and also current and future disruptions such as the writers’ and SAG strikes.
BETH BRADMON
CFO
Spotter
Beth Bradmon was integral in the inception of Spotter in 2019 and its financial, legal and human resource operations that has led to the company’s success. This includes establishing and growing the finance team at Spotter which serves as the foundation for creating and implementing all financial processes for the company. Bradmon has served as an essential partner in furthering Spotter’s mission to empower YouTube creators to accelerate their business and unleash their full creative potential by giving them access to the capital, knowledge, and community they need to succeed at scale.
Bradmon has also played a crucial role in Spotter’s fundraising efforts as the company has successfully raised $755 million in total funding, reaching a post-money valuation of $1.7 billion. Furthermore, through the most recent Series D funding and reinvestment, Spotter plans to reach a $1 billion investment in creators in 2023.
IRWIN JACOBSON
CFO
Blu Digital Group
Irwin Jacobson was brought into Blu short- ly after the company received its Series A1 and A2 funding. As CFO, he helped to transform the company’s finances from a single owner/operator local small business using a mom-and-pop type of bookkeeping set-up into a strategically directed multi-national corporation. Working directly for/ with the CEO and the Board of Directors, Jacobson instituted financial controls, applicable segregation of duties, proper accounting cutoffs and accruals, accountability and performance metrics, where previously there were none. He took on full responsibility for everything financial (treasury/banking, reporting, accounting, billing & collections, payments, strategy, financial systems, etc.), and oversaw HR and payroll.
In his first 18 months with Blu, highlights of Jacobson’s significant accomplishments included converting the historical books to a properly GAAP-compliant basis.
MARGARITO RODRIGUEZ
CFO
Juanita’s Food
Margarito Rodriguez left Juanita’s back in 2021 when the company had changed over the CEO and CFO during his tenure. After returning back in late 2021 to a year when the company was unprofitable for the first time in decades, he was able automate processes and grow the brand’s footprint to now being in 85% of all supermarkets in the Greater LA area. He has implemented a new ERP and CRM to help better understand their manufacturing process and margins. Under his leadership, the company had a year-over-year growth of 35% from 2021 to 2022.
Juanita’s passion for introducing the flavors of Mexico to the United States is a legacy that has endured for more than 70 years, and will continue for many generations to come thanks in large part to the financial stewardship of Rodriguez.
PRIVATE COMPANY CFO OF THE YEAR (GROWING COMPANY)
MICHEL BERREITTER
Chief Financial Officer
BLT Enterprises
Michel Berreitter is chief financial officer at BLT Enterprises, a multi-faceted real estate development and investment company. Since joining BLT in 2012, Berreitter has played a significant role in the firm’s growth over the past decade. Through his collaborative approach and partnership with fellow members of the leadership team, he has cultivated a vision for the firm which has allowed it to make significant advances.
Leveraging his strategic influence, financial acumen, and real estate expertise, Berreitter has led BLT in tactical expansion and more than doubled the value of the firm’s total investment in commercial real estate. In fact, BLT recently completed its largest disposition to date, the sale of Television Center — a 200,000-square-foot creative campus located in the heart of the Hollywood submarket of Los Angeles. Under Berreitter’s guidance, BLT strategically acquired seven industrial and creative SoCal office properties for a total of $130 million.
HEIDI CRANE
Chief Financial Officer
FightCamp
Heidi Crane, the chief financial officer of Fight-Camp, is coaching the at-home fitness heavyweight to punch its way into the international market. Crane entered the FightCamp ring in 2022 to help clinch the connected training system’s title as a leading at-home fitness contender.
As many have returned to gyms post-pandemic, Crane is steering FightCamp’s growth and innovation. She is a nimble, forward-thinking leader with a keen eye on emerging trends and a demonstrated record of propelling innovative companies to the next level. Today, strategizing alongside FightCamp’s cofounders and board, Crane is laying the foundation for the company’s international expansion, strategic partnerships, and continued innovation to bring new functionality and features to consumers in 2024. She oversees FightCamp’s financial operations and develops and implements operational and strategic plans with the company’s long-term goals at the center — capital allocation of limited resources and ensuring value creation are key priorities.
DAMIAN GANCMAN
CFO and COO
Cityview
An 18-year veteran of Cityview that serves as CFO, COO, partner, and member of its investment committee, Damian Gancman is integral to Cityview’s success as the decade’s most active multifamily developer in Los Angeles. Under Gancman’s financial and operational leadership, Cityview has invested in more than 130 projects to date.
Gancman helped create a multitude of strategic initiatives to support Cityview’s rapid growth, including the launch of Cityview’s opportunity zone fund, which raised $300 million from more than 150 high-net-worth investors. His development of new accounting and reporting systems coupled with his deep understanding of the complex tax implications were key contributors to the program’s success. In 2018, Gancman helped launch Cityview’s property management arm, Westhome, which currently has more than 3,300 units under management spanning 36 communities and 10 cities. This solidified Cityview’s vertical integration across all aspects of a project’s lifecycle.
LAWRENCE MEYER
Chief Financial Officer
BlendJet
Larry Meyer joined the BlendJet team in November 2021 and has played a pivotal role in the company’s success since. His leadership, business expertise and acumen, a network of business contacts, and wisdom have enabled the team to position the BlendJet brand strategically and grow their revenue by 100% in a short space of time.
Meyer’s more than 40 years of finance experience and excellent reputation provided BlendJet with immediate credibility. He recognized that BlendJet would quickly outgrow what seemed like a large credit facility, and produced accurate projections for inventory costs and revenue timelines. Impressed and reassured by Meyer’s thorough approach to financing inventory, Wells Fargo increased the credit line tenfold, and Meyer unlocked several enormous retail contracts. Meyer understands how to run a business at scale, and has a unique skill that enables him to teach others how to adapt, delegate, and prepare for the next stage.
MICHAEL SWARTZBURG
Chief Financial Officer
Dermavant Sciences
With a background spanning over two decades in biotechnology and healthcare, Michael Swartzburg brings a wealth of experience and expertise to his current role as the chief financial officer of Dermavant Sciences. Swartzburg joined Dermavant two years ago, after becoming deeply inspired by the company’s exceptional people, innovative pipeline, and mission to make healthier skin a reality for people struggling with chronic skin conditions. As the CFO, he plays a pivotal role in steering the company’s trajectory, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the short-term and long-term financial objectives that drive Dermavant’s overall success.
Under Swartzburg’s leadership, Dermavant has streamlined financial processes which have significantly contributed to the company’s financial success. As a forward-thinking leader, he is dedicated to securing ample resources that helped ensure Dermavant’s ability to advance and launch groundbreaking science in the form of an innovative treatment option for healthcare providers and their patients.
NONPROFIT & PUBLIC SERVICE CFO OF THE YEAR
DANE BARATA
CFO
Team Rubicon
Dane Barata is an MBA from UCLA that had a long stint at Warner Bros before taking on the CFO role at Team Rubicon. His international experience at WB prepared him for some of Team Rubicon’s international expansion. Barata has ensured that the finance organization is never slowing down the growth/operational strategy of the company.
Barata is a people person who considers himself a servant leader to his team and the entire Team Rubicon organization. Barata considers himself a great listener who empowers his team to share their thoughts and look for opportunities to make the place better than they found it. Some of the challenges that Barata has overcome in the last year include the great resignation, the looming recession, and other factors specific to the disaster response business. In addition, Barata has participated in a number of different community service events.
GENEVIEVE DUNAWAY
CFO
California Science Center Foundation
Genevieve Dunaway joined the California Science Center Foundation team in March 2021, just a couple of weeks before the Science Center reopened to the public after a year-long COVID-19 closure.
In October 2021, the Foundation issued $145 million in tax-exempt sustainability bonds for the project, an effort led by Dunaway. Dunaway was able in April 2023 to secure $29 million of New Markets Tax Credit allocation, partnering with Chase, Genesis LA, and the Los Angeles Development Fund on funding for the project’s exhibits. Dunaway continues to work with the Foundation’s advancement and development team to complete the $400 million campaign, progress toward which was over $303 million as of April 30, 2023. She is also working with her human resources team on new professional development offerings that will ensure the Science Center continues to attract, retain, and support great staff doing inspiring work with science learners of all ages.
MAEESHA MERCHANT
Chief Financial Officer & VP of Business Development
The Colburn School
Maeesha Merchant is the CFO and VP of business development for Colburn. She doesn’t just have financial oversight but is responsible for partnerships, strategy, and major capital projects, including a $300 million Frank Gehry-designed campus expansion including a performance hall. This project will transform the landscape of Los Angeles, and enrich LA’s cultural corridor, Bunker Hill.
The new venue is the “Hall for All” – not just for the Colburn students and community but for Los Angeles and Southern California as a whole. It’s focused on affordable tickets and accessibility both for audiences and performers. Merchant has been responsible for putting together the funding plan and ongoing business plan and model for this project, overseeing the construction, architecture, and project management teams. In her words, this is the biggest highlight of her time at Colburn, and it is scheduled to break ground this year.
MONICA SUUA
Chief Financial Officer
Beach Cities Health District
Monica Suua has led the way in adapting BCHD’s budget process to implement Priority Based Budgeting. This has enabled BCHD to provide a more comprehensive review of the organization’s entire operating budget on the basis of community priorities and linking funding decisions to BCHD’s strategic plan. This provides a system of checks and balances to make certain BCHD meets its organizational goals and health priorities that are outlined based on community need.
When Suua began her role as BCHD CFO, the company leveraged $3 million in property taxes to provide $11 million in services to our community. Since then, Suua has steadily grown the District’s business, and today, she leads the way in leveraging $4.9 million in property taxes to provide $14.9 million in programs, services, and investments to our community. Suua is also responsible for guiding the District through the compliance process with HIPPA.
EMERGING LEADER OF THE YEAR
MARA GARCIA
Chief Financial Officer
Phonexa
As Phonexa continues to reach new heights and achievements, it is uniquely talented and versatile leaders like Mara Garcia who are paving the way. As CFO, Garcia is in charge of spearheading Phonexa’s financial growth and future expansion while leading the company’s tax, accounting, and finance teams. Garcia is an instrumental and pivotal force to Phonexa’s Partnership Program and stewarding relationships with the likes of Google, Stripe, Corpay, Tipalti and many other reputable companies.
Garcia graduated from California State University, Northridge with a degree in accounting. She supplemented her educational background by earning a CPA license and obtaining a Cybersecurity Advisory Services Certificate. Today, outside of her duties at Phonexa, Garcia serves as one of the vice presidents on the Board of Directors for CalCPA’s LA Chapter for 2022-2023 fiscal year. She has also been a member of Forbes Finance Council since February 2022.
DAN LARSON
Chief Financial Officer
Dr. Squatch
Dan Larson was the first finance hire at Dr. Squatch and under his tenure, the company has in-house its entire accounting program and gone through its first audit. Larson also launched Dr. Squatch’s own in-house manufacturing, completed two systems implementations (QuickBooks and NetSuite), and has led a successful sale process for the company.
On the finance side, Larson performs budgeting, reporting and long-range financial planning. All capital activity falls under his belt, including fundraising, stock sales, and things of that nature. On the accounting side, the whole breadth of the accounting function is under Larson, including tax compliance, audit, monthly reporting, etc. Larson sits on the Executive Team and has general executive oversight for cross-functional areas of the business. Under Larsen’s fiscal stewardship, Dr. Squatch just closed its manufacturing facility to open a larger facility this year (four times larger) – still in the LA Area.
ZACH VICTOR
SVP Finance (Direct Report to CEO)
Create Music Group
In only two years with Create Music Group (CMG), Zach Victor has completely transformed the Finance Department and business operations across the company. He has built a team of 11 across Finance, Accounting & HR. He led a clean-up of three years of financials allowing the company to complete its first-ever audit with KPMG. He built the company’s first five-year Budget Model and pitch deck which recently secured a $50 million debt raise and helped kick off a large Series A equity raise expected to close by year-end.
Victor led CMG to 50% revenue growth in 2022 after already becoming the #2 fastest-growing company on the Inc 500 in 2020. Victor also partnered on 15 M&A deals, totaling over $30 million in his time at the company so far. He has also led several large technology initiatives to improve the accuracy and timeliness of artist payouts.
ANTHONY WIGINTON
VP of Finance
Sweetgreen
As VP of finance at Sweetgreen, Anthony Wiginton oversees corporate finance, restaurant-level finance, and most recently the company’s strategy team, which oversees the market planning (new store growth) function. Over the five years he has been with Sweetgreen, Wiginton has been able to expand his role and absorb additional responsibilities. This has allowed the core of strategic planning to be funneled through him, allowing the organization to be more focused.
Wiginton has become a trusted voice within the organization. His goal has always been to provide clear and transparent analysis regarding the company’s performance. He views his role as helping shine a lot on key areas of the business, including opportunities for improvement. But instead of stopping at simply identifying the issue, he will go further to partner with key stakeholders to determine the root cause and develop a strategy to help achieve the desired outcome.
TURNAROUND ACHIEVEMENT CFO OF THE YEAR
PATRICIA HUERTA
CFO
Bristol Farms (Good Food Holdings)
Patricia Huerta, the CFO for Bristol Farms, collaborates with the company HQ in Korea to initiate the financial strategy of the organization. She oversees daily challenges and works with divisional CEOs to drive business strategies. Huerta interfaces with auditors, tax advisors, and the IRS while working with banks to gather additional funding. She mitigates risks by cleaning up non-compliant financial statements and formulates processes to be adopted into accounting protocols.
Huerta streamlined the brand’s internal processes by implementing Oracle Fusion ERP in the Spring to enable everyone to work on the same platform and address inefficiencies within accounting policies. She also established Korean Sarbanes Oxley to ensure proper financial controls for financial statements. Further, she exercised her eagle eye to identify and recruit the appropriate talent needed to create a team that could be compliant in running the business.
NEVILLE KADIMI
CFO
Diamond Wipes International
Neville Kadimi literally makes a difference every day for Diamond Wipes, its board, customers, supplier partners and employees. Kadimi leads the Finance, Accounting, Legal and IT groups at the company, but his influence goes much further. He is involved with every major decision in the company. And the past 18 months have been some of the most challenging ever in the contract manufacturing space.
With his team, over months, Kadimi dug into the areas most impacted and Diamond Wipes was able to reduce costs and grow volume enough to build back nine points of gross margin. He uses industry metrics, organizational interviews and foresight to make solid and realistic budgets, board meeting presentations and CapEx plans, and to help negotiate balanced customer supply contracts. He has also developed some great leaders in the company as an understanding and empathetic coach and mentor.
RYAN LOCKWOOD
Chief Financial Officer
CarParts.com
Within six months of joining CarParts. com, Ryan Lockwood led a $60 million capital raise, which allowed the company to pay off all its outstanding debt and expand its operations. Lockwood also oversees CarParts.com’s real estate and over the past three years, the company has almost doubled its warehouse footprint, growing from 615,000 square feet to 1.25 million square feet. By boosting the company’s operations, CarParts.com was able to increase sales from $444 million in 2020 to $662 million in 2022.
In 2022, Lockwood also negotiated a $150 million line of credit. By negotiating the line of credit early in the year, the company was able to close with incredibly favorable terms at an ideal time. Furthermore, since Lockwood joined CarParts.com, the company has migrated from 57% retail investors to over 80% institutional investors, which will be a key to limiting volatility in the stock over the long run.
BRADY ONISHI
Chief Financial Officer
Golden West Food Group
In the last 12 months, Golden West Food Group’s chief financial officer Brady Onishi improved the company’s working capital by $35 million through improved credit & collections, inventory management, and accounts payable. Under Onishi’s financial stewardship, the company also completed a $475 million financing, where Onishi added liquidity, reduced interest expenses and adjusted covenants, during one of the most challenging credit markets in recent history.
Onishi also renegotiated supplier agreements (over $5 million in savings) and partnered with sales and operations to revamp the approach towards pricing, working backward from required margins for retailers rather than taking a cost-plus approach. Onishi brings to Golden West Food Group a proven track record of completing turnarounds at previous companies. He is very operational, getting “in the weeds” to understand operations on the ground – what the staff is doing, why they’re doing it, and crafting an approach based on that knowledge.
