Jon Paul is the head of PSS and combines vast experience as both CFO/COO and as a consultant. He has been on the line, so he appreciates the challenges you can face of running a company. While in management, the companies he helped run grew very rapidly, both internally and by acquisition, which gave him years of experience compressed into a shorter period of time. He also brings in the exposure as a consultant from a number of clients in different circumstances and different industries.
Here are some of the range of situations that he has been involved in:
Broad industry categories- Manufacturing, distribution, and services.
Specific industries- High tech, telecom, health care, pharmaceuticals, fitness, toys, packaged goods, tooling, food processing, non profit, industrial supply, information technology
Environments- High growth (400% plus percent a year), turnaround (from near bankruptcy to 56% net income), early stage, post acquisition (6 acquisitions tripling size of company), spin-offs and profit improvement initiatives
Financings- bank debt (term loan, line of credit, factoring, other), private equity (angel, venture capital), public offerings, seller financing, government programs
Systems- PC based, mini-computer, large corporate data warehouses, others
Geographic- many parts of US, Far East, Puerto Rico
Facilities/Structure- virtual company, single facility, multiple facilities, multiple companies
This provides a wealth of experiences to draw upon, so he can get up to speed quickly on your situation, while bringing in viewpoints that you might not have thought of.
Jon has an MBA from Harvard Business School. He earned his undergrad degree, B.S. Accounting, from the University of Illinois, considered by many to be the top accounting program in the country. He took and passed the CPA while at Illinois. Jon began his career at Arthur Andersen, getting exposure to several industries and companies during his three years three before going to Harvard.
He also has vast experience in Excel and has taught training classes on the program. Clients have often indicated they learn much be seeing and being taught how Jon does things. He also has put together online training programs in Excel.
Jon believes that formal education is just the start and he has been active learning new things each year from outside courses on a wide range of topics- from finance to technology to leadership.
Jon also has been very active in civic and business affairs and is considered by many to be a strong networker. Among the highlights is that he founded the Finance Leaders Association. See our separate civic activities page to learn more.
Thanks to his network, often on projects, Jon is able to pull in talented people from his network to help out and get your work done faster and better. You get a vast array of contacts to help you in your business in other ways. Add his rolodex to yours.
Jon has been married over 20 years and has two sons, one at Wabash College and one finishing his last year at Lake Forest High School. His wife Susan is also a CPA and works at Leica Microsystems. Among his hobbies are people, following his son's activities, church, keeping in shape, inspirational material, technology, movies and music.
Contact Us:
Jon Paul
President, Value Added Finance Inc.
jon@valueaddedfinance.com
jpaul@mba1980.hbs.edu
847 372-1963