1. BILL COOLE, CPA
60 Gray Street (630) 400-3487
St. Charles, IL 60174 billcoole@netzero.com
SUMMARY FINANCIAL EXECUTIVE
Student of the business. A CFO…Controller… quickly learns who they are, what they do,
and the strengths of the business. Identifies opportunities for improving gross margins, cutting
costs and increasing cash flow. Known as team builder, problem solver, and innovator.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE AND SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS
ALLEN BROTHERS INC.,Chicago, IL 2009 - Present
CFO responsible for all Financial, IT and HR functions. AB originated in the heart of Chicago's
fabled Union Stockyards. AB is one of the largest independent purveyors of fine steaks to
great steakhouses for over 100 years. AB also sells to the retail market via Web and catalog.
• When our bank exited the middle market and asked us to leave, led the effort to
successfully refinance the business with loan commitments of $18m negotiating
covenants, terms and conditions with two lenders.
JEFFERSON WELLS, Chicago, IL 2005-2009
$300 million financial consulting firm with twenty-five hundred employees and thirty offices.
Jefferson Wells Senior Financial Analyst, for nine states in the Central Region
Developed a balanced scorecard to enable a ‘common language’ of key metrics across the
business while developing the 2009 budget and installing a new Cognos reporting system.
Graphic Packaging - Plant Controller for a $100M folding carton manufacturing plant,
• When inserted as acting plant Controller, had to learn undocumented financial
operations, accounting processes and systems while maintaining client’s tight
accounting close requirements. Learned and documented required procedures, updated
standard cost burden rates, met all close due dates, cleaned up balance sheet resulting
in a clean report by new owner’s Internal Auditors and high client satisfaction score.
Altivity Packaging - Assistant Group Controller for $2B folding carton manufacturer,
• When group controller quit, had to learn the old closing and reporting processes while
maintaining the client’s tight close requirements. Met existing close due dates and
installed requirements from new management meeting all new close due dates.
Hewitt Associates - Budget Consultant,
• Client needed budgets developed down to front line level for the first time. Coordinated
needs and documented assumptions across multiple departments and entered budgets
into client systems meeting all due dates resulting in winning JW Award for Best Service.
FONA INTERNATIONAL INC., Geneva, IL 2001-2005
Privately held $50M manufacturer of flavoring ingredients. Provided hands-on Financial, HR,
and IT services in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment which experienced rapid growth.
CFO and Vice President, 2003-2005
• When FONA needed to finance construction of new factory, crafted and mailed package
telling FONA’s story to twenty two banks and need for $15M; negotiated with nine banks,
presented best three to Board of Directors and secured required loans.
2. William D. Coole, billcoole@netzero.com, cell 630-400-3487
page 2
• Bank loan covenants on $15M loan required FONA to meet certain balance sheet ratios
in order to avoid default. Created pro-forma forecast model P&L, Balance Sheet, and
Loan Covenant test to ensure management was aware of future likely results and that
bank covenants were continually met.
• Old budget process costly in time and resources. Created/installed new top down and
bottom up budget process to arrive at ownership’s targets for sales and profit growth
resulting in budget results three months sooner and resource savings of $50k.
• Faced with soft margins, identified long selling items had lower margins due to cost
increases but no price increases. Created and installed process to increase customer
resale prices to reflect higher costs resulting in margin improvement of $250k per year.
Director of Finance & IT, 2001-2003
• Accounting close took fifteen business days delaying management being aware of results.
Directed rebuilding of ‘broken’ accounting functions and reduced close to three days while
absorbing all accounting for three foreign entities with existing staff resulting in
management receiving results twelve days faster and the best practices installed reduced
external audit requirements thereby saving audit costs.
• When EBITDA fell short of management goals, created FONA’s first P&L forecast to give
management a picture of likely future results based on current trends and spending plans
resulting in management actions which achieved record profit results.
• Poor cash flow caused borrowing to meet day to day needs. Directed AR collection
programs resulting in a reduction of DSO from forty four to twenty nine days which
improved cash flow and reduced line-of-credit borrowing by $2M.
• Crashing IT platforms disrupted productivity and poor customer service. Directed the
rebuilding of IT platforms resulting in stable, secure, reliable systems and improved
employee productivity and improved customer service via increased system ‘up’ time.
• In the absence of any IT management, independent contractors serviced their own
systems at will which was expensive. Created formal IT dept., removed contractors
resulting in funding a permanent IT staff. L
• IT led the identification of new user application needs. Championed and installed new
CRM & Product Development systems.
PREMIER FARNELL plc. Chicago, IL 1972-2001
Billion dollar plus distributors of electronic and industrial components worldwide
Vice President Internal Audit Newark Electronics Division,
1998-2001
Responsible for creation and implementation of Internal Audit function and internal controls.
• Physical inventory losses of $6M created great concerns about the accuracy of cost of
goods sold. Led effort which identified causes of the loss and made recommendations to
prevent reoccurrence. This led to Board of Directors requesting the creation of Audit dept.
Process Re-engineering Creator and Business Unit Manager
1989-1998
Rapid growth and high transaction volumes resulted in labor intensive and costly systems.
Created process consultancy and reduced costs $1M, improved Gross Margin $3M/year.
Group Controller of Five Electronic Distribution Divisions 1978-1989
During a period of growth to $500M from $40M; replaced multiple accounting systems,
created following departments: Sales Analysis, Inventory Analysis, Resale Pricing, and
Internal Audit; and mentored the Financial team to optimize promotions from within.
3. William D. Coole, billcoole@netzero.com, cell 630-400-3487
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Previous positions with Premier Farnell plc.
Controller - Newark Electronics Division, Chicago, IL, 1975-1978
Assistant Controller - Newark Electronics Division, Chicago, IL, 1975-1976
Controller - Cadillac Electric Division, Detroit, MI, 1973-1975
Credit Manager - Kent Industries Division, Cleveland, OH, 1972-1973
DELOITTE
Staff Auditor – Deloitte, Cleveland Ohio
1970-1972
SOFTWARE
SAP, Cognos, PeopleSoft, Platinum, Seibel, BPCS, Salesforce.com, Excel, PowerPoint,
CASEWISE Process mapping,
EDUCATION, LICENSURE AND CERTIFICATION
UIC Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, Chicago, IL, 2002
Certificate in Business Administration
CPA Illinois 1976
Myers University, Cleveland, OH 1970
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
CONTINUING EDUCATION
Process improvement, JWI University 2008
Dynamics of Leadership, SkillSoft 2008
SEC’s Journey to IFRS, JWI University 2008
Recommended solutions and consulting excellence, JWI University 2008
IFRS, JWI University 2007
Gaining Agreement, JWI University 2007
Service Quality Process, JWI University 2007
Consulting Excellence, JWI University, 2006
Strategic Cost Reduction, University of WI, 2005
Modern Financial Modeling, NCCE, 2004
Understanding Sarbanes-Oxley, NCCE, 2004
Flexible Budgeting & Contribution Reporting, University of WI, 2003
Direct Costing, University of WI, 2003
Mergers and Acquisitions, University of WI, 2002
Price Pritchet Change Management, 1995
Rath & strong Process Engineering, 1996
CASEWISE process mapping, 1994
