John J Strass

Experience

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  Hertz Corporation

  Jan 1978 - Jan 1979

  Internal Auditor

  Conducted operational audits at Hertz car rental, truck rental and equipment rental locations throughout the U.S. and Canada.

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  Ernst & Whinney (now known as Ernst & Young)

  Jan 1979 - Jan 1984

  Tax Manager

  Ernst & Ernst (now Ernst & Young) was a Big 8 accounting firm.• Provided tax, accounting and litigation support services to various types of clients.• Worked on seven multi-million dollar divorces and one one-half billion dollar marital agreement.• Designated as an expert witness in community property matters authorized to testify on behalf of he firm.

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  Victoria Holding Corporation

  Jan 1984 - Jan 1986

  Tax Manager

  Victoria Holding Corporation owned a savings and loan association, mortgage servicing company and minority investments in real estate joint ventures. Victoria Savings Association was a client of Ernst & Whinney.Provided tax, accounting and risk management services to the holding company and real estate joint ventures.

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  Tex-Net, Inc.

  Jan 1986 - Jan 1988

  Chief Financial Officer

  Tex-Net Inc. was a long-distance reseller, with $15 million of billable minutes, born in the break-up of AT&T. Tex-Net filed for bankruptcy protection as a result of an adverse judgment and was ultimately liquidated.

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  Steves & Sons, Inc.

  Jan 1988 - Jan 1992

  Chief Financial Officer

  Steves & Sons, Inc. manufactured interior doors in San Antonio TX, Lebanon TN and Richmond VA. Exterior metal-clad doors were also manufactured in San Antonio TX. Its largest customer was Builders Square, a subsidiary of K-Mart.• Responsible for all financial matters of the business including financial reporting and cash management• Managed accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll and IT functions.• Negotiated and managed self-insured group health plan.• Maintained credit insurance policy on Builders Square that protected the business from loss when K-Mart and its subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy protection. Voir moins

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  Materials Marketing Corporation

  Jan 1992 - Jan 1994

  Chief Financial Officer

  Materials Marketing Corporation sold tile and architectural stone products. Related-party corporations in Mexico fabricated architectural stone products.• Negotiated lease with option-to-buy for a 46,000 sq.ft. building suitable for combined retail and warehouse operations.• Negotiated finish-out loan with our lender and supervised contractor finish out.• Building owner had to perform a Phase III environmental remediation related to underground fuel tanks formerly on the property. Upon completion of the Phase III, the owner’s of Materials Marketing executed a sale-leaseback transaction at a substantial profit. Voir moins

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  Lone Star Growers GP

  Jan 1994 - Jan 1997

  Chief Financial Officer

  Lone Star Growers was a containerized wholesale nursery with customers in 13 states that produced ornamental shrubs, soft color plants, vines and groundcovers on a 431 acre farm in San Antonio TX. In peak season, the nursery would ship up to 55 tractor-trailer loads of product per day. The business was sold to Color Spot Nurseries.• Hired to replace the existing CFO who was approaching retirement age. • Saved $250k by successfully abrogating a multi-year service contract with MCI.• Improved sales and production planning by reviewing multi-year customer and product sales history.• Redesigned sales territories using sales history and ESRI Arcview GIS software resulting in a 35% increase in year over year sales.• Coordinated all due diligence efforts for the sale of Lone Star Growers to Color Spot Nurseries. Closed the $42M sales transaction in less than 35 days from date of letter of intent. Voir moins

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  Color Spot Nurseries

  Jan 1997 - Oct 1998

  Regional Controller for Texas Operations

  • Coordinated all due diligence for the purchase of Lone Star Growers by Color Spot Nurseries including making presentation to the lenders.• Worked with the private equity firm of Kohlberg & Company to acquire three additional nurseries in Texas for Color Spot Nurseries to leverage the Lone Star Growers acquisition.

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  Cott Beverages

  Jan 1998 - Jan 2003

  Manager of Accounting

  Cott manufactured private label beverages (carbonated soft drinks, purified drinking water and new age beverages) for companies such as Wal-Mart and HEB. The U.S. subsidiary had sales in excess of $1 billion.• Managed a financial accounting team responsible for all balance sheet and income statement accounts not directly related to manufacturing operations. These responsibilities included cash, receivables, prepaid expenses, fixed assets and intangible assets, payables and accrued expenses as well as SG&A and promotional accounting.• Responsible for over $35 million of annual capital expenditures.• Performed day-to-day treasury reporting and disbursement for the U.S. operations. • Implemented controlled disbursement procedures for vendor payments that prevented over $4 million in fraudulent check presentments.• Point of contact for annual audit information. Instituted interim audit fieldwork to reduce year-end work.• Provided data analysis training and support to the A/R and A/P teams at the shared service center.• Designated Excel expert for the IT help desk for an organization with 1,000 employees. The San Antonio finance team’s functions were moved to the Tampa office. My finance team and I trained our Tampa replacements and we then left the company together. Voir moins

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  Adobe Equipment Holdings, Ltd.

  Jan 2003 - Jan 2009

  VP Finance & Treasurer

  Adobe Equipment Holdings Ltd. owned material handling equipment, medium-duty truck and trailer dealerships in TX, CO and GA having combined revenues in excess of $200 million. All the dealerships were sold off between late 2007 and 2009 as a result of changes in market conditions and investment strategy. The partnership was liquidated after the final dealerships were sold.• Revenues increased four-fold from 2003 to 2007 through internal growth and acquisitions.• Responsible for treasury management and cash budgeting for a growing business in a capital-intensive industry.• Maintained bank and equipment lender relations.• Managed $40 million equipment asset based lending (ABL) lines of credit. Negotiated asset loan values and accretion terms.• Managed $20 million working capital loan.• Helped implement innovative self-insured group health plan that saved approximately $1 million per year.• Responsible for all commercial insurance matters. Controlled insurance costs through the use of a captive and third-party administrator (TPA). Saved $1.2 million in claims fighting frivolous liability lawsuits.• Performed analysis used to establish profitable branch network. Made presentation to manufacturer to gain approval for new branch locations.• Prepared presentation template used by dealerships to gain new business. • Acquired truck and trailer dealerships.• Coordinated due diligence for the sale of dealerships. Voir moins

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  Party Rental Ltd

  Jan 2011 - Jan 2011

  VP Finance & CFO

  Party Rental Ltd is a forty-year-old family owned business that is the dominant provider of party rental equipment to caterers, event planners and facilities managers. Its market stretches from New England to Washington DC with the majority of its business centered in and around New York City.Over the past several years Party Rental Ltd was building its infrastructure to support a strategy that would allow it to double sales revenue and enter new markets. I was recruited by the CFO, who had been with the business ten years, to assume his financial responsibilities to allow him time to focus on customer matters and business development. I joined the business in June 2011.In December 2011 the company placed the growth plans on hold. The incumbent CFO resumed his position and I left the business. Voir moins

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  Rocket Jewelry Box, Inc.

  Jan 2012 - Sept 2015

  Chief Financial Officer

  Rocket Jewelry Box, Inc is a 90+ year old business that provides the jewelry industry with custom and stock displays and packaging. The company's slogan is "We don't make jewelry. We make jewelry look better".Rocket uses an SQL-based ERP system. I have used my Excel skills to design dashboards and financial reports using add-in formulas that pull data directly from the SQL tables. Extracted data to build customer and product sales history to:• Identify sales opportunities with current and former customers for sales promotions using iContact.• Review sales personnel performance.• Reassign customers to balance sales and CSR workloads and increase sales.• Make product mix and pricing decisions.Redesigned the monthly borrowing base report package to increase the reliability of the information and improve lender relations. Voir moins

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  Tower Auto Mall

  Jan 2016 - Jan 2019

  Controller

  Tower Auto Mall and its affiliated entities sell, rent and leases livery vehicles. Our primary customers are livery drivers and their bases throughout the Tri-State area.During 2017 converted twenty-four (24) separate QuickBooks companies into one (1) NetSuite database.

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  Chief Fire Prevention & Mechanical

  Jan 2019 - Jan 2020

  Controller

  Chief Fire Prevention provided grease duct cleaning services and fire suppression system installations to customers predominantly in the hospitality industry. The business was purchased by Trinity Private Equity Group four months before the COVID pandemic. The customer base of restaurants and hotels were decimated by the pandemic. At one point, headcount dropped from 100 to 4 employees.

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  Paper Enterprises, Inc.

  Sept 2020 - now

  Controller