Steinbeck Family Business Seminar

Madelyn Alfano, one of California’s most successful restaurant owners, believes that food is not just a necessity or pleasure, but a lifelong passion. Inspired by her parents and life in a large Italian family, Madelyn blends the finest ingredients, traditions and new ideas with the best aspects of family life to create a truly unique dining experience at Maria’s Italian Kitchen. 

Today, there are eight Maria’s Italian Kitchens (whose founder was her mother, Maria Alfano) that create jobs for 300 people. 

Madelyn is an active professional, serving as chair for the California Restaurant Association; foundation chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners in Los Angeles and co-chair for the YPO international hospitality network. She sits on the Board of Advisors for UCLA Anderson and the UCLA undergraduate school and is president of Brentwood Chamber of Commerce.

Madelyn is an expert in the restaurant business and is part of the small business council for CNBC.

Madelyn graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in psychology in 1980 and an MDE from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2015. She lives in Venice, Calif.; is married to Dr. Jeffrey Tucker; and has three children: Cpt. Nicolas Reitzin, 27; Josh Tucker, 31; and Danielle Tucker, 31.

Madelyn has been on the list of Top 50 Women Business Owners in Los Angeles for the past 10 years and was chosen as one of the Top 25 Enterprising Women in Los Angeles. The L.A. Business Journal named her Business Owner/CEO of the Year at its annual Women Making a Difference Award ceremony. The California Legislative Women’s Caucus named her Woman of the Year at the state Capitol. The L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce named her the Women in Business Champion of the Year. UCLA has honored her with Alumnae of the Year for Community Service Award, and Maria’s Italian Kitchen was awarded the L.A. Times Readers’ Choice Award for Best Italian Restaurant. Madelyn also received the Women of Inspiration Award from Shane’s Inspiration and was chosen as the Most Influential Businesswoman by the L.A. Business Journal in 2017 and the San Fernando Valley Business Journal in 2018.

In August 2019, Madelyn was presented with the Beacon Award by The Foodservice Council for Women, which was created to recognize a  woman leader who has truly served as a beacon for the industry through her leadership, contributions and inspiration.

Jeff Geida, J.D., LL.M., is a partner in the law firm Weinstock Manion. He advises high-net-worth individuals on all facets of their estate, wealth transfer and business succession planning. He also manages estate and trust administration for beneficiaries and fiduciaries. Clients appreciate Jeff’s interactive approach to understanding their wide-ranging concerns, including income, capital gains, gift and estate taxes, charitable giving and business succession matters. He then introduces creative solutions, which may include the use of family limited partnerships, limited liability companies, grantor retained annuity trusts, gifting plans, sales to intentionally defective irrevocable trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts and private foundations. Jeff’s experience includes advising a variety of 501(c)(3) and other tax-exempt organizations on issues including entity formation, applications for tax-exemption, operations in foreign countries and international grant-making, federal tax law compliance and charitable solicitations. To further his ability to provide the most comprehensive solutions for his clients, Jeff earned his certification in legal specialization in Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate Law from the State Bar of California. He enjoys sharing his knowledge with other professionals in the estate planning field by teaching at UCLA Extension. Previously, he served as an adjunct professor at Chapman University School of Law, teaching Federal Estate and Gift Taxation.

Holly Han is an entrepreneur and business strategist who founded and led media, technology, consumer products and fashion businesses in New York and Los Angeles for over two decades. Han began her career at Vera Wang and developed product for Bloomingdale’s and Anthropologie, authoring the Vault Career Guide to the Fashion Industry. She received her MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where she received fellowships from the Young Presidents’ Organization and Asian Business League. She also holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and the Fashion Institute of Technology, with additional studies at Caltech and Parsons School of Design, and was a professor at Marylhurst University’s MBA program.

Han was a co-founder of MyShape, an innovative online retailer with over 700,000 members backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Tenaya and featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. As COO of SmartWear, she developed a new class of patented energy-generating textiles in partnership with DuPont, Nike, the NIH, NSF and NASA. She restructured luxury chocolatier John Kelly Chocolates as COO, with a focus on profitability and targeted expansion. She was a founding account director for the Taproot Foundation in Los Angeles, providing pro bono consulting for deserving nonprofits. As the managing director of 64North, she led business strategy, branding and digital media for clients including MIT, Target, Yves Saint Laurent and Motown’s Berry Gordy. She is the vice president on the board of directors for CHAMPS Charter High School of the Arts.

Leigh Keith is the President and Co-Founder of Perfect Snacks, makers of fresh-from-the-fridge protein snacks, who at 19 years old launched the brand that would later revolutionize the highly-saturated protein bar category and build an entirely new set of grab-and go Fresh Snacking.

As an entrepreneur whose education consisted of garage-sale textbooks and sporadic homeschooling by Mom, and whose only classmates were her siblings, Leigh — alongside co-founder, brother and Perfect Snacks CEO Bill — took a first-of-its-kind family recipe, a refrigerated protein bar, and managed to carve out desirable real estate in more than 35,000 fridges nationwide, including those in Whole Foods, Costco, Target, Trader Joe's, Starbucks and others.

Since launching the brand in 2005, Leigh has played an integral role in the brand's growth and success, spanning all facets and functions of the company, while remaining grounded in the family culture on which the brand was founded. As president, she remains steadfast in building healthy communities from the inside out, which is evident by the Perfect Snacks’ clean ingredient labels, industry accolades, employee volunteer and benefits package, and regular donations/volunteer hours provided to hundreds of community organizations each year.

- Founded Perfect Snacks in 2005 with siblings Bill and Charisse
- Led Perfect Bar to be and remain the #1-selling refrigerated protein bar in the U.S. in retailers such as Whole Foods, Target, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, 7-Eleven, Costco and others.
- Grew the Perfect Snacks brand to employ nearly 100 passionate people, have products in more than 35,000 retailer fridges nationwide and gain majority-interest acquisition from Mondelez International, the global snacking leader
- Spearheaded launch of company-wide Perfect Perks program, offering paid community-service volunteer time, extended maternity/paternity leave and flexible work schedules for all team members
- Awarded NEXTY from New Hope Media, Woman of the Year Finalist by San Diego magazine and “Best Workplaces” from Inc. magazine

Andrea L. Kushner (B.A. ’93), J.D., LL.M.,  is a senior vice president and director of the Wealth Strategies Group and is located in Alliance Bernstein’s Los Angeles office. She works with Bernstein clients and their professional advisors to develop comprehensive wealth management and wealth transfer strategies. Before joining the firm in 2015, Andi was a shareholder at Weinstock Manion and a partner at Karlin & Peebles, advising high-net-worth clients on estate, tax and charitable planning. She is a member of the State Bar of California, by which she has been certified as a specialist in taxation law and estate planning as well as trust and probate law. Andi was named a Southern California Rising Star and a Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers magazine. She currently serves on the executive committee (trusts and estates section) of the Beverly Hills Bar Association and is a member of both the taxation and trusts and estates sections of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. She has also served on the executive committee (taxation section) of the State Bar of California and was a former chair of the taxation section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association. Andi holds a B.A. (cum laude) in political science from UCLA; a J.D. from USC and an LL.M. in taxation law from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles.

David Kuo grew up in Los Angeles with a passion for food, heavily influenced by his mother and grandmother’s home-style Taiwanese cooking. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in political science and initially worked in property management before attending Le Cordon Bleu and switching to a career in the culinary arts. Upon graduation, he trained under Charlie Palmer and Wolfgang Puck as well as at the Hotel Bel Air, before moving to New York to work under acclaimed chef Jean-George Vongerichten at his then three-Michelin-starred flagship restaurant, Jean-Georges. David then returned to Los Angeles and helped open Tom Colicchio’s Craft, Test Kitchen and Nancy Silverton’s Short Order. 

In 2014, David opened his own rotisserie restaurant, Status Kuo, in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles, and in 2016, he re-conceived the restaurant into its current iteration, Little Fatty, serving Taiwanese soul food inspired by the dishes he loved growing up. That year, David also expanded the footprint of the restaurant and opened award-winning Accomplice Bar in the adjoining space. David and his team utilize their fine dining backgrounds in sourcing only the highest-quality ingredients and in their cooking techniques, but they purposefully approach the service and atmosphere of the restaurant in a relaxed and welcoming way. 

Most recently, David teamed up with 1933 Group (Highland Park Bowl, Harlowe, Sassafras) to reopen the famed Formosa Cafe, where David and his Little Fatty team are overseeing the entire food program. David also has additional restaurant and real estate projects currently in development.

Evelyn Lenton trained in design at UCLA, graduating with a B.A. in design in 1983. Following graduation, Evelyn worked as a graphic artist for Rockwell International in Palmdale, Calif., and then a small graphics firm in Albuquerque until 1988. In addition to her B.A. in design, Evelyn also holds an M.Ed. in adult education, which she earned from Penn State in 2010. 

Shifting her career into education, Evelyn began teaching at the local adult school, which was the beginning of a long and fulfilling career. In 2016, Evelyn retired from her education career and joined Lenton Company as its CFO.

At Lenton Company, Evelyn does all things financial and HR, and she also makes sure Lenton Company’s image and messaging are consistent.

Evelyn also supports the company by creating exceptional customer experiences for its clients. Customer experience is critical since Lenton Company’s deep roots in the Antelope Valley make those they serve more than clients; they are fellow community members and friends. For Evelyn, it is especially rewarding to work in a family business with her husband (and high school sweetheart), Robert, and their daughters, Kendal and Taylor.

In addition to making dream homes a reality, Evelyn spends time tandem bike touring and enjoying life with family and friends.

Lenton Company is literally in Kendal’s blood; she’s the third generation of Lenton in the design/build profession. As Lenton Company’s operations manager, Kendal displays a keen attention to detail, which ensures that everything falls into place on every remodeling job and that customers are delighted with the outcome.

Kendal began working with Lenton Company in 2010, when she helped with the company’s marketing and social media campaigns. A helper by nature, Kendal grew in her role in the company and soon was ordering materials and doing inspections and job site visits. She continued to build her skills and responsibilities to fully take on the role of production manager in 2016. Kendal continued to grow and learn, and in 2020, she progressed to the role of operations manager.

Lenton Company has a well-defined succession plan in place, in which Kendal will become the general manager of the company in 2024 and take on ownership and the roles of president and CEO in January 2025.

When she’s not delivering amazing, finished projects at Lenton Company, Kendal enjoys gardening, cooking and hiking.

Robert Lenton’s passion for design and renovation began when he worked with his father doing home improvement projects on the family home. While in high school, Robert worked for his father’s newly formed business as “Bob’s handyman.” He continued building his skills while attending UCLA by working summers for a finish carpenter. Robert graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in economics in 1983. His postgraduate career led him to a project manager position for a short time with a design/build firm in Santa Monica, followed by a move back to the Antelope Valley to work with his father and build the newly created Robert Lenton Company. Seeking adventure, Robert and his wife moved to New Mexico in 1985 when Robert accepted a position as a project manager for a new-home builder and developer. When Robert’s father died suddenly in 1988, he returned to the Antelope Valley to run the company with his stepmother.

In 2001, Robert Lenton Company incorporated under the name Lenton Company, Inc., which continues to thrive and grow today. The third generation of Lentons, daughters Kendal and Taylor, will move into leadership and ownership positions as part of the current succession plan. Robert’s vision for changing peoples’ lives has helped the business grow to a $2.75-million company and, perhaps more importantly, a company with a legacy and a future for continued growth and longevity. Robert is known for his integrity, careful listening and high standards — values instilled in him by his father and Lenton Company founder Bob Lenton. Robert brings these values to every design and remodeling project to create exceptional, life-changing spaces for homeowners throughout the Antelope Valley and surrounding areas.

When not at work, Robert enjoys tandem bicycling with his wife, Evelyn; going to the Hollywood Bowl; cooking; camping; and hiking.

Ryan A. Martinez, CFP^®, is a principal at the Los Angeles office of Bernstein Private Wealth Management. He works closely with business owners, entrepreneurs and corporate executives as their outsourced CFO and family office. His greatest pleasure is helping empower clients to make educated, well informed decisions that result in more meaningful lives and legacies for them and their families. Prior to beginning his career as a financial advisor, Ryan successfully led a business unit for a Fortune 100 Best Company to Work For.  He was twice recognized as consultant of the year. Ryan earned a B.S., cum laude, in business, with a minor in economics, from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.  He holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP^®) designation and has completed the advanced financial planning program at Boston University. Ryan currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo College of Business. He a member of the Forbes Finance Council and is currently an advisor to the UCLA Steinbeck Family Business Center. He is also the past president of the Los Angeles Estate Planning Council. He and his family reside in Los Angeles.  

John K. Murphy Is the founder and CEO of JK Murphy Advisors (JKMA). Affectionately known as Murph, he has spent his career working with private business owners to successfully achieve their growth stories by acting in an advisory board-type role. After 20 years as an investment banker, Murph started JKMA in 2004. Murph’s straightforward yet patient hands-on approach provides clients with the trustworthy partner they need to meet their strategic, growth, liquidity, succession and shareholder transition objectives. Whether it’s at the poker table or when navigating troubled waters, Murph’s poker face gives nothing away. He is a dedicated Green Bay Packers and Wisconsin Badgers fan who graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a B.A. in finance and marketing. He also holds an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago.

Alfred E. Osborne, Jr., is UCLA Anderson’s senior associate dean for external affairs, with oversight of a variety of key initiatives for the school, including resource development, alumni relations, corporate initiatives and executive education.

Osborne also holds an appointment as professor of global economics, management and entrepreneurship, and is the founder and faculty director of the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. The Price Center serves to organize faculty research, curricula and student activities related to the study of entrepreneurship and new business development at UCLA Anderson.

Osborne served as UCLA Anderson's interim dean from July 1, 2018, to July 1, 2019.

Osborne’s areas of academic expertise include social entrepreneurship and the development of a leadership approach that applies business models and methodologies to the nonprofit world. Under his leadership, the Price Center created a number of management development programs, including five in partnership with health care giant Johnson & Johnson: the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Head Start Management Fellows Program, the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Advanced Management Institute for Head Start, the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute, the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive Program and the Management Development Institute for health care organizations in sub-Saharan Africa. Several related, innovative programs include the Institute for the Study of Educational Entrepreneurship and the UCLA/Los Angeles County Office of Education Head Start Leadership Institute.

A deep belief in the value of entrepreneurship has guided Osborne’s vision for what is possible throughout his decades-long tenure at Anderson. In addition to founding the Price Center, he facilitated infusion of an entrepreneurial approach to leadership into the Anderson culture and curriculum, including and transcending the notion of business startups.

Osborne combines his emphasis on innovation with a deep belief in the value of a broad-based diversity that includes not only demographics, but also a wide range of ideas.

Osborne is an active participant in the business community, serving as a director of Kaiser Aluminum, Wedbush Inc. and the First Pacific Advisors family of mutual funds. His nonprofit affiliations include serving as a trustee of the Geffen Academy at UCLA, Fidelity Charitable, the Harvard Westlake School and the Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation. He served many years on the corporate boards of the Times Mirror Company, US Filter Corporation, Greyhound Lines Inc., Nuverra Environmental Solutions Inc., First Interstate Bank of California, Nordstrom Inc. and K2 Inc., among others.

While on sabbatical from UCLA in the 1970s, Osborne was an economic fellow at the Brookings Institution and directed studies at the Securities and Exchange Commission that contributed to changes in Rule 144, Regulation D and other exemptive requirements to the securities laws designed to lower costs and improve liquidity and capital market access to venture capitalists and emerging-growth firms alike.

Osborne’s research interests also include venture capital and private equity, family and closely held business, and the role of boards of directors in private, public and not-for-profit organizations.

A corporate governance expert, Osborne established a Director Education and Certification Program designed to help officers and directors of public, private and nonprofits prepare for the fiduciary duties and legal responsibilities of governance. This program also addresses best practices and topical issues confronting directors.

Education
Ph.D., Business Economics, 1974, Stanford University
MBA, Finance, 1971, Stanford University
M.A., Economics, 1971, Stanford University
B.S., Electrical Engineering, 1968, Stanford University

For the past 13 years, Jonathan Schreter (’00) has served commercial property and casualty risks, primarily for charter and independent schools (K–12) and higher education clients, as well as middle-market businesses in the technology, manufacturing and entertainment industries. With a diverse background that began in marketing and advertising, Schreter combines creative thinking and analytics to offer a consultative approach to risk management. He works with progressive school and business leaders, who appreciate his commitment to mitigating unexpected losses.

Schreter earned his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2000 and his Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation from the National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research in 2010. He was president of Insurance Brokers and Agents San Fernando Valley, is the current president of the UCLA Anderson Alumni Network in Los Angeles and serves as treasurer of the executive committee for the board of directors of Inner-City Arts, a nonprofit program that unlocks the creative potential of inner-city children in downtown Los Angeles.

Accepting an offer to teach as a means of earning some additional income may have been one of Eric Sussman’s more auspicious decisions. Currently an adjunct professor of accounting and real estate at UCLA Anderson, Sussman first taught a certified public accountant exam review course after graduating from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and accepting a position with a small real estate investment firm. It was a role he thoroughly enjoyed. So when he was first offered a lecturer’s position at Anderson by his mentor and former teacher, David Ravetch, he jumped at the opportunity.

Since 1995, Sussman has been teaching courses in the areas of cost/managerial accounting, financial accounting, financial statement analysis, equity valuation, corporate financial reporting and real estate investment and finance to undergraduate, graduate and executive education students. In addition, he has advised numerous MBA and fully employed MBA field study teams and led student travel groups to Brazil, China, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. He has also served as a guest lecturer at UC Berkeley, George Washington University and the Helsinki School of Economics, and created a series on accounting and finance for the Great Courses (the Teaching Company).

Throughout his teaching career, Sussman has remained active in the real estate industry. He is president of Amber Capital Inc., manager of Fountain Management LLC and Clear Capital LLC, and managing partner of the Pacific Value Opportunities and Clear Opportunity Fund, which have acquired, rehabilitated, developed and managed more than 2 million square feet of residential and commercial real estate over the past 20 years. The firms’ portfolio at present consists of industrial, multifamily and single-family residential, and retail properties.

Sussman is also audit committee chairman and former chair (2012–2018) of the board of trustees of Causeway Capital’s group of funds (International Value, Emerging Markets, Global Value, Global Absolute Return Funds, International Opportunities and International Small Cap), which collectively have more than $15 billion in assets. He sits on the board of Pacific Charter School Development Inc. and was former chairman of the Presidio Fund and former audit committee chair of Atlantic Inertial Systems Inc., a producer and manufacturer of electromagnetic sensors.

As an aside, Sussman created Insight FSA™, an analytical software tool that automatically and critically measures, evaluates and reports upon the financial accounting and corporate reporting risk for public companies via EDGAR Online.

With his wide range of expertise, Sussman has consulted for large and small firms, nationally and globally, and is a frequent lecturer on varied financial, accounting and corporate reporting topics. He has served as an expert witness and consultant for commercial litigation involving matters of corporate financial reporting and disclosure, audit effectiveness, valuation, real estate due diligence and related practices, and overall damage analyses. He is a licensed CPA in California.

Sussman relies on his real-world experiences to make his classes relatable and exciting, aspects that are not lost on students or faculty. He is an eight-time winner of the MBA Teaching Excellence Award, a seven-time winner of the FEMBA Teaching Excellence Award and recipient of numerous other teaching awards and national honors.

Olav Sorenson joined the UCLA Anderson faculty in 2020. His primary stream of research pertains to economic geography, focusing on how entrepreneurship influences the growth and competitiveness of regions within countries, and on why some regions appear more supportive to entrepreneurs than others. “I was in graduate school in the mid-1990s at Stanford, in Silicon Valley, and it seemed like everybody and their brother was getting involved in a startup,” Sorenson says. “That’s really what got me interested in entrepreneurship and interested in ‘Why Silicon Valley?’ What was different about Silicon Valley than other places?”

Sorenson has called attention to unexpected consequences of the fact that social capital plays an important role in entrepreneurial success. Largely in recognition of this research, Sorenson received the 2018 Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research. His secondary streams of research have addressed the relationships between basic science and innovation and how organizations can better learn from their interactions with customers and from their manufacturing experience.

In total, Sorenson has delivered nearly 400 research presentations and has had more than 90 papers published on these subjects, in journals such as Science, the American Journal of Sociology, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, Administrative Science Quarterly, the Strategic Management Journal and Research Policy. Sorenson serves as a department editor for Management Science and as a deputy editor at the American Sociological Review. He has also served in editorial positions at more than a dozen other journals.

Sorenson’s Venture Capital Strategy course is a version of one he’s taught since 2005. “My goal with that course is to do something that’s a little different from the typical venture capital course, which is usually about valuation and contract terms,” says Sorenson. “This course comes more from the perspective of someone who would be an active venture capital or angel investor, and some of the types of strategic decisions that are involved with that.” He’ll also be teaching Entrepreneurship and Venture Initiation, an introductory entrepreneurship course.

In addition to his research and teaching responsibilities, Sorenson joins the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation as faculty research director. In that role, he plans to build on the curricular offerings of the Price Center and create a research arm dedicated to entrepreneurial studies. Sorenson also plans to mentor student entrepreneurial teams within the Anderson Venture Accelerator and those participating in the school’s Business Creation Option field study.

From 1999 to 2005, Sorenson taught strategy courses at UCLA Anderson. Prior to returning to Anderson, he held the Frederick Frank ’54 and Mary C. Tanner Professorship at the Yale School of Management and, before that, the Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair in Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto. He has also served on the faculties of London Business School and the University of Chicago, and has held visiting appointments at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, SDA Bocconi, Universidad Carlos III, Melbourne Business School, Singapore Management University, the National University of Singapore, BI Norwegian Business School, the Stanford Graduate School of Business and INSEAD.

Sorenson received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University. He has also received an honorary doctorate from Aalborg University.

Miguel Unzueta is a professor of Management and Organizations and the senior associate dean of MBA programs. He joined the faculty at the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2006 after earning his Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Unzueta studies diversity, bias and discrimination. His latest research explores the manner in which people and companies define diversity and the impact that contemporary diversity definitions have on the representation of women and racial minorities in organizations. His research has been published in top management and psychology journals, including Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and Psychological Science. In recognition of his research record, he was awarded the Eric and E Juline award for excellence in faculty research at UCLA Anderson.

Unzueta teaches courses on negotiations, managerial psychology and leadership in all of UCLA Anderson’s MBA programs. He was awarded the George Robbins Teaching Award for excellence in the classroom and the Faculty Community Engagement Award for exemplifying service to the school through his engagement with students and alumni. He was also selected by MBA blog Poets and Quants as one of the best 40 business school professors under age 40.

Outside of UCLA, Unzueta has conducted trainings on a wide range of management topics such as negotiations, decision making and bias prevention. He has been invited to speak at various organizations, including Honda, Fox Studios, Kaiser-Permanente and the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team.

Scott Neamand, Chief Financial Officer, System Pavers

Scott Neamand is the Chief Financial Officer of System Pavers, an award winning company that designs and builds residential outdoor living spaces. Scott is a Certified Public Accountant with over 30 years of finance, accounting and operational experience and has served as the Chief Financial Officer of both privately and publicly-held companies. Scott started his career in Big Four public accounting at KPMG and since joining the private sector, has worked in several industries including: construction, consumer products, entertainment, ecommerce and internet services. Scott’s experience includes IPO’s, debt and private equity raises, mergers and acquisitions, operational and capital restructuring, and international operations in China and Japan.