Experience

• 

  BJ's Restaurants, Inc.

  • Huntington Beach, California, United States

  • Board Member

    • Feb 2024 - Present
    • Huntington Beach, California, United States

    BJ’s Restaurants (BJRI NASDAQ) is a national casual dining brewhouse restaurant owner and operator of 200+resturants in the US. Audit, Compensation and Special Initiative Value Committees

• 

  WCI Entertainment

  • Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, United States

  • Board Member

    • Feb 2023 - Present
    • Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, United States

    WCI Entertainment is a leading live dinner attraction and family entertainment operator with multiple attractions including Dolly Parton’s Stampede, Pirates Voyage, and Hatfield & McCoy in family-oriented destinations. WCI is ZMC LP sponsored company.Board Member and ZMC LP Advisor

• 

  Coast Entertainment Holdings

  • Sydney, Australia

  • Board Member

    • Sep 2017 - Present
    • Sydney, Australia

    Coast Entertainment Holdings formerly Ardent Leisure Ltd, (ASX: CEH) is a specialty operator of theme parks, tourist attractions and bowling and laser-skirmish centers across Australia and New Zealand, including Dreamworld, WhiteWater World, SkyPoint, Kingpin, and in the U.S. with Main Event fami...

• 

  Qualfon

  • Monterrey Area, Mexico

  • Board Member

    • Jul 2017 - Present
    • Monterrey Area, Mexico

    Qualfon is a global provider of contract center, back-office and business process outsourcing (BPO) services, offering a full suite of solutions and intelligent outsourcing locations in the U.S. and worldwide.Finance and Audit Committee (Chair)

• 

  Darden

  • United States
  • Restaurants
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

    • 2006 - 2015

    ■ Served as a key member of executive team and advisor to Chairman and CEO in creating significant shareholder value by driving superior sales and earnings growth through managing and rejuvenating brands, developing diverse talent, leading high-performing teams and expanding organizational capability and capacity.■ Led management of the Audit and Finance Committees and actively engaged with the full Board of Directors.■ Led all aspects of Finance and Information Technology (Strategic Planning and Portfolio Management, Treasury, Investor Relations, Tax Planning and Compliance, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Risk Management, Technology Strategy, Systems Development and Support, and IT Infrastructure).■ Held integral role in successfully onboarding new Board of Directors, and repositioning strategic direction, leadership organization, support infrastructure, and charter and bylaw reviews and revisions.■ Advanced $1.9 billion comprehensive real estate plan to separate large real estate portfolio.■ Led strategic plan development and separation of the $2.5 billion Red Lobster business in 2014.■ Provided key leadership in lengthy and contentious proxy contest. ■ Spearheaded $1.4 billion transformative, $585 million growth and $66 million tuck-in acquisitions; arranged financing; led successful integration; and achieved significant cost and revenue synergies.■ Leveraged a fully integrated ERP platform and broadband real-time connectivity to 2,200 locations (23,000 PCs). ■ Created credit union for 220,000 employees, contributing to Darden being named an employer of choice.

  • Senior Vice President and Corporate Controller

    • 2005 - 2006

    ■ Reported to the CFO and COO; led operating division finance teams and corporate reporting, planning, analysis, accounting services, tax planning and compliance, and risk-management functions.■ Directed annual capital spending of $750 million.

• 

  Red Lobster

  • Orlando, Florida

  • Senior Vice President, Finance and Strategic Planning

    • 2003 - 2005
    • Orlando, Florida

    ■ Served as integral member of the leadership team in repositioning Red Lobster brand. ■ Responsible for all aspects of financial and strategic leadership.■ Executive sponsor of world's first commercially viable lobster aquaculture initiative. ■ Provided strategic leadership in all aspects of...

• 

  Olive Garden

  • Orlando, Florida

  • Senior Vice President, Finance and Controller

    • 1998 - 2003
    • Orlando, Florida

    ■ Major contributor to brand transformation to consistently increase quarterly same-restaurant sales (54 subsequent consecutive quarterly increases), total sales and improved margins, combining to increase earnings more than 150%.■ Led all aspects of financial planning and strategy development, a...

• 

  Red Lobster

  • Orlando, Florida

  • Vice President, Planning and Analysis

    • 1994 - 1998
    • Orlando, Florida

    ■ Provided financial insight and analysis to shape key business decisions, marketing and menu analysis, and financial planning for Red Lobster. ■ Led financial team for restaurant group spin-off from General Mills to a separate publicly traded company, Darden Restaurants, Inc., and the Form 10 pr...

• 

  Darden Canada

  • United States
  • Restaurants
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Vice President, Financial Operations

    • 1990 - 1994

    Key role in the acquisition integration and rapid expansion of the Red Lobster brand and introduction of the Olive Garden brand in Canada; achieved record sales, returns and earnings; led two brand finance teams and separate corporate financial support team for international unit.

  • Progressive Assignments – Multiple brands and Corporate Roles

    • 1982 - 1990

    Various progressively responsible financial and marketing positions at brand and corporate levels.

• 

  PRICEWATERHOUSE

  • St. Louis, Missouri

  • Senior Accountant, Comprehensive Professional Services Group

    • 1979 - 1982
    • St. Louis, Missouri

    Led engagements for accounting, financial forecasting, tax, audit and management services to medium and small clients (began career as a summer intern).