Problem: 4 years of uncollected and improperly filed tax credits which therefore were not eligible for bank financing and required the Parent Company to fund operations.

Solution: While I possessed no experience in Film Tax Credits I used my transferable tax skills from public accounting, to quickly learn the tax credit filing requirements. I realized we the people we hired, possessed neither the accounting or tax skills to handle this job. Given the magnitude of dollars involved I recommended we immediately engage an experienced major accounting firm to assist with this matter. Within 6 months, we had successfully refilled all applications from 2003-2007. After this was completed I used my banking experience and relationships to secure a $1M loan from Royal Bank of Canada. This allowed the company to operate independently from the parent company.

Company: Global Manufacturer:The Scrap rate was above 10%. Plant P&L showing a loss along with plant closure and/or transfer risks. I designed and implemented a recycling program that accumulated savings of $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 annually. This program was utilized in 2 separate plants. One of the plants accumulated $4,000,000 annual savings and represented a major part of the plant turnaround of $7,000,000 profit annually.Essentially the plant became scrap free as a result of PP, Nylon, and TPO recycling.The local plant made money for the first time in several years in which it lost as high as $23,000,000/year.

Based on a positive working relationship with staff at Bell Distribution, Bell Express Vu approached my company looking for a solution to costly returns of satellite receivers.Each returned receiver was then being replaced with a brand new receiver, at a cost of $480. Bell Express Vu was seeking a solution to use refurbished receivers.By analyzing the processes required for the cosmetic refurbishment, technical checks and quality assurance, and the costs of new connectivity cables, I was able to recommend a refurbishment program at a cost of $38 per receiver. Based on the fiscal amortization of these refurbished receivers, this saved over $200 per return.Bell ExpressVu saved approximately $17 million per year using refurbished units. I acquired the sales of all cable packs, adding $700 000 in business to my company, at a margin of over 50 points. With evolving technology and connectivity requirements, this business grew to $1.4 million per year. This success in developing new sales opportunities was due to my ability to analyze cost and processes, and the ability to apply problem solving skills to a potential opportunity.

An opportunity was identified when major retailers and telecoms began to require more cost and quality assurance from their suppliers. In response, my company chose to seek ISO 9001 certification to achieve a competitive advantage in the RFP / RFQ processes. I personally designed and wrote the Quality Management System and was responsible for implementing this within the company operations from top to bottom. After a two year project, we successfully received our certification on our very first audit. Implementing the quality management system produced an overall improvement in our product development and design, significantly reducing timelines for new products to market due to rigorous project management. Overall customer satisfaction was greatly improved. Certification increased customer interest, and built confidence in our ability to provide the products they needed. Major retailers such as Videotron were added, and significant new accounts grew with existing customers. The key to success was transforming the culture of the company. By building an organizational structure and documenting responsibilities, employees were better able to understand their role in the company, and their role in improving customer satisfaction and the quality of our products and services. Implementing this system allowed me to develop metrics which allowed me to evaluate the day to day performance of the company. The Quality Management System improved the overall effectiveness of every operation within the company.

By implementing a thorough and marketing plan that included both new creative, of which I personally designed with my team, and via strong relationships with media vendors I was able to expand upon my cash media by over $500,000 which allowed me to expand upon my regular budget by over 60%. The result was a significant increase in marketing penetration in the market place in all forms of media from: outdoor advertising, TV, print and radio. The result was keeping my employers brand at front of mind awareness to both new and old customers alike

From a management perspective I would say my largest success story would be the re-branding of the IT show which was the SANAS Summit which I re positioned as the ITECH Summit. During the recession, the event started to decline due to mergers and acquisitions. The SANAS Summit focused primarily on the storage side of the IT business, I realized that storage products were becoming an off the shelf product. I researched the IT industry as a whole and determined that I needed to rebrand the event with different products and services; I developed a new marketing program to grow both the exhibitor and delegate side of the business. The ITECH event returned to growth mode, the Toronto and Montreal shows just ran with the largest attendance in the history of the 13 year event. The ITECH event also grew in both revenue and contribution.The new event also attracted international exhibitors looking to develop international business.

A success story would be the launch of the World Conference on Disaster Management; I produced from Markham an extension to the Toronto event in Sydney, Australia. Although much smaller than the International Toronto event which supported up to 50 different countries. I developed new business relationships in order to support the Sydney event, I also researched the country to identify which disasters are most likely to occur to develop the content over the two days. I put together an international panel to assist in the recruitment of presenters. This was a very success event attracting some of Australia’s leading government officials, given the time difference it made for some very longs days as I was responding to and calling in to the early morning hours due to the time zones. Feedback was that it was one of the best run disaster management events Sydney has seen.