Lexington, Kentucky, United States
An experienced finance officer with seasoned leadership, grit, and unwavering integrity. Honored to collaborate and lead businesses to heightened profits, increased service scores, GAAP compliance, and growth. 20-plus years' proven success in finance, accounting, and auditing, integrating end-to-end governance for a diversified portfolio of sectors, I extend a high value proposition. Husband and father: I am honored and blessed to be husband to my wonderful bride, and father to our five children. Executive financial leadership statement: Impart meaningful modeled strategy proposals, containing reasoned comprehensive analysis detail for a driven result. Leadership descriptors: Entre servant leader; man of integrity; high emotional intelligence; know my audience communicator - confident and clear; hands-on coach; supportive mentor; patient; diplomatic; sincere; humble; leads by example; organized; professional; energetic; persistent with determination grit; proficient remote and in-office; trustworthy and ethical. Operations skill acumen: Profit and loss statement preparation, cash management, variance analysis, QBR / annual reviews, KPI generation, cost analysis, accounts payable/receivable oversight, balance debit / credit analysis, account collection, general ledger / chart of account diagram generation and coding, labor analysis, budgeting, compliance, payroll audit, temporary & fulltime staff reconciliation, trial balance, third-party compliance, onboard hiring, coaching, and counseling constructively, empathy and understanding problem resolution, finance and purchase reconciliation, research, development project leadership, mentoring with customer service focus. Software knowledgebase: Oracle NetSuite, Sage, Opera, Kronos, ADP, PeopleSoft, among others Foundational character development: "Once an Eagle, always an Eagle Scout." Life-time member of NESA. Brotherhood member within the honor society 'Order of the Arrow'. Leadership skill assessments: 1) Gallup Five Strengths: achiever, strategic, learner, competition, and context. 2) Enneagram Professional assessment: - Type 1 - 98% match - "Perfectionist" - Type 3 - 96% match - "Achiever" - Type 8 - 88% match - "Challenger" 3) DISC Personality: High "Compliance / Conscientious". Logical, disciplined, driven. 4) SAP Professional Personality Type: "Hero" “Co-workers & vendors are drawn to your positive nature. Able to forge interpersonal relationships that help get things done. Skills like negotiating or taking active measures to control costs. Thrive in a leadership role.”
Contract role engagement. My support was engaged for the college network and central KCTCS office. Daily accounting support provided the VP of Philanthropy and gifts division. Extended support for all 16 network college finance divisions supporting the larger divisions: institutional advancement, philanthropy, and foundation. Operational desk procedures developed, bridging the gap between systems and software platforms to ensure grant and gift guideline compliance. Liaison to the KCTCS Foundation, the team and I maintained recording and classing grants, gifts, pledges, payroll deductions, and gifts-in-kind to the many foundations and endowments within our responsibility. Financial statements and overall analysis generated monthly, quarterly, and fiscal year closure for the KCTCS main office as well as support to each network college. Coordinating closely with the Office of the President, Legal, and Development within our division at the system office as well as each team through each network college. Providing stability and maintain daily needs of the division during the essential time of retiring staff and on-boarding of the new VP of Philanthropy. Daily help desk resource for all college advancement staff on issues related to recording, receiving, and receipting all gifts and pledges and aid with the identifying of data entry errors, making recommendations on corrections, and adjusting records to ensure accuracy system-wide. An opportunity to return to a Controller role brought me back to business 'for profit' sector, joining ISS-KY. Mission, Vision & Values of KCTCS: https://kctcs.edu/about/mission-vision-values/index.aspx Learn more: https://kctcs.edu/
Position eliminated during company sale and restructure to centralized accounting, at the start of an economic recession. This period of time known especially for the global health crisis with COVID-19. Devastating global economic damage in sectors, including technology, education, healthcare, domestic and international manufacturing, tourism, and hospitality among others. During this prolonged period, many businesses enacted sweeping layoffs, reduced hours, enacted hiring freezes, or went out of business outright. Freelance work as gap-fill completed during this time, but not traditional, W2 direct hire work.
2 Roles: Operations then Finance 1) FOH F&B Operations Manager: Joined Embassy Suites leadership operations team. Hired as 'food and beverage manager' FOH and to support as rotating ‘operations duty manager’. Responsibilities throughout entire 230-suite hotel. Mentoring, training new interns/hires, leading guest satisfaction, FOH manager within the restaurant and bar. Leading by example with hands-on leadership we attained marked improvement in department customer feedback YOY and brought the hotel within the top 11 percent of the global brand for the close of 2014, within top 5 percent for 2015, as measured via Hilton guest surveys. #1 out of seventy-one city hotels on TripAdvisor 2015 and 2016, number two in 2017. 2) Controller Post: Possessing much prior business experience and having accounting experience and a degree further advancement sought and in time the 'controller / accounting management' post became available. Finance Role: Accounting, accounts receivable, accounts payable, journal entries, account reconciliation, variance analysis, trial balance, finance, cash management, generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), general ledger, profit and loss statement generation, ordering and purchasing, auditing, training, coaching, mentoring staff and interns. Coordinating with culinary, food cost percentages to budget maintained as well as team and financial audits, staffing to budget, and cash control. "I am pleased to announce that Brandon is being promoted... his background, tremendous work ethic, and guest satisfaction orientation has prepared him well for success in this critical position... Please join me in congratulating Brandon and wishing him continued success." - David Smith - GM (Personnel announcement) Our team successfully completed many challenges: a financial business evaluation, an acquisition sale, company restructure, and then final department liquidation to centralized accounting once successfully completed.
Corporate field accountant and training lead. A three faceted position > Financial / audit > IT (software and hardware) > Leadership (training and support). Service provided to franchise clients all across the North American territory as a contractor as part of Wyndham's 'new property opening' team as well as the 'WynGuest ERP / PMS' installation and training division. Work provided both 'on site' as well as 'remote hybrid'. Transference of business data from prior systems to new including AR, ensured smooth transition with local and brand AP, and other business data via trial balance, ledger, and other financial assets. As a field audit engineer, I conducted seminar and workshop-style instruction for business owners, management, and line-level employees. Ensured data migration from varying Windows, DOS, and Linux platforms, then aided with the transference of data to the new platform with the removal of existing and installation of new hardware. Providing follow up support for each project, curtailed for a different franchise client with specific needs to provide a customized business solution. In an effort to improve productivity and answer demand for a lower-cost model, in 2010 I was approached to research, test, and coordinate development of a hybrid solution. Since 2010 this highly successful remote model has been enhanced and expanded, with actualized financial net savings on average of 30% per client project. This model continues as an ongoing project option, so many years later, for Wyndham franchise clients. Seeking a leveler work-life balance I transitioned back to the Lexington market, joining Winegardner & Hammonds (established in 1958 as one of the first Holiday Inn franchise holders, then adding other brands), joined Embassy Suites UK Coldstream. Learn more and join Wyndham Worldwide / Hotel Group: https://careers.wyndhamhotels.com/go/US-Corporate-Careers/6665700/