Jon Paul
Interim CFO
Brook Furniture Rental
Fifth Third Bancorp
Jon Paul has nearly 30 years experience as either CFO/COO or a management consultant, enabling company owners to measure, maximize and monetize the value they generate from their companies. Since 1992, Jon has been doing consulting/interim CFO management as head of Value Added Finance Resources (www.valueaddedfinance.com), serving emerging clients in a wide range of dynamic industries. During these years he has helped many clients line up bank financing that better fit their needs.
Jon is currently interim CFO for Brook Furniture Rental (www.bfr.com), the top quality provider of rent-to-rent furniture to executives, companies and individuals with temporary needs. BFR is one of the top 300 private firms in Chicago as ranked by Crain’s and banks with multiple firms providing revolver, 2nd lien and mezzanine financing. Jon has launched many initiatives at BFR enhancing their banking, systems, reporting and cash flow.
Prior to starting his consulting practice, he was CFO of Vitarine Pharmaceuticals, as the first member of a turnaround team brought in by the venture capitalists. There he played a key role keeping the firm alive and helping develop/execute the plans that turned the company from near bankruptcy to earning as much as 53% of net sales from its manufacturing operations. After later acquiring a number of distribution firms around the country, the firm was sold to Eon Labs and then later sold to a European Pharmaceutical firm for $6 billion. As a part of his initial turnaround efforts, Jon persuaded the workout department of Manufacturers Hanover not to liquidate the company for $5 million and restructured $17 million in debt, in addition to raising $8 million of additional venture capital. The loan moved out of the workout area and became a performing loan that more than got the bank out whole.
Earlier on, Jon was head of finance/operations for a toy manufacturer, Kidco, where he revamped the inside operations to handle the explosive growth from $2 to $30 million, which later led to a successful merger into Matchbox. He moved the company from factoring with Heller to revolver financing with American National which made it possible to grow over 400% that year when they launched the number 4 selling toy in the industry that year.
Jon began his career in the Big Four after earning a CPA. He then earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. He also has been very active in civic affairs and is a strong networker, starting the Chicago chapter of FENG and later starting the Finance Leaders Association.
Jon lives in Lake Forest, IL with his wife of 26 years, Susan and has two sons, Brad and Eric, who graduated from Indiana University and Carleton College, respectively.