Jim Ethell

Orange, CA CFO

24 Years of Experience

Direct Contact:
jimethell@

714-271-2860

Jim has over 25 years of varied management, finance and accounting experience as a CEO, CFO and Controller. He has served companies ranging from start-up to operating divisions of «Fortune 500» companies. Jim’s experience encompasses industries including medical device and electronic manufacturing, distribution, service and not-for-profit in both domestic and international markets. Jim combines his knowledge of accounting and financial matters with a very strong background in business process management and optimization, along with extensive enterprise system deployment experience. Jim is able to work with all levels in an organization and his strong team approach makes him a valued addition to any organization.

Jim’s experience added value as the founding CFO for a start-up electronics company that went from start-up to $60 million in a matter of four years. He kept the company’s cash needs in check through proper management of AR and AP and through the acquisition of funding resources in advance of the needs of the organization. This included several bank lines and two rounds of investor financing. During his tenure Jim lead the successful defense of an intellectual property lawsuit He also managed to keep the company’s systems ahead of the needs of the organization through the successful implementation of the company’s business management system.

As the US Finance Director for a London based company Jim had responsibility to turn eight business units from under-performing to strong bottom line contributors. Using a systematic approach and working with division management and management teams at each business unit Jim accomplished this task in just over twelve months. During that time he participated in the sale of one business unit and closure of another. The remaining business units became real contributors to the parent company’s cash flow and bottom line. This was achieved through improvement in business processes, improved financial controls, changes to management and reduction in inventories and redundancy through the implementation of a standardized business management system in all remaining business units.

A strong CFO needs to have an understanding of business management systems and Jim has led over 50 ERP system implementations during his career. In most of these projects Jim was the project manager and led the projects through strong team leadership and the organization necessary for the successful implementation of business management systems.

Jim enjoys challenging situations where he can use his varied knowledge to improve the operating results of the organization. He has particular strengths in the following areas:

Strategic planning and forecasting
Budgeting through the use of "what if" models Jim developed
Cash Flow management and forecasting
Building banking relationships
Developing funding sources and debt restructuring
Business Management Systems (ERP) selection and implementation
Recommending proper business metrics
Business intelligence design
Evaluation, hiring and training accounting staff
Effectively interface with Board of Directors and senior management
Effective and timely financial reporting
Costing and product margin analysis and control
Business Process Improvement

Jim graduated from California State University - Fullerton with a BA in Business Administration (Finance and Marketing) and followed that with successful completion of his Masters of Business Administration from Claremont Graduate University’s Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management. Jim and Sally have been married over 30 years and they have one grown son.