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Expert has focused on valuation, including all of its methods and the sub-sections that are under debate, for several years and has worked on in-depth projects regarding solvency, financial service firms, and intangible goods. She also has experience with financial products, real estate, natural resources, and other factors that affect value such as key person and intellectual property impacts. She studied under Professor Aswath Damodaran, one of the world's leading experts on Valuation and has incorporated some of his teachings, such as the utilization of the Black-Scholes model to value items by treating them as options, and total beta (for nondiversified buyers) but has also studied Pratt and others as valuations is typically considered "more an art than a science." As long as valuations and inputs can be justified and are reasonable, valuation is a flexible and maybe the most important tool for those interested in buying private companies, those concerned with solvency of their business or those concerned with the solvency of a business their invested in. It's also applicable in so many other cases included ESOP, derivatives (warrants, convertible debt, etc), and all sorts of other specific characteristics because the methods are flexible enough to be capable of incorporating almost any input.

Expert has experience in M&A and participated and contributed small portions of the S-1/prospectus for her then employer's IPO (spin-off) road show and has consistently been exposed to all segments of M&A processes including research, underwriting, roadshow, greenshoe calculation, and expected market reactions. Her work within financial services as well as her responsibility for industry and market information has given her an in-depth understanding and the ability to work with capital markets including derivatives and OTC products. Many analyses regarding volatility, variance, market performance, and expected performance results depends on statistical analysis of market factors and therefore she is well-versed and experienced in utilizing volatility and other statistical calculations in order to identify the important factors and possible opportunities or concerns regarding investments for advisory purposes.

Expert has worked within the strategic planning arena for many years. Her yearly goal was always to create a 3-, 5- and 10-year plan with goal and "stretch goal" figures and qualitative details that explains (1) where we are now and (2) where we want to be. The idea is not small steps but big ideas: JFK said "we'll be on the moon in 10 years;" he didn't lay out step by step instructions. The main work is to reconcile the big ideas with realistic, reasonable, reachable and quantifiable strategies, objectives, and goals. It begins with analyzing all aspects of the business, all financial statements, forecasting forward in a status-quo environment with industry and economic impacts included and applying a SWOT analysis: Strengths (internal), Weaknesses (internal), Opportunities (external) and Threats (external), including understanding the long-term needs (CapEx for physical items, IT) that will enable success and what has changed and become obsolete. When planning down, then creating a profit and loss statement by department to surface issues, needs, and goals. After creating strategic plans on a go-forward status quo basis, create sensitivity analyses with different "unexpected" events to establish the impact of different external or internal pressures such as a recession, a significant change in interest rates, a shift in cultural tastes, implementation of more stringent regulations (e.g., import/export), and political changes. It's imperative that the company understands how different events will affect its profitability, leverage, liquidity, and opportunities in the future.

Competitive benchmarking analysis includes analyzing financial statements and making the necessary adjustments for a fair comparison, industry-specific data points (e.g., same-store sales in retail), earnings release information, and both debt and equity analyst reports to mentally position each in the marketplace and better identify the strategic advantages and white space that exists. Most importantly, it's imperative to understand how each component of the business may be more or less important across companies within the same industry and how those differences impact the bottom line. Namely, identifying where the pressure comes from for the subject company as well as the other companies in the industry, if there are any scenarios where a possible occurrence will significantly affect some companies but not others? Do any companies have strategic advantages that simply can't be competed against (e.g., brand value/reputation, rent way above/below market, locations/lack of a necessary location, etc.) This ongoing benchmarking and comparison compilation creates the opportunity to forecast, with insight and justification, what competitors will likely do next and why so that the subject company can proactively prepare for it to its own benefit.

Expert is highly adept at analyzing and identifying the signals presented in the four basic financial statements that relate a company's strengths, weaknesses, and future possible trends. This analysis is utilized to make decisions or make well-educated estimates of capital investments, significant changes that will occur when regulations are implemented (e.g., changes to allowance of off balance sheet items, depreciation methods, and gross and operating margins. Trend information reflects the best as-is basis for future expectations with these additional items in mind for adjustments. The statements can be used to compare guideline companies, create sensitivity analyses around different parameters, and make adjustments in order to reconcile line items for fair comparisons (e.g., what items belong in Cost of Goods Sold versus SG&A expenses).

The result of all of these analyses are important inputs in the parameter-setting for a new product/business/location trial because they give insight into so many detailed aspects of the business that could become significant impacts in a business as it grows, shrinks, expands in scope, or is changed in any way. Some include inefficiencies in operations, the optimal fixed versus variable cost breakdown, the need for additional or different training, adjusted scheduling to optimize sales/service, the effectiveness of programs and standards currently in place, the quality of the workforce, and the opportunity to revisit the vendor marketplace in order to achieve cost savings. Each of these may or may not result in requiring significant changes, but even just one could possibly materially eat into earnings and therefore this type of analysis, where variables are isolated, is needed before trials or large project management tasks are taken on.

Expert knows that the basis, and heart, of any in-depth financial analysis begins by identifying the relevant data to be included in the analysis, namely, the data points that are the true levers of change in the specific situation, deciding which analysis technique can be utilized best and most effectively in order to achieve outcomes, and an in-depth knowledge, comfort, and years of experience with almost all available software including Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Access, Project) as well as Hyperion, Capital IQ, Visual Basic, Cognos, CRM, SQL and SAP. Additionally, Expert has several years of corporate accounting-based experience in portfolio management and for equities in overall accounting and controller roles. The familiarity and correct usage of GAAP and non-GAAP accounting standards is imperative in order to get a true holistic vision of the project at hand.

Expert has both the education and experience in taking in the entire economy and both the micro- and macroeconomic forces that shift the elasticity of demand, change GDP and GNP, and the warning signs that regulatory or legal changes may become serious impacts on the market and the demand and ability or scarcity of inputs that will ultimately create barriers or opportunities for both a specific company and for the industry and US market as a whole. Additionally, Expert has a diverse background that spans multiple industries and therefore knows how these economic factors affect different industries in specific ways based on their specific characteristics.

Expert has managed and led many cross-functional teams in successfully implementing corporate initiatives. Her leadership of these teams allowed her to
gain experience and confidence in decision-making in sometimes ambiguous situations. These experiences also significantly improved her leadership in
terms of her ability to manage diverse teams with different priorities. She can successfully engage associates from all functions and groups and gain
investment and buy-in for projects so the results are as successful and effective as possible. Additionally, as the head of corporate strategy, her
responsibilities included monitoring capital markets, trends, and other patterns in the marketplace in order to identify internal and external opportunities to
expand corporate scope, secure exclusivity contracts, improve brand value, and introduce and plan new businesses. She successfully planned an entirely
new business channel for a corporation that would increase revenues, margins, and profits with minimal cannibalization. The business development and
management had the added benefits of reaching new target audiences and increasing loyalty.

VALUATION for bankruptcy litigation: consulted legal firm through valuating its client's solvency on two different dates utilizing three approaches (all five methods) to prove solvency; included cash flow analysis, asset pricing, NPV with terminal value; industry-specific critical multiples, and transaction multiples. Worked with team of two to write expert witness report and followed same valuation practices using adversary's expert witness report data in order to write response report.VALUATION for private companies and intangibles: created valuations for private companies utilizing comparable company set based on industry-specific critical multiples / metrics, price of a share of voting and non-voting stock for an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) of a closely-held company; performed industry and demographic analysis in order to clarify and adjust salary for NPV income approach; valuated intangibles such as human capital, IT, customer lists, brand names, brand equity and positioning, key person, intellectual property, natural resources and other time-restricted assets in order to arrive at the most accurate valuation possible.ENTREPRENEURIAL CONSULTING: Three private clients, single person entrepreneurs with product ideas but little to no business skills and limited time. Began with creating business plan, mission statement, business objectives by time segment, identified vendor sources, companion/peer set and positioning in relation to each, SWOT analysis, brand and logo creation following parameters of optimizing brand equity, wrote and analyzed survey results to estimate demand, utilized process flow and resource allocation to simulate business needs in time, resources, and money, and forecasted sales, inventory, margin, EBIT, EBITDA, ROIC, ROE, and Net Income for years 1-5 and terminal valueSTRATEGIC / MANAGEMENT CONSULTING: Appointed to create P&L from sales through Net Income as well as sales/square foot for bridal business within larger store and average store sales/square foot in order to identify which businesses were making money, should be kept, or should be closed. Included industry analyses due to specifics of business: trained (i.e. higher-paid) staff, larger fitting rooms, sunk costs in samples versus no sunk costs in other apparel, and each location's other segment P&Ls in order to find alternative uses for space. Additionally required NPV and time of construction costs if floor "real estate" were to change as well as legal research and due diligence regarding precedence of bridal companies' ability to keep rather than return deposits (emotional aspects of broken engagements have swayed court decisions). Ultimately proposed three different options: keep two flagship locations in order to maintain brand equity, keep seven locations that actually made money, and close business and lease space to bridal atelier (e.g. Kleinfeld's) and just receive royalty and rent (similar to Louis Vuitton business model).STRATEGIC / MANAGEMENT CONSULTING: Seasonal products and short-time windows. Products have particular issues of timing for reorder if popular or over-inventory past window if not; first step was to create gift card program for holiday season and new packaging for it so that the purchase and wrap was more efficient and closer at hand along with incentive program for associates. This exploited the market trend towards increasing gift card sales, included an associate's business card so recipient could receive personal attention when shopping, and the then-current industry estimate of a 2.1x return (i.e. a recipient spends 2.1 times the value of the gift card). Decreased seasonal buy using historical data and focused on goods that had possibilities: hold and flow (keep 10% of order in warehouse), JIT in case of reorder, vendor agreements, and seasonal - but not identifiably specific (year, trend item) - products that, without other options, could be held if necessary for following year.