Summary:
Since starting his own consulting firm in 1997 Mark Brown has helped business leaders in a wide range of industries improve their profitability and increase their cash flow.
Mark has a track record of developing business strategies, identifying strategic initiatives to accomplish strategy, managing strategic initiatives and designing streamline systems and processes that strengthen the organizations' strategy execution.
He has a broad functional background, including finance, IT, sales, marketing and HR.
Background:
Prior to founding NextStep, Mark was the Chief Financial Officer of Aavid Thermal Technologies, a $100+ million, publicly traded, international manufacturing and software company which designs, manufactures, and markets thermal management products for various applications.
Prior to Aavid Thermal Technologies, he was a controller for ABA Industries, an $18 million manufacturing company. He started his career as a consultant in the consulting division of Arthur Andersen, which is now Accenture.
Mark holds a B.A. in Accounting and an MBA with a concentration in Marketing from the University of South Florida.
Testimonial from George R. Linscott, President/CEO, Visicon Technologies, Inc.:
This is a letter of recommendation and of gratitude for Mark Brown. Simply put, Mark helped me save my company.
It has been over 12 years since I first met Mark. At the time I was a budding entrepreneur that had grown my software company to about $10M in revenue and then hit a brick wall. Fortunately, one of my board members knew Mark and in a very short time Mark was able to unravel our financial mess and recommend a course of action to keep us alive.
The abrupt shift from rapid growth to rapid decline was an experience I will never forget. The lessons Mark taught me about financial analysis, cash flow and being calm, clear, and positive in the face of very hard decisions have stayed with me ever since.
With Mark’s help we were able put the company back on a track and within 2 years we were able to bring in $5M in venture funding at a $50M pre-money valuation!
Presently I am involved in turning around a technology company using the very techniques that Mark used to help me. It all really boils down to one simple fact that is etched on a gift that Mark gave me when we parted company. No matter the company size, growth curve or business model Mark taught me to “Keep My Eyes on the Cash”.
I highly recommend Mark to anyone that wants to run a better business.