Mark Richards

Financial and Operational professional heavily focused on growth initiatives and revenue generation. Experience includes Fortune 100, 500, global privately held, joint-venture (U.S. & European), venture backed and pure start-ups (read: three guys, one room, IKEA furniture).

I have been extremely fortunate to have U.S. and international experience - having been to 15 countries and 140+ cities for work with clients, sales, account management and operations. I have created 300+ business plans for acquisitions, reorganizations, new products, new territories/clients and entire businesses - gathering over $400MM in investments. The opportunities to work outside of finance has allowed me to take roles in business development (start-up) and marketing (SAP).

Most importantly, I have had the chance to work with an amazing set of colleagues from around the world and in virtually every department imaginable - which has vastly expanded my capabilities and knowledge.

Have been on the Advisory board of Proformative since 2009 and have enjoyed watching the depth and breadth of sharing between members of our finance community.

Experience

VP of Finance and Operations : RBA Consulting - [2014-10 to Current]

Global Senior Director : SAP/Successfactors - [2011-11 to 2014-10]
Responsible for go-to-market programs for SAP's Customer Engagement & Commerce solutions. Was led the go-to-market SAP's Cloud Financials.

Creator/Founder : www.candidateschair.com - [2009-01 to Current]
This site shares insights into job search from a candidate's perspective. To date, I have done all of the content, design and sharing of the site. With visitors from over 80 countries, 10-15% of whom spend 1 hour on the site, I decided in mid-2010 to take my passion for sharing and begin he early stages of developing it into a broader application.

CFO/Founder : Founder/CFO - Start-up & Early Stage - [2006-06 to 2011-11]
As CFO and founder, my role encompassed strategic, operational and fundraising - though within an early stage firm, the focus is on defining the market, solution and how to get your product sold. The companies included Wireless telecom network, fire suppressant, pharmacy and nutrition vendor, and finance executive staffing.

Education

BA, Accounting : Saint John's University

MBA, Finance : University of St. Thomas, Graduate School of Business