Erik's Biography

Erik’s financial forte lies in examining the fiscal strengths and shortfalls of a variety of specialized firms, quickly identifying key drivers and obstacles to ensure financial and strategic goals are attained. Of particular expertise is partnering with financial and operational support functions, from CPA and law firms, to corporate and employee insurance companies, to IT and HR teams to ensure overall finance success and productive growth of each company.

History

Erik began his career nearly a decade ago in entertainment, working in Motion Picture Business Development at Paramount Pictures in LA with a team that reported directly to the CFO. This early exposure guided his professional path and led to a Senior Financial Analyst position overseeing all facets of the international accounting process and financial reporting (both internal and external) at Volt Information Sciences, a multibillion dollar IT/Tech staffing and consulting firm headquartered in Orange, CA. During this period, Erik began exploring an advanced business degree and determining where he ultimately wanted to establish a long-term career. This led to Erik returning to Colorado, where he received his undergraduate degrees from CU Boulder in Physics, Math, and Philosophy, to take up a senior analytical role at Xcel Energy.

The migration was more reflective of Erik’s penchant for cities with under 5 million people and daily commutes less than 3 hours than dissatisfaction with the industries or work. It was a lifestyle commitment to Colorado. At Xcel, Erik did advanced price modeling for large-business customers within their Marketing & Pricing department. When Erik began his evening MBA in Finance at the University of Denver in 2003 he simultaneously transitioned to a finance manager role within Qwest’s Business Markets Sales Group. In this capacity he was responsible for a range of reporting, compensation, pricing, and strategic decisions for the company, managing a team of analysts and assistants spread throughout the country, reporting directly to the VP and Sr. Director.

An opportunity arose to manage reporting functions at Nextel’s Treasury, Credit and Collections facilities, located locally in DTC. Shortly thereafter, Sprint apparently learned of Erik’s transition to manage reporting and special projects and, within months, announced plans to merge with Nextel. In having superior reporting capabilities and having successfully executed several billion dollar transactions, from securitizing receivables to auctioning delinquent accounts, the Nextel team was able to retain Treasury, Credit and Collections functions for the post-merger, Sprint-Nextel department.

After completing his MBA program, and much to Sprint’s chagrin, Erik took the financial reins of two private, locally-owned companies. The first was a 2-year-old startup, online music download store and the other a decade-old advertising agency. Both were experiencing a variety of operational and financial growing pains. A significant amount of work was done building HR, accounting and finance teams, stabilizing the distinct financial difficulties, establishing formal HR functions, and restructuring operational capabilities of both companies. The upshot of these efforts was that during Erik’s 2+ year tenure, each company grew from roughly $4M firms to $30M+, tripling staff and securing premier brands and partnerships for both companies within their industries.

It was Erik’s desire to be able to work with his father to recognize a mutual dream of establishing a boutique consulting firm focused on helping a select group of high-potential, locally-owned, mid-market companies overcome financial obstacles. The culmination of that effort is Colorado CFO Group.