
James Yang
Verified Expert in Finance
FP&A Expert
Los Angeles, CA, United States
Toptal member since September 16, 2016
James is an executive with financial, strategic, and operational experience in emerging growth and Fortune 500 companies. He has a proven track record of creating value and establishing market-leading positions. With expertise in FP&A, strategy, M&A, and financial reporting, he effectively communicates with investors and boards. His early career in investment banking and investment management enhances his strategic perspective. James holds an MBA from Chicago Booth and is a CFA Charterholder.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
Expertise
- Budgeting
- Cash Management
- CFO
- Financial Modeling
- Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
- Forecasting
- Fractional CFO
- Price Analysis
Work Experience
Fractional CFO
Various
- Spearheaded pricing, strategic finance, and FP&A initiatives, driving financial and operational plans that resulted in a 50% annual revenue increase, a 200% growth in contribution margin, and a 400% rise in EBITDA.
- Developed and maintained financial and operating models, improving forecasting accuracy by 30%.
- Achieved a 25% reduction in operating expenses by negotiating vendor contracts and streamlining internal processes.
CFO of Southern California
AT&T
- Led Southern California’s financial and accounting operations, including budgeting, strategic and operational planning, forecasting, strategic projects, and monthly financial review process.
- Managed a portfolio of around 5 million postpaid, 1 million prepaid, 2 million video, and 2 million broadband subscribers.
- Oversaw 320+ stores in Southern California, generating over $3.6 billion in annual wireless service revenue and $2B+ in EBITDA.
- Established competitive quotas and efficiently staffed 1,500+ FTE’s across AT&T stores to reduce wait times and increase productivity per resource from 45 to 55.
- Increased EBITDA by $175 million and EBITDA margins from 53% to 57% through retail distribution optimization efforts.
- Drove Share of Gross Adds (SOGA) to 1st place, growing market share and achieving positive port ratios to competitors.
- Performed rigorous analysis of network spend ($700+ million per annum) to generate the highest return on invested capital.
Strategic Finance Business Partner
Capital Group
- Created optimal pricing and cost models for American Funds Service Company, affecting millions of accounts responsible for generating hundreds of millions in annual revenue while minimizing impact to thousands of FTEs and fund expense ratios.
- Built a robust, complex model that runs scenario analysis for Project Falcon, a $100+ million company-wide fixed income project involving hundreds of people across IT and investment operations, saving the project team 400+ hours.
- Conducted an in-depth pricing strategy analysis for retirement plan services and implemented a comprehensive pricing change to increase the contribution margin by double digits within two years.
- Completed an in-depth cost study across five legal entities for strategic sourcing and procurement that is responsible for managing and influencing over $1 billion in annual 3rd-party spend across Capital Group.
- Implemented a new global policy for identifying at-risk vendors and managed a team of five analysts to oversee all the financial assessments conducted by Global Finance (around 3 - 5 per month).
Head of FP&A
Spark Networks
- Spearheaded FP&A efforts at a global public company, owner and operator of ChristianMingle and JDate.
- Served as a strategic business partner to the CEO, CFO, and CMO to drive organic and acquisition growth and improve LTV, SAC, conversion rates, and retention rates.
- Developed a rolling forecast model that enabled the executive team to better adapt to market changes, resulting in a 15% increase in revenue growth YoY.
- Led the development of the company’s 2016 annual plan, supporting business leaders with analytics and insight to help define financial operating priorities.
- Built a five-year lender model and secured a new, more favorable $10 million credit facility than with the prior lender.
- Conducted due diligence and provided financial modeling and analysis for new initiatives and acquisitions. Acquired Smooch Labs, owner of JSwipe, for $7 million and successfully integrated the company’s financials.
- Re-engineered company-wide planning processes to significantly improve forecasting accuracy and accountability.
Senior Associate
Duff & Phelps, LLC
- Developed and communicated complex financial analysis through fairness opinions, solvency opinions, and other valuations to guide decision makers in corporate finance transactions.
- Created presentations summarizing the analysis and conclusions supporting the opinion being provided to the client.
- Performed company, industry, market, and competitor research and due diligence.
- Mentored, managed, and developed staff, including analysts and associates.
Investment Associate
Sirius Partners, L.P.
- Supported the CIO and founder by analyzing equity and credit investments across sectors with a small to mid-cap and special situations emphasis.
- Created financial models and evaluated companies based on asset quality, normalized earnings, and free cash flow generation informed through proprietary industry research and frequent management interactions.
- Recommended and monitored portfolio positions that included CPG companies, REITs, pharmaceutical companies, payment service providers, etc., to senior partners on a weekly basis, resulting in a 61% return in 2013.
- Conducted industry and company competitive analysis and extensive third-party research with suppliers, customers, and competitors to identify attractive investment opportunities across assets globally.
- Developed and maintained new and existing analytical tools used for performance and portfolio analysis.
Education
MBA in Finance, Accounting, and Economics
University of Chicago Booth School of Business - Chicago, IL
BBA in Finance
Emory University - Atlanta, GA
Certifications
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
CFA Institute
Skills
Finance
Budgeting, Forecasting, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Three-statement Modeling, Price Analysis, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), Cost Reduction & Optimization (Cost-down), Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Equity Research, Market Research, Valuation, Financial Modeling, Data Analysis, CFO, Accounting, Cash Management, Project Finance, Revenue & Expense Projections, Fundraising, ROI, Pricing, Profit & Loss (P&L), Cash Flow Modeling, Operating Expenses (OPEX), Capital Raising, Working Capital Management, Debt Raises, Fund Management, Private Equity, Controller, Trade Finance, Transaction Structuring, Credit Investing, Credit Analysis, Lifetime Value (LTV), Financial Reporting, Blockchain
Output Software
Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel
Industry Expertise
Telecommunications, Financial Services, Technology, Apparel & Accessories, Retail & Wholesale, Education Technology (Edtech)
Geographic Expertise
United States
Data & Analysis Software
QuickBooks Online, Tableau
Other
Strategy, Communication, Media, Digital Media, Business Planning, Finance, eCommerce, Business Services, Virtual CFO, Fractional CFO, Interim CFO, Business Strategy, Financial Analysis, Pricing Models, Pricing Plans, Direct to Consumer (D2C), Investments, Cash Flow Analysis, P&L Analysis, Microsoft Excel, Startups, Financial Forecasting, Expense Management, Budget Management, Financial Operations & Processes, Excel Expert, Investment Capital Raising, Business Models, Consolidated Reporting, Fintech, Data Centers, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Procurement, COO, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Fund Accounting & Administration, Energy Storage, Fundraising Strategy, Asana, Equity Investment, Small Caps, Distressed/Special Situations, Stock Analysis, Operations, Teams, Zoom, Slack, Startup Consulting, Enterprise Startups, Modeling, Sales Forecasting, Rolling Forecasts, EBITDA, Advisory
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