Jason McClain
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Birmingham, AL, United States
Toptal member since March 2, 2021
A Wharton MBA and former CFO, Jason has executed over $3 billion in transactions as a Goldman Sachs and boutique investment banker. He joined Toptal because of the variety of challenging finance and accounting projects. He has worked with Fortune 500, middle-market, early-stage, and non-profit organizations across a wide range of industries. Previously, Jason was a Marine Corps aviator operating the F/A-18 fighter aircraft and holding a Top Secret security clearance.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Case Studies
Expertise
Work Experience
Founder and Principal
Fox One Solutions
- Created the expected return and risk distributions for an $80 million venture capital portfolio leading to the client being awarded a long-term advisory contract by a company with $27 billion in assets.
- Built a customized financial model overnight for an international client’s acquisition of oil and gas reserves.
- Advised an eCommerce company on financial forecasting in support of a $7.5 million series A financing.
- Provided a commercial real estate valuation consultation that resulted in the client receiving a $1.0 million higher purchase offer.
- Performed statistical data analyses of multiple surveys that enabled a chamber of commerce to determine member engagement factors.
CFO
YWCA Central Alabama
- Supervised the accounting and finance functions for the sole YWCA in Alabama with ten departments, 30 real estate properties, a $9 million budget, and over 120 employees serving more than 15,000 women and children annually.
- Established a detailed system for managing the organization’s more than 30 government grant awards each with individual applications, reporting (monthly, quarterly, annual), budgeting, and terms.
- Recognized as a Birmingham Business Journal “Veteran of Influence” for contributions to the community.
- Created a detailed budget using integrated financial modeling that resulted in receipt of more than $5 million in grant funding.
- Leveraged Excel skills to complete a variety of analyses including budgets, variance analysis, forecasting, and trend analysis.
Investment Banker
Arlington Capital Advisors
- Led the analysis and execution for the $335 million take-private acquisition of the Ruby Tuesday chain of 596 restaurants.
- Designed and managed a nine-person firm’s most successful recruiting process ever, resulting in four new hires (a 44% increase in firm size).
- Created and supervised the firm’s first new hire training program, incorporating third-party and in-house instruction.
- Led the firm's successful new industry expansions into healthcare and craft spirits.
- Built a variety of financial models including discounted cash flow (DCF), comparable company, merger consequences, precedent transaction, and accretion/dilution.
- Completed a complex leveraged buyout (LBO) that included a board approach, credit facility negotiations, and real estate sale-leaseback. Analyses included covenant compliance, returns analysis, scenario analysis, and debt capacity.
Investment Banker
Goldman Sachs
- Executed a $500 million company sale to a private equity buyer that created the second largest security monitoring company in the US.
- Completed a $1.1 billion dividend recapitalization for a financial sponso- owned consulting firm.
- Prepared 50 client presentations averaging 40+ pages for CEOs, CFOs, board of directors, and partners that recommended strategic alternatives such as M&A, debt and equity capital markets, IPO, spinoff, share repurchase, and activist defense.
- Supervised 1-3 analysts on 22 projects that integrated cross-department efforts with capital markets, risk, legal, tax, and compliance.
- Built a debt repayment model and coordinated the credit analysis memo for a successful term loan financing.
- Performed a due diligence of company financials that enabled a deal to pass leveraged loan criteria and return $125 million to its owners.
- Served clients across a variety of industries including manufacturing, business services, consumer goods, aerospace and defense, building products, and transportation.
- Built a custom operating model for a new container shipping company including an asset-backed valuation and an IPO.
- Created multiple merger models under a short timeline for a prospective $2.0 billion transaction that would combine the leading consumer goods companies in their industry.
- Participated in Wharton and military Veteran recruiting by selecting candidates for interviews and traveling to numerous events.
Captain, Aviator, Department Head
U.S. Marine Corps
- Operated the F/A-18D Hornet combat tactical jet aircraft on over 300 air-to-air and air-to-ground training missions including 12 months of international operations in Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.
- Led the squadron’s largest division supervising 35 aircraft technicians who maintained 12 aircraft valued at over $360 million.
- Instructed over 1,900 Marine Officers in demanding settings including dynamic training exercises in remote areas under harsh weather conditions while utilizing live explosives and ammunition.
Education
Master's Degree in International Economics and Development
School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University - Washington, DC, USA
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Systems Engineering
U.S. Naval Academy - Annapolis, Maryland, USA
Skills
Finance
Financial Modeling, Valuations, Pro Forma Financial Statements, Integrated Financial Statements, Valuations, DCF Valuation, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Three-statement Modeling, Revenue & Expense Projections, Financial Model Auditing, P&L Forecasting, Transaction Modeling, Valuation Analysis, Five-year Projections, Accounting, M&A, Corporate Finance, Financial Accounting, Profitability Analysis, Financial Benchmarking, Deal Analysis, Ratio Analysis, Return Analysis, Project Finance Consulting, Budgeting Consulting, International Finance, Interim CFOs, Double-entry Bookkeeping, Trial Balance, Leveraged Buyout Modeling, Data Analysis, Financial Reporting
Output Software
Excel Development, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, Google Sheets Development
Data & Analysis Software
Financial Data
Industry Expertise
Financial Services, Financial Markets, Capital Markets, Banking Consulting, Industrials, Restaurants & Dining, Beer & Brewing, Nonprofits
Other
Finance, Leadership, Teamwork, Financial Forecasting, Transaction Comparables, Peer Comparison, Discounted Cash Flow Analysis, Financial Analysis, Team Leadership, Spreadsheets, Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), Management, Financial Presentations, Precedent Transaction Analysis, Revenue Projections, DCF Modeling, PV Analysis, Investment Banking, Finance Reports, Financial Statements, S&P Capital IQ, GAAP, US GAAP Accounting, Leverage Analysis, P&L Analysis, Financial Ratios, Financial Transactions, Transactions, Transaction Advisory, Analysis, Cash Flow Analysis, Accretion/Dilution Analysis, Pro Forma Analysis, Peer Group Analysis, Scenario Analysis, NPV, Trend Analysis, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Outlook, Microsoft 365, Economics, International Development & Economics, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Bookkeeping, Google Finance, Reconciliation, Bank Reconciliation, Dashboard, Budget Modeling, Annual Budgets, Journal Entries, General Ledgers, Financials, Business Analysis Consulting, Accounting Software, Chart of Accounts, Data Science, Statistics
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