Zerrick is available for hire
Hire ZerrickZerrick Bynum
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Location
Charlotte, NC, United States
Toptal Member Since
March 28, 2017
Zerrick majored in electrical engineering at Stanford (later gaining a Harvard MBA), but his professional career has been in business—primarily in finance/business development at high-growth companies. He enjoys freelancing as it exposes him to a breadth of companies and industries to which he can add value and from which he can learn. He works best as a strategic CFO—managing the cash flow, fund raising, and providing mission-critical analyses.
Career Highlights
CFO
RolloverSystems, LLC (renamed Retirement Clearinghouse)
Founding Principal
Charlotte Franchise Partners
Investment Banking Associate
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (Acquired by Credit Suisse)
Education Highlights
Certified MBA (CMBA)
Harvard Business School
Bachelor's Degree
Stanford University (President's Award for Academic Excellence Winner — Given to the Top 40 Students in the Freshman Class)
Participated
Semester at Sea
Case Studies
Expertise
Work Experience
Founder | CEO
2011 - PRESENT
Viddles, LLC DBA ShopOff
- Led the direct product development at this startup consumer internet company (www.ShopOffApp.com).
- Worked closely with design team, the back-end Ruby developer, and front-end React developer to design, develop, test, and refine ShopOff; including releasing the apps in the iOS App Store and Google Play Store.
- Worked closely with marketing and design colleagues to execute branding strategy—resulting in creating the ShopOff name, logo, tagline, and color scheme.
- Raised $500,000 in seed-financing from friends, family, and an institutional investor.
Focus areas: Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Financial Modeling, Investor Relations, Market Research, Angel/Seed Funding
CFO
2006 - 2011
RolloverSystems, LLC (renamed Retirement Clearinghouse)
- Worked closely with the CEO and board of directors in directing the finance functions at this “high-touch,” high-tech financial services company serving retirement plan participants. It worked with more than 7,000 retirement plan clients containing more than 850,000 401k and 403b participants and processed $1 billion in participant transactions annually. The company’s high-growth phase resulted in it nearly doubling its workforce to 60 people in 18 months. Specific accomplishments follow.
- Conducted risk management by analyzing the company’s risk profile, ensured regulatory compliance and mitigated financial liability by implementing process reforms and a comprehensive insurance program at the corporate parent and the wholly-owned broker-dealer and transfer agency subsidiaries.
- Spearheaded financial control by hiring a controller, then implementing and supervising a monthly closing process. Also initiated regular annual financial and FINRA audits. (Neither monthly closes nor annual audits were performed previously.).
- Managed the cash flow by created detailed weekly, monthly, and yearly cash flow projections for the senior management discussions internally and for the regular board-of-directors meetings; also signed the checks to the vendors.
- Created a dashboard for distributing key financial and operating metrics for internal consumption and regular board meetings.
- Supervised the legal drafting, closing, and funding of multiple private equity financing rounds exceeding $10 million in aggregate.
- Co-led technology projects related to selecting and onboarding an enterprise data hosting provider and determining reporting requirements for a consumer financial transactions platform.
- Maintained banking relationships and external legal counsel relationships prior to hiring an internal general counsel. Co-maintained insurance relationships with the HR director and the general counsel. Served as the primary investor relations contact which included communicating with individual investors, a large family office, and several institutional investment companies.
- Led the fold-in acquisition, via an Article IX sale, of a retirement industry technology platform company.
- Managed RolloverSystems’ conversion from a C corporation to a limited liability company (LLC).
- Managed the migration from QuickBooks to the Great Plains Dynamics accounting software package.
- Assisted in negotiating the IRA, mutual fund, and money-market fund seller agreements.
Focus areas: Working Capital Management, Valuation, Financial Modeling, Fundraising, Capital Structure Analysis, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Board Presentations, Board of Directors, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Founding Principal
2003 - 2006
Charlotte Franchise Partners
- Started a company search firm to acquire, operate, and grow a small, multi-location operating company ($3 - $5 million enterprise value). Primary responsibilities included sourcing acquisition opportunities, conducting company and industry due diligence—arranging and structuring, financing, and supervising legal and tax advisors.
- Successfully negotiated and executed several letters of intent (LOI), including LOIs to purchase a niche home medical equipment company and a leading niche, consumer financial services company operating as an orphaned division of a NYSE-traded company.
- Provided operations improvement and growth strategy consulting services to a small behavioral healthcare company. Specifically researched and advised on implementing a new accounting and billing system to improve cash flow management and internal controls, and to bring the company into compliance with its bank debt. Supervised and coordinated the functional team to set, measure, and ensure an achievement of the defined metrics.
Focus areas: Fundraising, Valuation, Financial Modeling, Private Equity, Capital Structure Analysis, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Market Research, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
Co-Founder | President
2000 - 2002
SAVA Systems
- Co-founded SAVA—a developer, marketer, and licensor of digital video technologies.
- Developed and executed a business plan. Managed the cash flow and maintained a strategic marketing focus.
- Conducted business intelligence and research on existing and emerging market trends and technologies.
- Handled the enterprise sales efforts which resulted in licensing technology to a leading Japanese industrial company and a Pennsylvania-based media systems integrator in the first year.
- Co-drafted and filed 2 patents. Negotiated the technology assignment and development agreement, the option agreement, the convertible note, and the security agreements in that technology asset purchase.
Focus areas: Business Planning, Business Intelligence (BI), Market Opportunity Analysis, Market Research, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Investment Banking Associate
1997 - 1999
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (Acquired by Credit Suisse)
- Modeled the restructuring proposals, performed debt and equity returns analysis, and negotiated with bondholders. Drafted private placement preferred stock offering memorandum for a $50 million de-inked pulp mill.
- Structured lead high-yield and equity underwriting transactions. Clients included a $80 million international automotive parts repair chain, a $200+ million stock image distributor, and a $100 million satellite launch company.
- Prepared bids through a second round to acquire a $100 million Tier-II defense contractor. Conducted market and financial due diligence, assessed the management, and provided financial analyses and investment memos.
Focus areas: Valuation, Financial Modeling, Fundraising, Private Equity, Debt Raises, Capital Raising, Restructuring
Investment Banking Analyst
1993 - 1995
Bowles Hollowell Conner (Acquired by First Union; now part of Wells Fargo)
- Served as a generalist at the preeminent investment bank specializing in providing structured finance and mergers and acquisitions advisory services to middle market companies ($20 to $500 million annual sales). Worked closely with client CEOs and CFOs.
- Created financial models and subsequent analyses of the following: comparisons to publicly held companies, recently completed mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and discounted cash flows.
- Performed due diligence, conducted industry and competitive research, and drafted select portions of confidential information memoranda.
- Produced management presentations, conducted on-site visits, and advised clients during final purchase and sale agreement negotiations.
Focus areas: Debt Financing, Capital Structure Analysis, Executive Presentations, Valuation, Financial Modeling, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
Education
1995 - 1997
Certified MBA (CMBA) in Business Administration
Harvard Business School - Boston, MA, USA
1988 - 1992
Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering
Stanford University (President's Award for Academic Excellence Winner — Given to the Top 40 Students in the Freshman Class) - Palo Alto, CA, USA
1990 - 1990
Participated in A study abroad (General Studies)
Semester at Sea - The World