Bill Light
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Management Consulting Expert
New York, NY, United States
Toptal member since May 16, 2019
Bill has evaluated and sourced long and short investments at Lakewood Capital (hedge fund with $5 billion under management) and Harvard Management Company (endowment with $35 billion under management). Prior to his investing career, he advised on M&A transactions at Evercore Partners. As a freelancer, he enjoys working with both investors and entrepreneurs across a wide spectrum of industries in public and private markets.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Software Expertise
- Bloomberg
- Microsoft Excel
Other Expertise
- Equity Investment
- Financial Forecasting
- Investment Analysis
- Research
- Three-statement Modeling
- Valuation
Work Experience
Director of Research
Red Apple Group
- Managed the investment portfolio of a multi-billion-dollar family office, reporting directly to the principal and CIO.
- Led the investment process from start to finish, from idea generation, industry and company diligence, detailed financial analysis, and entry and exit decision-making based on risk-reward assessment.
- Handled a private equity style deep-dive diligence process focused on mapping the value chain, understanding industry supply and demand drivers, multi-year shifts within industries, and barriers to competitive entry that drive pricing power.
Investor
Lakewood Capital
- Analyzed and sourced long and short investments at a hedge fund with $5 billion under management.
- Combined a detailed financial analysis with in-depth fundamental research on the competitive landscape and secular headwinds and tailwinds across many industries including consumer, technology, healthcare, and industrials.
- Prepared concise investment memorandums (PowerPoint, Word, and verbal) detailing investment recommendations and key points of differentiation from what is implied by market prices.
- Built hundreds of complex financial models based on all available public data to forecast earnings power and cash flow generation and sensitized valuation implications across multiple scenarios.
- Led discussions with C-level executives at public companies as well as private competitors, customers, and suppliers.
Investor
Harvard Management Company
- Evaluated primary investments at Harvard's $35 billion endowment.
- Conducted in-depth industry diligence including historical case studies of key drivers of inflection points in a business's fundamental performance over time.
- Consolidated research findings into a decision recommendation presentation that summarized how research on business-specific drivers and competitive dynamics translate into revenue growth, cash flow generation, returns on invested capital, and ultimately fundamental value creation.
- Built and maintained 3-statement models for all holdings to quantify differentiation compared to consensus and frame range of potential outcomes.
Analyst, Mergers and Acquisitions
Evercore Partners
- Built dynamic models to analyze accretion/dilution, IRR, pro forma de-leveraging, and value creation based on differing financial goals and limitations of targets and acquirers for proposed transactions.
- Analyzed industry trends to support valuation assumptions and evaluate proposed transaction structures.
- Ranked in the top tier of the analyst class.
Education
Master's Degree in Finance
University of Florida - Gainesville, FL, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Finance
University of Florida - Gainesville, FL, USA
Skills
Finance
Financial Modeling, Forecasting, Equity Research, Three-statement Modeling, Valuation, P&L Forecasting, Investment Thesis, Investment Briefs, Investment Return Scenario Analysis, Debt Analysis, Market Research, Equity Research Analysis, Data Analysis, Private Equity, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Fundraising, Investment Memoranda, Finance Strategy, DCF Valuation, Leveraged Buyout Modeling
Output Software
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint
Data & Analysis Software
Financial Data, Bloomberg, Capital IQ
Industry Expertise
Real Estate Modeling, Consumer Products, Technology, Industrials, Healthcare, Semiconductors
Geographic Expertise
United States
Other
Financial Forecasting, Excel Modeling, Investment Research, Equity Investment, Investment Ideas, Investment Analysis, Research, Research Reports, Investor Relations Consultant, M&A Valuation (DCF), Finance, Business Strategy, Investments, Pitch Decks, Primary Research, Stock Market, Buy-side, Financial Analysis, Cash Flow Analysis, Investment Banking, Quantitative Research, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Portfolio Management, Data Centers, Robotics, Forensic Accounting
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