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donald mcmichael

donald mcmichael

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Executive Summary

Finance and Strategy professional with experience in media/entertainment and technology industries. Strong ability to leverage expertise in finance, business development, and operations to create, build and re-engineer business models to drive profitable growth. Highly regarded for ability to challenge convention and collaborate with high-level stakeholders to achieve win-win solutions. MBA in Finance/ Duke University; BS Electrical Engineering / University of Virginia

Career Highlights:

Corporate Development (M&A)… sourced and evaluated acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic investment. Tasks included: discount cash flow (NPV) & equity method valuations, coordination of outside support, and negotiation.

  • Designed the 3-way $30 million capitalization structure that ensured creation of the Sundance Channel – a property that grew in value to $496 million (a 16-fold return) 12 years after launch.

Strategy… worked with Presidents/GMs, developed overall strategy for organization; management of strategic initiatives & projects; process and organizational structure & costs; transfer of best practices across the organization.

  • Extracted $54 million of value from an unprofitable, declining business. Recommended, structured, and assisted in negotiating the asset sale/marketing partnership locking in a contractually guaranteed 5-year revenue stream.

Business Development… Sourced incremental revenue and strategic alliance opportunities.

  • Within 1 year, designed and built out a scalable ‘fee-for-service’ business model that generated $1.5 million in fees, solidified strategic partnerships, and generated community support and interest.
  • Created investor marketing package (financial model, business use case, and marketing brief) for New Media Technology that showcased value and eased investor concerns contributing to the closing of their multi-million 2nd funding round.

Financial Management… budgets & long-range financial forecasts – developed detailed proformas and business plans for senior management and Board review.

  • Provided complete financial oversight for a $52 million retail sales unit.

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Donald McMichael
Insights for entrepreneurial leaders that help them answer two fundamental questions "Where should we play?" and "How do we win?".

Why am I passionate about this? Well here’s

My Backstory...

Recent Posts

  • Don’t call it a comeback
  • Drowning in Data, Surviving with Smarts: Why AI Alone Isn’t the Answer
  • Finding the 10% That Matters: A CFO’s Guide to Strategic Data Use
  • Navigating the Ethical Landscape of AI-Driven Process Optimization
  • Boosting Efficiency: The Power of AI Process Optimization

“At the end of the day, finance leaders have to be proper storytellers. You have to be constantly on top of your data and tell the story behind the numbers... The CFO has to be on top of information flow at all times.”

Gerardo Adame, VP Finance at XP Power, and Mark Partin, CFO of BlackLine

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When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps. - Confucius

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