Dan Rao
drao@prolman.com
A senior executive with over 20 years of management, marketing and operational experience, Dan brings a wealth of expertise in retail environments.  His recent successes include returning Chadwick's of Boston back to profitability by increasing sales by $200M and annual profits by $50M.  He established and developed a distribution network for TJ Maxx that consisted of 2.5 millions sq. ft. of real estate and supported $3B in revenues.  At WHY.com, Dan cut expenses by 30% through the outsourcing of key services.  He has directed strategic & tactical financial planning and expense control and possesses the ability to successfully manage small teams and large organizations (over 2500 employees).

Robert K.  Lindberg
boblindberg@prolman.com
With more than 25 years of management experience, Bob has extensive background in specialty stores and Federated Dept. Stores in the areas of merchandise management, store brand product development, operations management and building customer satisfaction, as well as labor force management within and outside of collective bargaining agreements.  During his time as Vice President and General Merchandising Manager of Pacific Sunwear, Bob was responsible for the development and implementation of the merchandising and operational strategies which culminated in the national rollout and subsequent initial public offering.

John Voisinet
jvoisinet@prolman.com
John's 25 plus years of expertise lies in proven leadership roles from the areas of retail merchandising, operations, licensing, manufacturing, joint ventures, distribution agreements and business finance.  John is experienced in working with medium size to major national corporations in business creation, internal restructuring, strategic planning, product launch and brand development.  Significant successes include creating and directing Federated Department Stores' nationwide buying group that resulted in improved profit margins for both group members and vendors.

William H. Pavony
bpavony@prolman.com
A senior executive with more than 35 years of financial management experience, Bill has served a number of retail chains as both a CFO as well as an independent consultant.  He began his career with 10 years consulting at Accenture.  Bill has held responsibility for direction of the controllership, treasury, tax, retail credit, information systems, insurance and risk management, human resources, warehousing and distribution, real estate and legal functions at various times at five different, publicly and privately held companies.  Four retail chains Bill has served as CFO includes, Zales (jewelry), Alexanders Department Stores, Color Tile (flooring) and The Kobacker Company (retail shoes).  As a CFO he has accomplished over $400M in financings, had primary responsibility for numerous SEC filings, and modernized and upgraded the financial systems in each of those companies.  Bill’s consulting projects at clients such as Finlay Jewelers, Baker Shoe, Sport Chalet, Liverpool Department Stores, JCPenney Direct, and Wards have ranged from development of strategic systems plans, to RFP preparation and ERP software selection and installation, and also have included executive management metrics identification and reporting.

John H. Wilson
jwilson@prolman.com
John Wilson has been providing financial and operational expertise to embattled retail companies for close to 30 years. He has been instrumental in providing debt financing, technology solutions, and corporate revitalization to turn around troubled businesses.  Having served as CFO, Senior Consultant, Director of Financial Accounting, Controller and Internal Audit Manager, Wilson has the ability and experience to analyze and identify problems.  He then allocates the resources to produce the desired results. Wilson’s tenure at Carter Hawley Hale Stores, Inc. included working through the consolidation of five division audit staffs into one corporate staff. His downsizing experience included the consolidation of The Emporium and Capwell's into a $430 million division that saved $1.2 million dollars over an 18 month period.  Wilson supervised the financial and operational audits of retail divisions and designed and executed the overall annual audit plans for the corporation. Wilson received an MBA from Woodbury University in Los Angeles.  He is a Certified Public Accountant and engages in periodic contract teaching at University of Phoenix, University of Redlands and Everest College.

Bette K. Hiramatsu
bhiramatsu@prolman.com
Bringing over 15 years of experience in consulting for underperforming and troubled companies, Bette Hiramatsu has repeatedly demonstrated a proven track record of outstanding results for her clients.  Her work turning around her client’s businesses has resulted in companies with positive cash flows achieved through creative problem solving, planning and forecasting, and improved financial management.  Additional areas of expertise include the restructuring of unsecured debt and the re-negotiation of leases.  Bette has extensive experience in the areas of forecasting, current asset management, process improvements, and lease and debt management.  Examples of her work include Crazy Shirts, Inc., a resort-oriented apparel retail chain where Bette re-negotiated over two dozen retail leases yielding a net savings 2 million dollars over the remaining life of those leases; the project also included the restructuring of the unsecured debt to meet projected cash flows; closing underperforming stores; reducing SG&A to practicable levels; liquidating excess inventory; substantially rescheduling inventory purchases; restructuring vendor relationships; identifying non core assets to be sold; and eliminating trade related lawsuits through out-of-court negotiation, not only preserving her client’s cash flow, but avoiding the public notice of lengthy litigation. Bette is a graduate  of the Executive MBA program of the University of California at Los Angeles and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

George Troy
gtroy@prolman.com
With more than 25 years of management experience, Troy has extensive experience in the areas of merchandise management, store brand product development, operations management and building customer satisfaction, as well as labor force management within and outside of collective bargaining agreements.  He has worked with leading retailers such as Williams-Sonoma Pottery Barn Division, The Emporium, The Broadway, and Mervyns.

As the Vice President of the Outlet Division of Williams-Sonoma, Troy directed the development and execution of the business concept including store design and the merchandise matrix, while growing the operation from only $6 million to $100 million and increasing its contribution from a negative 2% to a positive 18%. 

The Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Outlet Division produced approximately 60% of its volume, or $60 million from the Pottery Barn Division. Troy was responsible for the store management, merchandising, inventory control, and marketing for this highly successful division. He opened eight Pottery Barn furniture outlets ranging is size from 15,000 to 35,000 square feet. The 4-wall contribution was consistently in the 25% to 30% range. 

With The Emporium, Troy’s responsibilities included Home Store Manager for the San Francisco Store , where his sales team consistently led the company’s sales trend by over 10% per annum.  Earlier in his Emporium career Troy was also the soft goods buyer for several different departments. 

Troy has also held the positions with Mervyn’s of Manager of Merchandise Operations and Manager of Micromarketing Merchandising.  From this experience, he solidified his skills in leadership, team building and cross-functional communication as key drivers to success.  Additionally, while with Mervyn’s Troy resolved issues related to purchase order management, location characteristics management.  He developed management Information systems, business processes, and employee training programs.

In 1992, as a Consultant to The Broadway, Troy coordinated the consolidation of three department store chains’ advertising calendars, financial plans and merchandise allocation for men’s apparel.

As the Vice President, General Merchandise Manager for Any Mountain Sports, Troy directed all  merchandising and marketing functions for this high end outdoor retailer.  While at Any Mountain Sports, the company experienced the growth of off season revenue of up to 34% of annual volume, the buying, marketing and store reporting structures were reorganized, and the MIS hierarchy was restructure d to reflect a customer driven business.