JOHN J (JAY) STRASS CPA 250 West 103rd Street, Apartment 10D, New York NY 10025 js12ebef0@westpost.net | 917.287.

7247 CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Treasury Duties *Prevented almost $5 million in fraudulent check presentments by implementing co ntrolled disbursement account procedures. *Saved $60k of annual bank fees by replacing lockboxes with in-house check scann ers. *Performed daily cash management for businesses with revenues up to $1 billion. Working Capital Loans *Reduced interest expense by substituting LIBOR pools in place of advances at pr ime rate. *Increased qualified A/R 15% and maximized loan advances by negotiating days out standing from due date instead of invoice date. Equipment Loans *Successfully negotiated two $20 million ABL equipment lines. *Recovered over $900k of accretion by renegotiating loan terms. *Executed a five year $10 million loan swap with favorable results. Casualty Insurance *Saved over $1.2 million in claims payouts by successfully fighting frivolous li ability lawsuits. *Rented an insurance captive to reduce premiums and broker fees. *Coordinated claims settlements with third-party administrators, carriers and at torneys. Group Insurance *Saved $3 million over three years implementing an innovative self-insured group health plan. Business Intelligence *Increased annual sales $9.8 million (35%) in one year by redesigning sales terr itories; and, improving sales and production plan procedures. *Taught staff and coworkers higher-level Excel skills to increase accuracy and s ave time. Contracts and Negotiations *Skilled at negotiating contracts; and, managing business relationships in accor dance with contract provisions. *Saved $250k abrogating a multi-year services contract. *Drafted and implemented business credit agreement to improve customer collectio ns. Vendor Relations *Won key vendor's approval to sell its products at three new dealership location s. Vendor approval was required under the terms of an exclusive territory agreem ent.

Business Sale Transactions *Coordinated all due diligence efforts for five business acquisitions and six bu siness sales. *Reviewed business sales agreements; prepared supporting schedules; and, settled holdbacks. Accounting & Auditing *Created new process standardizing accounting procedures improving accuracy and reducing monthly close cycle. *Implemented interim audit work reducing time needed to publish annual reports. *Designed budget templates; and, presented annual budgets to senior management a nd board. Capital Spending and Fixed Assets *Member of management team responsible for approving $30-$35 million of annual c apital expenditures. *Supervised accounting for capital spending projects and fixed assets. *Negotiated real estate leases including purchase options. *Retained environmental engineers to identify and remediate environmental contam ination. PERSONAL INFORMATION Experience *Sixteen years CFO or VP Finance with businesses having annual sales from $15 mi llion to $200 million. *Five years Manager of Accounting with a publicly traded company having annual s ales over $1 billion. *Six years public accounting with a national firm. Certification *State of New York CPA Certificate 104295-1 issued 2010. *State of Texas CPA Certificate 024825 from 1981 through 2010. Education *University of Notre Dame, BBA in Accounting 1978 WHAT THEY SAY Chris Latimer VP & GM Adobe Equipment Holdings Ltd. "As a finance and accounting specialist John has the rare knack of understanding the operational side of business, the "nuts-and-bolts", rank and file things th at people do to provide, promote, maintain and grow their business. As a "sales" guy myself I find these qualities especially refreshing and helpful. Treasury m anagement is an especially strong suit for John. We never had a hitch in our man agement of several million dollars of inventories. He develops strong relationsh ips with lenders and adeptly maintains credit facilities. If you have an excel q uestion...ask John! Strong skills, good guy, success-driven and not scared to of fer new ideas."

Richard Garcia CPA Associate Cott Beverages "John Strass has superior technical skills and a keen mind. His proven results i n solving complex company problems has saved his employer both significant time and money. John's effective approach to the management of staff returns consiste ntly high performance to accomplish corporate goals. I would recommend him in a heartbeat to my most important clients. Joe Zanca Reg. Sales Mgr. GE Cap. Solutions This letter is my personal recommendation for John Strass. As Regional Sales Man ager for GE Capital Solutions I had the pleasure of working with John when he wa s with Adobe Equipment Holdings, Ltd as VP Finance & Treasurer. John was a true professional in representing his company and a pleasure to work with. He handled all of our business relationship issues with dedication and a smile. **John is a take-charge person who is always trying to improve processes and has the abili ty to communicate the benefits of these improved processes. During our business relationship he developed several financing programs that were creative. His pre sentations were thorough and precise. As a result our unit changed the way we va lued certain assets that we were financing for his company. Though his main conc ern was protecting his company's position, John was very fair in dealing with GE . **I highly recommend John for employment. He is a team player and would make a great asset to any organization. Stephen Deaton SVP Corp. Lending First TN Bank "John is a detailed financial professional that provided accurate and insightful Reports and detail to our Bank. He allowed the Bank to expand our relationship because the information was detailed; accurate; insightful and timely."

Accomplished Executive with expertise directing finance operations to achieve co rporate goals. Skilled at identifying and capturing opportunities realizing str ong and sustainable revenue growth with success defining strategic direction and executing business plans to surpass expectations. Proven ability leading proce ss improvement programs to streamline operations, reduce costs, improve efficien cy, and impact the bottom-line. Well-versed and hands-on financial management, a ccounting, and analysis capabilities. Highly proficient at building strong rela tionships with internal and external business partners. A respected leader and solution provider; dedicated to surpassing objectives. LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-jay-strass/11/811/999 CORE COMPETENCIES * Financial Management * Accounting & Budgeting * Strategic Planning * Regulatory Compliance * Process Improvement * Due Diligence * Staff Leadership & Development * Business Development * Relationship Building * Business Intelligence * Treasury Management * Self-Insurance PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE RELOCATION TO NEW YORK CITY 2010 ADOBE EQUIPMENT HOLDINGS, San Antonio, Texas ($200 Million Annual Revenues) 2003

- 2009 Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer Oversaw and directed all financial operations for an entity owning material hand ling equipment, medium duty truck and trailer dealerships operating in Texas, Co lorado, and Georgia that grew from $56 million to $200 million in revenues. *Prepared loan proposals that resulted in $40 million in equipment loans at GE C ommercial Distribution Finance and GE Capital Solutions; negotiated equipment va lue methodology, equipment loan lives, and loan accretion rates. *Responsible for daily cash management and working capital line of credit for a capital intensive business. Prepared monthly borrowing base reports. *Drove business development by assessing historical sales, UCC-1, and Dunn & Bra dstreet data to identify growth opportunities at individual dealerships. Designe d PowerPoint materials to support dealership marketing efforts and customer-spec ific presentations. *Reviewed A/R's with dealership controllers to minimize credit risk, improve cas h-to-cash cycle, and reduce non-qualified assets for working capital loan purpos es. *Teamed with third party administrators and insurance carriers to approve insura nce claims and settlements; collaborated with an insurance captive to write flee t, general liability, and workers compensation insurance. *Directed due diligence to support the acquisition of truck and trailer dealersh ips; and, the sale of branches and dealerships. Key Accomplishments: *Successfully fought two frivolous liability cases resulting in a $1+ million re duction in paid liability insurance claims. *Generated $1+ million in annual savings by replacing an ineffective administrat ive service only medical plan with a fixed benefit program that eliminated indiv idual and aggregate stop loss policies. *Cultivated external business alliances with bankers, equipment lenders and key vendors to support business objectives. *Negotiated a $10 million multi-year loan swap with a key lender to minimize int erest expense. *Increased annual sales revenues by using historical sales data to redesign serv ice territories and identify new dealership branch locations. COTT BEVERAGES, INC., San Antonio, Texas ($1 Billion+ Annual Revenues) 1998 - 2003 Manager of Accounting *Oversaw and managed a five member financial accounting group responsible for th e balance sheet, customer accounting, SG&A expense, fixed asset accounting, and capital spending. *Provided accounting support to plant controllers, the business service center a nd vending machine operations. *Managed U.S. treasury operations at the direction of the Corporate Treasurer lo cated in Toronto. Responsible for daily cash management reporting for U.S. opera tions. Primary signatory for U.S. A/P checks. Initiated wire transfers in coordi nation with the Treasurer. *Served as primary point-of-contact for interim and year-end audit documentation . *Developed insurance valuation schedules for the U.S. operations on behalf of th e Corporate Risk Manager. Key Accomplishments: *Standardized account reconciliation and review procedures that improved the acc uracy of financial records and reduced monthly accounting close cycles. *Supported the implementation of interim audit fieldwork for the annual audit wh

ich allowed audit reports to be issued on a timelier basis. *Streamlined the bank account structure for US operations. Instituted controlled disbursement account procedures that prevented over $4 million in fraudulent ch eck presentations. *Converted a spreadsheet-based fixed asset accounting system for 15,000 vending machines to dedicated fixed asset accounting software. *Designated as the Microsoft Excel resource for the IT Helpdesk. Taught staff an d coworkers to use higher-level Excel functions to save time and improve the acc uracy of their work. COLOR SPOT NURSERIES, INC., San Antonio, Texas 1997 - 1998 Controller Texas Division Color Spot Nurseries is a California-based wholesale nursery. It expanded into t he Texas market through the acquisition of Lone Star Growers and three smaller n urseries. *Coordinated all due diligence for the purchase of Lone Star Growers by Color Sp ot Nurseries. *Worked with the private equity firm of Kohlberg & Company to acquire three addi tional nurseries in Texas for Color Spot Nurseries. *Regional controller for all Texas operations. LONE STAR GROWERS LP, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS ($38 Million Annual Revenues) 1994-1997 Hired to Replace Retiring CFO Lone Star Growers LP was a wholesale containerized nursery that sold product thr oughout thirteen states located in the Southwest and Midwest. *Hired to replace the existing CFO who was approaching retirement age. Overlap w as planned in order to learn accounting for this specialized industry. *Reviewed customer and product sales history from AS-400 databases to help learn the business. *Worked with VP of Sales to redesign sales territories using sales history and A rcview GIS software. Made presentation to affected salespersons to gain acceptan ce of the plan. *Used product history to help develop sales and production plans; and, for produ ct rationalization purposes. Moderated seasonal planning sessions attended by pr oduction and sales personnel. Key Accomplishments: *Realized a sales revenue increase of 35+% by realigning sales territories and i mproving production planning. *Coordinated all due diligence for the sale of Lone Star Growers LP to Color Spo t Nurseries Inc. The sale closed in less than 35 days from execution of the lett er of intent. EARLY CAREER HISTORY Materials Marketing Corporation (CFO) *Architectural stone and tile fabrication. *Retail tile and stone sales. Steves & Sons, Inc. (CFO) 1988 - 1992 *Family owned business. Father and two sons active in business management. *Interior door and metal door manufacturer with production facilities in Texas, Tennessee and Virginia. *Principal customers were national and regional home improvement chains. 1992-1994

Tex-Net, Inc. (CFO) 1986 - 1988 *Long distance telecommunications reseller. Victoria Service Corporation (Tax Manager) *Real estate joint ventures. *Client of Ernst & Whinney. 1984 - 1986

Ernst & Whinney (Tax Manager) 1979 - 1984 *Big Eight Public Accounting Firm. *Tax and accounting services for various clients including trusts and estates an d private foundations. *Litigation support services. Hertz Corporation (Internal Auditor) 1978 - 1979 *Conducted internal audits at car, truck and equipment rental locations througho ut the US and Canada. *Left Hertz to get married in San Antonio. For more information, please refer to my profile page on LinkedIn.com at the fol lowing address: LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-jay-strass/11/811/999 EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME, Notre Dame Indiana 1974-1978 Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Accounting LICENSING Certified Public Accountant, State of Texas - Certificate #024825 (1981-2010) Certified Public Accountant, State of New York - License #104295-1(effective 201 0)