Edward J Fanning, President
Over the past 37 years Ed has been in all aspects of middle market private equity, middle market mergers and acquisitions (both buy-side and sell-side) and middle market corporate finance advisory services having completed over $3.7 billion in transactions. In addition, Ed has hands-on operating experience executing start-ups, turnarounds, corporate transformations as well as building and leading highly successful teams.
Private Equity Investing Experience
As a principal, Ed has acquired 13 companies with an aggregate acquisition value of over $500 million. Prior to Spectrum CXO, Ed was actively involved in private equity investing as a co-founder of FNJ Group and Franklin Street Equity Partners and has a member of the board of directors at CID Broadcasting, Inc., Phoenix Building Solutions and Union Springs Healthcare.
Investment Banking Experience
Over the past 37 years as an investment banker, Ed has completed transactions exceeding $2.0 billion. During that time, he has been actively engaged in the M&A advisory business (both buy-side and sell-side) and the corporate finance advisory business, raising debt and equity capital for middle market companies, including:
2004 – Senior Managing Director/Senior Vice President at Provident Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PFGI), where he led a group of 11 professional and completed over $800 million of transactions in five (5) years.
1997 – Principal at Apex Strategic Advisory Services, where he completed over $250 million in transactions in four (4) years.
1988 – Corporate Finance Associate at PaineWebber Inc. (NYSE: PWGI), where he completed over $1.0 billion in transactions in two (2) years.
Executive Operating Experience
Ed has over 20 years of experience in executive management and board advisory roles in middle market manufacturing and service companies:
2022 – Board Advisor at American Dream Solar and Window Inc., a high-growth sales and installation company in the home improvement industry where he advised ownership through a turnaround and through revenue growth of 90x in five (5) years and implemented accounting and CRM systems, developed and negotiated annual supply agreements, arranged financing for warehouse and fleet acquisitions.
2017 – Managing Director at Union Springs Healthcare and Union Springs LLC where he led the launch of a physician advocated product line distributed through independent pharmacies in partnership with the National Association of Independent Pharmacies and the State Pharmacy Associations in Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky. After three years, the Company was sold to a publicly-traded synergistic, strategic buyer.
2011 – Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer at Duro Bag Manufacturing Company, Inc., led corporate transformation from a $550 million manufacturer with 2500 employees and ten (10) production facilities in North America operating at break-even to a $600 million manufacturer with 2000 employees and eight (8) production facilities in North America generating EBITDA of $40 million, including: - Developed strategy and negotiated new product line pricing with 3 major customers, generating incremental revenue and profit of $3,000,000. - Led negotiations to secured long-term material supply agreement, ensuring profitability and sustainability of leading product line resulting in the sale of the company to strategic buyer. - Advised CEO/Owner on the sale of the Company to a strategic buyer. - Identified risk in outdated hardware, software and personnel as well as disparate single point solutions resulting in 26 distinct systems employed throughout company. Solution to transition entire organization to one fully-integrated information system by developing internal capabilities supported by outside experts, implement transition without disruption to operations or customer service and systematically eliminate redundancies. - Upgraded information systems staff in order to retain institutional knowledge and expertise of new system while eliminating need for 18 (of 22) consultants engaged to develop and implement the conversion plan, eliminating over $1,000,000 in annual expenses. - Consolidated two divisional information systems groups into one corporate shared services group providing consistent high-quality service across two divisions while eliminated redundant costs. - Implementation of Microsoft AX ERP systems and Microsoft CRM including EDI with all major customers and suppliers completed three months ahead of schedule and under budget. - Upgraded finance department staff migrating from clerical to analytical functions capable of utilizing new ERP system and consolidated two divisional finance groups of 54 into one corporate shared services group of 42 providing consistent high-quality service across two divisions, eliminating 12 positions while upgrading functionality. Eliminated over $260,000 in annual operating expenses. Improved timeliness, accuracy and completeness of weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual reporting. - In absence of reliable information, created a sales reporting system to track weekly sales by salesperson of 800 customers and 2,000 SKU’s against budget and prior year; identified 20% of customers unassigned to a salesperson. - Developed and managed sales force effectiveness program segmenting customers, prioritizing activities to drive results and eliminating costs by creating outbound call center for “D” customers and the “C” customers, allowing field sales to focus more time and energy on “A” customers and “B” customers. Developed new organization structure, defined roles and developed new processes to increase productivity 20% across all segments and reduce headcount and expense by $1,200,000 (20%) per annum. - Identified combination of excess capacity across company with redundant capabilities at multiple facilities. Developed plan to consolidate operations from 8 plants to 6 to eliminate $5,000,000 in fixed overhead, streamline supply chain (lower inbound shipping and outbound shipping costs) and improve operating efficiencies. - Plant consolidation and better information eliminated overtime, improved on-time delivery to 99%, improved operating efficiencies and reduced finished goods inventory by $10,000,000. - Reduced shipping costs by over $2,000,000 per annum by reducing LTL shipments caused by shipments that weigh out or cube out, prioritizing customer needs and combining overage with other orders. - Reduced annual operating expenses by approximately $300,000 by outsourcing and integrating payroll, human resources, talent management, and expense management systems to improve efficiency and effectiveness. - Created monthly performance reporting package with consistent comparable metrics across 2 divisions, 4 business units, 7 product lines, and 10 manufacturing facilities, identifying key areas for improvement. - Developed analyses for understanding profitability by product line, item, channel, customer, salesperson, and manufacturing plant, identifying key areas to target for improvement or elimination. - Oversaw over 50 special projects, including plant layout redesign, plant consolidations, equipment repair and maintenance program, new product joint venture, and new product line sourcing. - Developed new product costing and quoting process improving turnaround time from weeks to one day.
2004 – Senior Managing Director / Senior Vice President at Provident Financial Group Inc. Launched and grew middle market investment banking, loan syndications and merchant banking group, leading 11 professionals, generating $27 million in income over 5 years while completing over $800 million in transactions.
2005 – Managing Director at CID Broadcasting Inc.
1985 – Earlier in his business career, Ed worked in Master Trust at Harris Bank & Trust, corporate treasury at Sunstrand Corporation (a Fortune 300 Aerospace Company), project management at American Invsco (real estate development) and public accounting at McGladrey Pullen).
Board Affiliations
Board of directors at CID Broadcasting, Inc.
Chairman of the board at Phoenix Building Solutions
Board of Directors at Union Springs Healthcare
Education
Ed received a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from Northern Illinois University and a M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and Chartered Management Accountant (inactive).
Private Equity Investing Experience
As a principal, Ed has acquired 13 companies with an aggregate acquisition value of over $500 million. Prior to Spectrum CXO, Ed was actively involved in private equity investing as a co-founder of FNJ Group and Franklin Street Equity Partners and has a member of the board of directors at CID Broadcasting, Inc., Phoenix Building Solutions and Union Springs Healthcare.
Investment Banking Experience
Over the past 37 years as an investment banker, Ed has completed transactions exceeding $2.0 billion. During that time, he has been actively engaged in the M&A advisory business (both buy-side and sell-side) and the corporate finance advisory business, raising debt and equity capital for middle market companies, including:
2004 – Senior Managing Director/Senior Vice President at Provident Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PFGI), where he led a group of 11 professional and completed over $800 million of transactions in five (5) years.
1997 – Principal at Apex Strategic Advisory Services, where he completed over $250 million in transactions in four (4) years.
1988 – Corporate Finance Associate at PaineWebber Inc. (NYSE: PWGI), where he completed over $1.0 billion in transactions in two (2) years.
Executive Operating Experience
Ed has over 20 years of experience in executive management and board advisory roles in middle market manufacturing and service companies:
2022 – Board Advisor at American Dream Solar and Window Inc., a high-growth sales and installation company in the home improvement industry where he advised ownership through a turnaround and through revenue growth of 90x in five (5) years and implemented accounting and CRM systems, developed and negotiated annual supply agreements, arranged financing for warehouse and fleet acquisitions.
2017 – Managing Director at Union Springs Healthcare and Union Springs LLC where he led the launch of a physician advocated product line distributed through independent pharmacies in partnership with the National Association of Independent Pharmacies and the State Pharmacy Associations in Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky. After three years, the Company was sold to a publicly-traded synergistic, strategic buyer.
2011 – Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer at Duro Bag Manufacturing Company, Inc., led corporate transformation from a $550 million manufacturer with 2500 employees and ten (10) production facilities in North America operating at break-even to a $600 million manufacturer with 2000 employees and eight (8) production facilities in North America generating EBITDA of $40 million, including: - Developed strategy and negotiated new product line pricing with 3 major customers, generating incremental revenue and profit of $3,000,000. - Led negotiations to secured long-term material supply agreement, ensuring profitability and sustainability of leading product line resulting in the sale of the company to strategic buyer. - Advised CEO/Owner on the sale of the Company to a strategic buyer. - Identified risk in outdated hardware, software and personnel as well as disparate single point solutions resulting in 26 distinct systems employed throughout company. Solution to transition entire organization to one fully-integrated information system by developing internal capabilities supported by outside experts, implement transition without disruption to operations or customer service and systematically eliminate redundancies. - Upgraded information systems staff in order to retain institutional knowledge and expertise of new system while eliminating need for 18 (of 22) consultants engaged to develop and implement the conversion plan, eliminating over $1,000,000 in annual expenses. - Consolidated two divisional information systems groups into one corporate shared services group providing consistent high-quality service across two divisions while eliminated redundant costs. - Implementation of Microsoft AX ERP systems and Microsoft CRM including EDI with all major customers and suppliers completed three months ahead of schedule and under budget. - Upgraded finance department staff migrating from clerical to analytical functions capable of utilizing new ERP system and consolidated two divisional finance groups of 54 into one corporate shared services group of 42 providing consistent high-quality service across two divisions, eliminating 12 positions while upgrading functionality. Eliminated over $260,000 in annual operating expenses. Improved timeliness, accuracy and completeness of weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual reporting. - In absence of reliable information, created a sales reporting system to track weekly sales by salesperson of 800 customers and 2,000 SKU’s against budget and prior year; identified 20% of customers unassigned to a salesperson. - Developed and managed sales force effectiveness program segmenting customers, prioritizing activities to drive results and eliminating costs by creating outbound call center for “D” customers and the “C” customers, allowing field sales to focus more time and energy on “A” customers and “B” customers. Developed new organization structure, defined roles and developed new processes to increase productivity 20% across all segments and reduce headcount and expense by $1,200,000 (20%) per annum. - Identified combination of excess capacity across company with redundant capabilities at multiple facilities. Developed plan to consolidate operations from 8 plants to 6 to eliminate $5,000,000 in fixed overhead, streamline supply chain (lower inbound shipping and outbound shipping costs) and improve operating efficiencies. - Plant consolidation and better information eliminated overtime, improved on-time delivery to 99%, improved operating efficiencies and reduced finished goods inventory by $10,000,000. - Reduced shipping costs by over $2,000,000 per annum by reducing LTL shipments caused by shipments that weigh out or cube out, prioritizing customer needs and combining overage with other orders. - Reduced annual operating expenses by approximately $300,000 by outsourcing and integrating payroll, human resources, talent management, and expense management systems to improve efficiency and effectiveness. - Created monthly performance reporting package with consistent comparable metrics across 2 divisions, 4 business units, 7 product lines, and 10 manufacturing facilities, identifying key areas for improvement. - Developed analyses for understanding profitability by product line, item, channel, customer, salesperson, and manufacturing plant, identifying key areas to target for improvement or elimination. - Oversaw over 50 special projects, including plant layout redesign, plant consolidations, equipment repair and maintenance program, new product joint venture, and new product line sourcing. - Developed new product costing and quoting process improving turnaround time from weeks to one day.
2004 – Senior Managing Director / Senior Vice President at Provident Financial Group Inc. Launched and grew middle market investment banking, loan syndications and merchant banking group, leading 11 professionals, generating $27 million in income over 5 years while completing over $800 million in transactions.
2005 – Managing Director at CID Broadcasting Inc.
1985 – Earlier in his business career, Ed worked in Master Trust at Harris Bank & Trust, corporate treasury at Sunstrand Corporation (a Fortune 300 Aerospace Company), project management at American Invsco (real estate development) and public accounting at McGladrey Pullen).
Board Affiliations
Board of directors at CID Broadcasting, Inc.
Chairman of the board at Phoenix Building Solutions
Board of Directors at Union Springs Healthcare
Education
Ed received a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from Northern Illinois University and a M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and Chartered Management Accountant (inactive).