Mark Richards's Profile

Title:

CFO/Founder

Company:

EarthClean, SinuGenix, & Fitness Formulary

Business Listing:

CFO for three start-up ventures & Creator of Candidates Chair (www.candidateschair.com), web site providing job search advice from candidates perspective. Chair of the Minneapolis chapter of FENG, Moderator for ExecuNet's Finance Roundtable and Job search Blogger at TwitJobs (UK based job board using social media).

Finance for operations. My background includes both global service firms and start-ups, all heavily entrepreneurial and sales-oriented. I have held a business development role in addition to my financial positions. So I'm equally comfortable with clients as I am in managing finance. My experience has been heavily focused on business development and operations - in particular, taking initiatives from discussion to implementation - with a heavy dose of reality, so we maintain proper expectations. My best skill is simplifying ver complex management, strategic and financial issues into simple to understand communications, to help the entire team understand the issue and their role.

Education

University	Degree	Start Date (Year)	End Date (Year)	Activities and Societies
Saint John's University	BA
University of St. Thomas, Graduate School of Business	MBA

Experience

Company	Dates	Title	Job Description
SinuGenix, EarthClean and Fitness Formul I am currently working here	07/2010	CFO/Founder	As CFO and founder of these firms - I am working on strategic, operational and fundraising issues.
Maximum Communications, Inc	03/2009 - 07/2009	CFO	Early-stage telecommunications firm. While managing all typical CFO duties, being in a start-up you work alongside, above and below your job description! Most of my work has been around developing a business plan to raise funds and then just working against that plan.
www.candidateschair.com I am currently working here	01/2009	Creator/Founder	This site shares insights into job search from a candidate's perspective. To date, I have done all of the content, design and sharing of the site. With visitors from over 80 countries, 10-15% of whom spend 1 hour on the site, I decided in mid-2010 to take my passion for sharing and begin he early stages of developing it into a broader application.

Expert Information

Areas of Expertise

Finance, Career Development Planning, Career Management, Career planning, Job Search & Networking, Job Search Strategies, Job Search Tools, Networking Skills, Professional Development, Careers

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Expert's Bio
Since 2006, I have chaired a finance networking group and been through two searches myself. Having been involved in almost 700 networking meetings related to job search (as a candidate & meeting with fellow candidates). When it comes to job search and networking, I've been through the ups (offers, great meetings, etc.) and down (rejections, people not showing up, etc.) I know what’s behind the successes and struggles in the eyes of my colleagues, so what I can share is helpful. Since 2009, I launched www.candidateschair.com, with the simple goal of sharing mistakes, lessons and experiences from fellow candidates. So that those who visit can be more effective and keep their psyche strong. Through my networking to share my site, I connected with John Kogan, CEO of Proformative, and he graciously invited me to join the "Ask an Expert" team. Just so you know, I'm not an expert in the field, but an expert of being in the field - so the answers you'll get in return are rooted in the viewpoint of a candidate.

Expert's Bio

Since 2006, I have chaired a finance networking group and been through two searches myself. Having been involved in almost 700 networking meetings related to job search (as a candidate & meeting with fellow candidates). When it comes to job search and networking, I've been through the ups (offers, great meetings, etc.) and down (rejections, people not showing up, etc.) I know what’s behind the successes and struggles in the eyes of my colleagues, so what I can share is helpful. Since 2009, I launched www.candidateschair.com, with the simple goal of sharing mistakes, lessons and experiences from fellow candidates. So that those who visit can be more effective and keep their psyche strong. Through my networking to share my site, I connected with John Kogan, CEO of Proformative, and he graciously invited me to join the "Ask an Expert" team. Just so you know, I'm not an expert in the field, but an expert of being in the field - so the answers you'll get in return are rooted in the viewpoint of a candidate.