The business owner’s CFO partner.

David Meister, CPA, MBA, CGMA

“...appealing combination of financial acumen, business savvy, and strategic sensibility...”

  • I am a strategic financial and operations executive with extensive experience in the middle market. In my diverse career, I have held the positions of CEO, CFO, EVP-Finance & Operations, General Manager, Controller, and Director of Financial Planning and Analysis for a number of companies in Media/Entertainment, Digital Media, Technology, Private Equity, e-Commerce, Manufacturing, Food Processing, and Professional Services.  My broad experience, I have been told, make for an appealing combination of financial acumen, business savvy, and strategic sensibility; all developed over a successful 35-year career. And yes, I have earned some gray hair!

    I was part of the original team that conceived and started-up Telemundo Group, Inc., the Spanish language television network now a division of NBCUniversal.

    Since 1994, I have provided consulting CFO services to middle market companies and start-ups, and have been engaged in over 75 client engagements since 2013. My practice consists of three areas: 1) serving as a Consulting CFO on an outsource basis, 2) helping entrepreneurs create business plans that can raise funding for their ventures, and 3) revitalizing companies experiencing a downturn caused by management actions and/or industry decline.

    In my career, I have worked on over 50 corporate M&A transactions nominally valued at a cumulative $1 billion, and helped raise debt and equity with total proceeds of more than $800 million.

    I began my career with Ernst & Young, LLP, and was recruited in 1984 to the venture capital division of Reliance Group Holdings, Inc., a $10 billion insurance and real estate company, where I helped launch Telemundo Group, mentioned above.  While at Reliance and Telemundo, (ten great years in all!), I held progressive financial and operating positions until 1994, when I first began providing Consulting CFO services to a newly public company.

    I am also a guest lecturer at Brooklyn Law School and have written blog articles.

    I earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Rochester, and an MBA from the Simon Business School there.  I am a CPA in New York State. Lastly, I have been active with several not-for-profit entities in various board and advisory roles, and I enjoy golf, (although not very good), and reading in my spare time.

What we do

  • CFO Services on an outsource basis

    Business owners are faced with various challenges: optimizing cash flow, maximizing profitability, creating value, accelerating growth, looking for opportunities, fending off competitors, and planning exit strategies, among others. As your Consulting CFO, I am your business partner. My role is to develop a game plan for the range of strategic, financial and business challenges you face. My business advisory helps ensure the path you are on is profitable, effective and will achieve your goals.

    I provide the expertise you need by performing world-class CFO duties on an outsource basis, at a fraction of the cost of a full-time employee. As your trusted advisor, in the capacity of CFO, I listen carefully to your goals, aspirations, challenges and frustrations. We then collaborate to develop a continuum of solutions and strategies prioritized to navigate your company from its current state to the desired end state; implemented and executed at a pace that you are comfortable with, both operationally and financially.

  • • CFO Services

    • Cash Flow Planning & Management

    • Financial Planning & Analysis

    • Capital Raises / Capital Structure / Investor Presentations

    • Distressed / Revitalization / Turnarounds

    • Financial Reporting & Accounting

    • Strategic Plans & Advice

    • Mergers & Acquisitions / Divestitures / Transaction Support / Due Diligence

    • Dispute Resolution with Partners & Investors / ”Honest Broker”

    • Valuations

    • Situational Analysis

    • Accounting Clean-up

  • • Medtech

    • Fintech

    • Media – broadcast, cable, television, radio

    • Digital Media

    • eCommerce

    • Retail / Wholesale

    • Manufacturing

    • Distribution

    • Professional Services

    • Private Equity

    • Technology

    • Start-ups

    • International

    • Import / Export

    • Fashion

    • Real Estate

    • Jewelry

    • Health Supplements/Multi-Level Marketing

What are your Business Priorities?

“Revenues are vanity, profits are sanity, cash flow is reality.”

  • Increasing revenues is certainly important, but have you considered the profitability of your revenues or clients? Or how cash flow is impacted by “maximizing” revenues MeisterFinance will analyze your company’s profitability profile and develop strategic plans that drive profits & optimize cash flow which will contribute to long-term growth and value.

  • Long-term growth and planning are critical to your business’s future. Do you have detailed and actionable financial plans to guide you? In other words, how do you get from here to where you want to be? MeisterFinance will help you plan your business strategy.

  • Building value is important for private companies who are looking to sell their business at some point, transfer ownership to the next generation, or raise capital (debt or equity). MeisterFinance will develop a plan that considers the valuation drivers of your business; all in accordance with your personal goals.

  • Optimizing cash flow is the single most important action your business can take. All other actions impact and are impacted by this metric. Cash is what you can ultimately take out as compensation, pay down debt, acquire a competitor, and invest internally to grow the business. MeisterFinance has deep experience optimizing cash flow for various businesses.

Contact us.