About Us
James (Jim) Zsebok is the founder of RTZ Group which provides advisory services to and/or invests in manufacturing companies in the U.S. and Canada as part of the ongoing effort to safeguard critical manufacturing capabilities by perfecting operational performance. The first 10 years of the founder's nearly 40 year career began with large multinational publicly traded companies which in those days offered comprehensive executive training programs ranging from time management to in-depth accounting procedure(s) training in an environment with the very best in information systems and most importantly best-in-class business practices which had been perfected over time.
Imperial Chemicals (FTSE30: ICI)
3rd Largest Chemical Company in the World.
12.1 Billion GBP - 117,500 Employees
Siemens AG (DAX30: SIE)
Automotive
84.6 Billion DM - 376,000 Employees
Caradon PLC (LSE:CRN.LN)
Sold to Honeywell in 2005
TRIAM Automotive (TSX:TRU)
Sold to Magna and Flex-N-Gate in 1998
1.61 Billion GBP - 21,500 Employees
Skills / Experience
Financial Statement Preparation
Board Meeting Packages/Presentations
Activity-Based Costing
Internal Auditor
Product Quotation / ROI Determination
Financial Forecasting & Analysis
COGS / Expense(s) Variance Analysis
Inventory Costing
Management of Annual Audit
Machine Capacity & Time Studies
Annual Audit Working Papers
ERP Implementation
When Flex-N-Gate buys TRIAM Automotive (Tecumseh, ON plant) where I had been the controller the company had 6 plants and revenues of approximately $200 million. In the 16 years that followed my colleagues and I grew Flex-N-Gate to $4.6 billion in revenue with 46 plants worldwide and 15,000 employees. I often said "it is easy to build a multi-billion dollar company when you have been immersed in them for much of your career" and certainly my "in the trenches" training was crucial to my effectiveness when doing M&A due diligence. In addition, to M&A due diligence as CFO I also earned the trust of bank syndicates which afforded us nearly a billion in credit facilities, actively hedged the company's global FX exposure, reduced our tax liabilities and managed the investment portfolio of the 367th richest family in world based on the Forbes list when I left the company in 2014.
Additional Skills / Experience
M&A Due Diligence
Business Valuation
FX Hedging / Trading
Investment Portfolio Management
International Tax Planning
Bank Syndication Formation/Reporting
M&A Transactions (* Completed *)
DDM Plastics (2000)
Revenue - $40MM
Ventra Group TSE:VTA (2001)
Revenue - $860 MM
Veltri Metal Products (2004)
Revenue - $60MM
Collins & Aikman Plant(2007)
Revenue - $60 MM
Meridian Automotive Plants (2008)
Revenue - $400MM
Blackhawk Automotive (2008)
Revenue - $50 MM
Deuer Manufacturing (2003)
Revenue - $6MM
Oris Automotive Parts (2007)
Revenue - $7MM
ACH Sandusky (2012)
Revenue - $250MM
Family Office Investments / Industry Experience
Jacksonville Jaguars
NFL Team
Fulham FC
English Premier League
Casework of America
Commercial Cabinetry / Furniture
Traditional Portfolio
S&P Index, Stocks, Hedgefunds
Huffy Bicycles
Bikes / Tommy Armour & Ram Golf
KYN, LLC
Start-up Accelerator / Incubator
L&J Diesel / Dieselogic
Remfg. injectors / Patented testing equipment
Starfield Talent Management
Employee Evaluation Software
Menuat
Digital Menu Boards
Coastal Cool
Refrigerated Trucking
AES Technologies, LLC
Remote Auto Diagnostics
McKenzie's Hard Apple Cider
Hard Apple Cider
U.S. Culinary / Edgewood Bakery
Veggie Desserts for schools & Retail bakery
Kissimmee Charter School
New Construction
Ellis Road JAX (142,000 sq. ft.) Warehouse
Income Property
Orlando (FL) Vista Hotel
Renovation
Four Points by Sherton (Peoria, IL)
Renovation
Barnett Bldg (Residential / Commercial)
Renovation
Municipal Equipment Supplier
Provided financing & advisory services allowing the company to win a substantial municipal contract by showing the Auditor General at the municipality where a competitor was bribing procurement officials.
FAA Part 145 Repair Station
Invested money in the business which modified or restored primarily military aircraft to flight readiness. Participated in customer, supplier and employee negotiations and even loaded/drove trucks when required.
Food Manufacturer / 3PL Warehousing
Fractional CFO services for a large food manufacturer and order fulfillment/warehousing operation. Quickly provided improved product margin analysis and raised money for a new production line.
​​Nutraceuticals / Supplements Brand
Re-vamped the company's financial reporting and budgeting process and rebuilt trust with their lender who had already placed them in special accounts to a point where the company was transitioned back to regular accounts within a year.
Consumer Products Distributor (NASDAQ/Pink Sheet)
Stood up the finance function as CFO when they bought a detergent brand(s) from P&G and reconciled the monthly sharing of revenues/profits/cashflows as per the purchase agreement during the transition period as part of the divestment by P&G.
Nutraceuticals Manufacturer
National Nutraceuticals company above had a troubled supplier which was behind on shipments despite in some cases prepaying for ingredients. I was dropped into this company to make sure money was used as agree.​
Non-Critical Health Care Provider (NASDAQ)
This company acquired the Nutraceuticals Manufacturing above and given my knowledge of the company I was asked to be the CFO. Given I had worked for large publicly traded companies I knew how to prepare financial statements to this "standard", but it was the first time I had full responsibility for SEC reporting (10Q/10K).
Automotive Parts Manufacturer (PE Backed)
Hired as full-time CFO and quickly identified where the company was losing money and introduced systems and procedures to mitigate those loses while providing insightful/actional financial reporting to investors.
AI Data Center Developer
Raised the company's accounting procedures and financial reporting to a level acceptable for a company raising money through SAFE offerings and raised some much-needed debt financing as investor money was running out.​
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B.A. Economics *Honours Standing* (1985-1988)
Trent University
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CMA - The Society of Management Accountants of Ontario (1988 - 1991)
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Financing the Growth-Stage Company (1996)
Schulich School of Business - York University
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The Metal Stamping Process (1996)
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
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Managing Currency Risk (2000)
Schulich School of Business - York University
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Automation Technician Program (2021)
George Brown College (On-line)
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