Senior Manager, Consulting Practice

With over 17 years of experience in both private industry and public accounting, Steve is a skilled strategist whose practice focuses on business financial advisory services from growth strategy to turnaround management. Specific services include cash-flow forecast modeling, financial management and planning, operational assessments and profitability improvements, strategic planning and industry benchmark analysis. Steve has served a wide range of companies in industries including wineries and vineyards, food processing and manufacturing, distribution, technology, apparel, waste management, lumber, construction, real estate, professional services and not-for-profit.

Having held strategic private industry roles with The Gap, PeopleSoft and Macromedia, Steve's track record has allowed him to gain hands-on expertise in such areas as budgeting, forecasting, P&L reporting and analysis, portfolio management, brand and product management and marketing, industry and competitive analysis, compensation analysis, M&A impact analysis, and sales operations.

A frequent business writer and speaker, Steve has spoken at a variety of high profile venues including North Bay Business Journal's Leadership Forum and two "Impact Marin" events, Sonoma County Vintners and Sonoma County Winegrape Growers membership, North Bay Growth and Innovation Forum, the Small Business Development Center's "NxLevel" Entrepreneur class, Sonoma State University's extended education program, the Institute of Family Business, Nixon Peabody's Beverage / Alcohol summit, Manex-sponsored manufacturing economic summits in Solano and Sonoma counties, the Wine Industry Financial Symposium and CalCPA's Central Coast wine industry conference.

Steve is the primary author of BPM’s Wine Industry Survey Series, the BPM Wine Blog (bpmwine.blogspot.com), and 2 Twitter accounts (@BPMAdvisor and @BPMWine).

Steve is a 2010 recipient of the North Bay Business Journal's "Forty under 40" award.

Sample Projects

Strategic Planning and Forecasting: Work closely with business owners/managers to define and analyze business strategy and drivers, and to develop an operational plan that aligns with both business and personal goals. Create monthly cash flow projections that allow the users to understand financial impact of business decisions, analyze multiple what-if scenarios, and track performance going forward.

M&A Due Diligence / Quality of Earnings: Assist in the financial and operational analysis of target companies for the benefit of the potential acquirer. Work includes a full Quality of Earnings study and report, detailed analyses of key cash and profit drivers such as sourcing, distribution, and operational trends. Develop post-acquisition business plans and financial projections, and presentations for acquirers and investors.

Turnaround Management: Assist clients in various industries (wine, manufacturing, distribution) with situations in which clients had missed debt covenants, debt payments could not be made, short-term obligations could not be made, and bankruptcy options were being considered. Multiple examples of assisting owners/managers in generating and executing plan to return to financial health and stability by understanding financial drivers, putting together a realistic plan, and creating ongoing reporting and measures of success.

Succession Planning / Ownership Transition: Assist existing owners to define and understanding current and future strategic alternatives, personally and professionally. Create a business plan for the company to define a sustainable growth path under current and projected conditions. Lead owners though the possibilities of management succession, family transfers or external sales as potential means to achieve strategic and financial goals.

Monthly Cash Flow Projections for Wineries: Developed a wine industry model that takes operational inputs related to areas including farming, production and sales, and project integrated financial statements, SKU- and Channel-specific margin analyses and ongoing inventory positions. Users are able to plan at levels of detail including labels and SKUs, individual grape or juice sources (whether they are internal or external), sales channels including tasting rooms and wine clubs, etc. This model is very usable, scalable and customizable, and is being used in multiple wineries with various structures.

Business Review Analysis: Perform an integrated trend and industry benchmarking analysis, offering clients invaluable peer-group data, as well as historical analysis of key ratios and metrics. In addition, trends are extended for 3-5 years into the future, with the ability to see how changes to key drivers affect future performance, with the ability to run real-time what-if analyses.

Accounting & Control Assessments: Perform assessments of accounting departments, including personnel, processes, internal controls and software solutions. This is done most effectively through a series of interviews with the owners/managers and the staff, as well as analysis of reports and data. These projects result in reporting key findings and recommendations, including action and implementation plans.

Education

• MBA/Finance and Marketing – Santa Clara University
• BS/Economics and Accounting – Saint Mary's College

Community Involvement

• Board of Directors, Rincon Valley Little League
• Finance Committee, Redwood Covenant Church

Interesting Tidbit

A father of three, Jannicelli can often be found coaching youth sports in Santa Rosa, combining his passion for teaching and heart for kids. He has coached several seasons of youth soccer, softball and Little League baseball.