Capital Club Radio explores the history and perspectives of Reid Simpson, former CFO of Asset Acceptance, who has a long career as a corporate turnaround specialist.
Reid is a seasoned financial executive with a proven track record of creating value for shareholders. His experience includes over twenty-six years of CFO positions with large and small companies across varied business information, software and services, technology and financial services in both a public and private environment. Reid’s CFO positions include those within The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, CCC Information Services, eCollege, Gogo, Asset Acceptance Capital Corporation, Career Education Corporation, and ShopperTrak.
Reid was instrumental in the turnaround of Asset Acceptance Capital Corporation and successful $438.6 million sale to Encore Capital Group in 2013. Reid has also led successful liquidity events at eCollege in 2010 and most recently in 2016 at ShopperTrak.
Reid is a current Board member at Helix Education. He holds a B.S. in Accounting from Michigan State University.
Here is a glimpse of what Reid shared in the interview.
“Part of the puzzle is figuring out where those triggers are and what you can do to add value. So, in some cases, it could be that the cost structure of a business needs revamping. It could be that they need better reporting and insights into why their businesses functioning the way it is. It could be that the business needs an improved capital structure. But a CFO’s job, frankly, is to help a company add value.”
Reid talks about Asset Acceptance’s decision to sell: “We had a capital structure that had become not as good as our competition. Our cost structure had become not competitive. We didn’t have as much purchasing capacity and access to capital that our competition did. And so, it made sense that those were the areas that we needed to focus on to try and improve those areas to become more competitive and to add value”
He goes on to tell us he thoughts on how to identify investment opportunities; “The key is to get as much knowledge and information and data upfront about those before placing large bets on those classes. At Asset Acceptance, each year, we would try and – I hate to use the word “experiment” – but we would try and expose ourselves to newer, varied asset classes in small doses to learn the characteristics and nuances of those new investment opportunities.”
About Capital Club Radio
Hosted by Michael Flock, Chairman & CEO of FLOCK Specialty Finance, Capital Club Radio provides a forum for middle market business leaders who have been typically underserved by traditional banking.
Capital Club Radio provides listeners an opportunity to gain valuable business insights and perspectives to deal with market uncertainty. Topics will include: key success factors, both personal and professional, dealing with adversity, outlook for the industry and your business.