Rod brings 30+ years of global experience in consumer goods, retail, manufacturing, textiles, furniture, distribution and restaurants. He has led both profitable growth strategies for healthy, multi-billion-dollar brands as well as crisis management/ turnaround efforts for medium sized firms.

While at The Finley Group, Rod has worked in a variety of industries and served in both interim-CEO and interim-President roles.  He has also been invited to serve on the Board of Directors for several clients.  Additionally, he has been appointed by the Court of North Carolina as a Chief Restructuring Officer.  In addition to his turnaround efforts, Rod has led several sell-side M&A engagements and has facilitated multi-generational leadership transitions.   During his time at Finley, Rod has demonstrated the ability to balance the needs and earn the trust of all stakeholder groups to obtain the best possible outcomes for Finley’s clients.

Rod’s prior experience includes leading turnaround efforts while serving as Chairman/CEO and divisional President of two publicly traded consumer goods firms. In both instances, he worked with all stakeholder groups to create and preserve value by delivering significant EBITDA improvement using a mix of profitable growth and cost cutting initiatives. In addition, he dramatically reduced working capital and divested underperforming businesses, utilizing the resultant cash flows to renegotiate credit facilities and acquire/integrate multiple companies. Additionally, Rod led an entrepreneurial, women’s specialty retailer in developing an infrastructure that could be scaled for growth. 

Previously, Rod also held roles in multiple strategy, general management, and marketing roles for VF Corporation, Russell Corporation and Hanes Brands. He was also a Manager in Accenture’s Corporate Strategy practice, where he was responsible for leading engagement teams and client deliverables. 

Rod also served on the Board of Directors (as a member of the Audit Committee and as Chair of the Compensation Committee) for Heelys, a publicly traded, international marketer of action sports inspired products.