A Unique Perspective and Approach

Hello - my name is Doug Driver, and I lead Viewpoint. By virtue of my background, Viewpoint’s perspective is slightly different from your average consultant or advisor.  I “grew up” on the banking (not accounting) side of finance. Early in my career, I gained experience on both sides of most commercial transactions - bookkeeper and analyst, acquirer and target, lender and borrower, vendor and customer. I have also served in the CFO role in various flavors - permanent and interim, fractional and full-time, bootstrapped and sponsor-backed, growth phase and turnaround.

This breadth of exposure has provided me with an unusually diverse perspective: 

• As a CFO I have capitalized, launched, and/or sold more than 20 businesses, and owned the finance function for firms from the start-up phase to $200 million in revenue.

• As a lender I have provided hundreds of millions of dollars in financing to small and mid-sized companies across the United States.

• As a board member and fiduciary I have helped many organizations navigate financial, operational and leadership challenges.

I have worked with and analyzed hundreds of companies over the last 3 decades, and I have learned that while every company's situation is unique, the underlying challenges have been faced by others. It is faster, cheaper, and less painful to learn from others' mistakes than to duplicate them.

My clients appreciate that my sole focus is acting in their best interests to make their organization better. While I have access to a wealth of resources and experts in several industries, I don’t come into an engagement with a bag of tricks to sell in hopes of extending or expanding the engagement, nor am I auditioning for a permanent job. If I make a recommendation to a client, the client knows I feel it is in the client’s best interest.

Finally, I realize that in today’s dispersed economy, a fractional approach to many critical roles can provide deep expertise while maintaining a reasonable cost structure.  I continuously cultivate relationships with other firms that offer services in the following areas (if you have a question about an area not listed below, just ask):

• Real Estate Services

• IT Support/Network Administration

• HR support

• Compliance