The Interim CFO
Mike McKenzie
I show up as an Interim CFO driven by a sense of urgency from the two most important days of the week — Today & Tomorrow.
Like people, companies don't pretend to be sick — they pretend to be OK. I detect the ones pretending. Over four decades and 4,387 engagements, I've developed the pattern recognition, operational judgment, and downside discipline that PE sponsors pay a premium for when portfolio companies underperform and the investment thesis needs saving.
Start a Conversation →By the Numbers
Market Tested Business Judgment
Judgment forged when capital was scarce and mistakes were consequential — across every economic regime since Volcker.
Turnarounds & Bankruptcies
& Operations
Company Revenue
Career Arc
Built at the Intersection of Finance, Operations & Crisis
Bankers Trust
Managing Director — Structured PE Debt
Structured PE debt alongside KKR, Blackstone, and Bain Capital during the era when the leveraged buyout market was being built.
Ernst & Young
Restructuring Advisory
Advised boards through landmark Chapter 11 proceedings — Macy's, Federated, Southland/7-Eleven — during the post-LBO reckoning.
Hilco Global
Senior Vice President — Asset Valuation & Corporate Recovery
Deepened expertise in asset valuation and corporate recovery strategies — the operational side of distressed situations where understanding what assets are actually worth determines whether a restructuring succeeds or a liquidation maximizes recovery.
20 Years as Interim CFO
PE Portfolio Companies — $100M to $5B Revenue
The person lenders call when the operating story breaks down: stabilizing weekly cash flow, negotiating covenant relief, executing 363 sales, and telling sponsors whether they're holding a turnaround or a liquidation.
Why PE Sponsors Retain Me
The Functional Equivalent of a PE Partner — Without the Carry
I detect liquidity traps before they become capital impairments. I am natively fluent in the languages of finance, operations, accounting, legal, and stakeholder relations — the multi-disciplinary literacy required to deliver a credible assessment to an investment committee in two weeks, not two quarters.
My communication discipline, sharpened as a former Associate Editor of the Journal of Corporate Public Relations, means I translate complexity into clarity for boards, lender groups, and PE sponsors under pressure.
Education
Analytical Rigor Meets Operating Judgment
Educated at Northwestern University and The University of Chicago with an MBA in Accounting and Finance and an MS in Marketing and Data Science.
Sector Focus
Manufacturing | Distribution | Financial Services
FinTech | Software | Artificial Intelligence