Having
earned an MBA from the #1 MBA-Finance program in the country (University of
Chicago), a BS-Accountancy from the perennial #1 undergraduate accounting
program in the country (University of Illinois), and a CPA, Dean Matt has seen
it all in over thirty years in the C-suite.
In
his latest adventure, Dean came out of retirement for a unique opportunity as a
CFO for a multi-state cannabis industry company. Eight short months later, that company was
sold for almost $1 billion in what was at the time the largest transaction
in the history of the U.S. cannabis industry. To date, he has worked with about a dozen
companies in the industry.
Dean
has served as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Controller, and
in Mergers & Acquisitions positions from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies
in and privately-held, private equity-backed, and publicly-held
environments. Dean has taken companies
public, endured bankruptcies, survived the Dot.com bubble, uncovered Ponzi
schemes sending executives to prison, and has helped engineer many successful
exits, netting shareholders billions. He
has worked for world-class entrepreneurs such as Bradley Jacobs (United Waste
Systems, United Rentals, XPO Logistics) and Wayne Huizenga (Waste Management,
Auto Nation USA, Blockbuster Video, Boston Market, Extended Stay America,
Republic Waste, and more).
Dean’s
storytelling ability was honed and recognized at a young age, winning awards
from the National College of Teachers of English and Gwendolyn Brooks,
Illinois’ Poet Laureate. He also hosted a
reality TV show pilot for a travel and golf-themed show called The Grass is Greener.
Dean’s
passions include bad golf (since grade school) and safe flying (since high school). Dean and his wife look forward to one day
returning to their retirement, running their golf accessories business
(www.golfgear.golf), and resuming their golfing/traveling lifestyle (www.mucho-dean-aero.com).