Michael Ames
Michael Ames has more than 20 years of upper-level financial, operational and consulting experience in the high-tech industry. He has overseen turnarounds, M&As and venture capital fundraising, with roles running the gamut from global marketing initiatives at a Fortune 100 company to growth strategies for start-ups and mid-sized firms.
Ames currently is COO/CFO of Jetalon Solutions, a California-based, international technology company. He manages day-to-day finances and operations and creates financial and business plans. Ames also is an independent financial consultant to growing international technology companies based in the U.S.
Ames is a strategic financial executive and GM with cross-functional expertise in business and financial analysis. He has created and implemented partner incentive and employee compensation programs, program marketing strategies and employee benefit plans. Ames has extensive high-tech experience, combining strong analytical skills with a “hands-on” approach and results-oriented business acumen to contribute positively to an organization’s bottom line.
Consistently forging strong business relationships with a wide range of internal and external customers, direct reports and “dotted-line” team members, Ames works collaboratively to achieve and exceed corporate goals.
As head of Crossover Business Services since 2007, Ames provides financial and operational consulting services including managing daily financial and operational activities, quantifying market opportunities and developing go-to-market strategies to support operational and financing efforts, as well as acquisition activities.
From 2003 to 2007, Ames was CFO/GM of Neogent, an Austin, Texas-based systems integrator and professional services company. He worked with the CEO to restore predictability and profitability to the cash flow position of its professional services business. This made Neogent attractive to prospective buyers, resulting in its acquisition by Sun Microsystems. Ames also led the due diligence team during the acquisition process.
Ames managed professional services planning and reporting for Vignette Corp., an enterprise software development and implementation company, from 2000 to 2003. Collaborating with the SVP of Professional Services during a period of substantial business decline, he helped develop and execute strategic financial plans that identified required reductions. Consequently, gross profit margins improved by 14 percent even as revenues fell 48 percent.
In 2007, Ames served as Finance/Admin VP at Inovawave, an enterprise software development start-up in Austin, Texas. His strategic modeling proved crucial in both cost reduction and capitalization. Ames’ models revealed the cash balance implications of a product schedule slip and supported a 50 percent reduction in resources, including outsourcing of financial operations. In two rounds, Ames used tactical and strategic financial modeling to raise more than $9 million in VC funding.
Ames spent more than 21 years of his career at IBM. In 2000, as a senior strategist for its Tivoli Channel Development and Strategy Division, he developed a go-to-market plan for use with newly acquired SAN software products. From 1997 to 2000, while senior manager of IBM/Lotus Business Partner Operations, Ames set up and implemented operational and financial objectives for IBM’s World Wide business partner sales and marketing organization. He led the effort to identify profitable “one-of-a-kind” industry solution candidates for creating “mass-customized” methodologies for primary marketing campaigns. Ames also supported operations of the $100 million BESTeam Business Partner software marketing organization.
In 1979, Ames began his career at IBM as an accountant before becoming a financial planning manager at a major manufacturing facility in 1982.
Ames holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship from the University of Texas at Austin and a BBA in Accounting and Finance from UT – El Paso.
