Howard is a Managing Director with over twenty-five years experience leading Americas Region control teams. His expertise spans accounting, finance, risk, and COO duties. Howard serves as an advisor for the C-suite on CFO driven transformation, cost reduction, and process optimization. He has developed the vision and operating model for several new global control functions.
With Accordion, Howard has partnered with private equity backed companies across financial services, health care, professional services, and construction. He has led transformation initiatives geared towards streamlining business operations and driving growth and profit. Howard has collaborated with CFOs to accelerate the month end close and optimize procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, and record-to-report processes. He serves as a trusted advisor on business process outsourcing, robotic process automation, and financial close solutions.
Prior to joining Accordion, Howard spent 14 years as a Senior Vice President with HSBC Global Banking & Markets. While piloting and then leading several new Americas Region Control Teams, his responsibilities included: cost and risk reduction, board reporting and governance, profit and loss reporting, financial metrics establishment, and project leadership. Howard served as a member on several Finance and Risk committees, and led the Americas Region Valuation Committee. He was also an active participant in new hire development and mentorship programs. During the credit crisis, Howard managed control duties for subprime loans and mortgage-backed securities.
Prior to HSBC, Howard was a Senior Vice President with Citigroup and a Director with UBS. There he acquired expertise in accounting for asset-backed and mortgage-backed securitizations. Howard specialized in creating accounting processes and leading strategic change programs.
Howard began his career in public accounting, working with a variety of clients across diverse industries. As an employee at Ernst & Young and Berdon LLP, he gained Audit, Advisory, & Tax experience.
Howard graduated from Binghamton University with a B.S. in Accounting and obtained his Certified Public Accountant status shortly thereafter.
“Confidence is deciding you’re unstoppable – not that you’ll never fail." — Tom Bilyeu