Sheryl Cox is an effective COO/CFO partner to CEOs and Boards.

With an MBA from Kellogg/Northwestern University; a BS in Management/Accounting; and a CTP/CPA, her significant global manufacturing, retailing, distribution & education experience enables her to share useful industry insights and strategies because of her expertise in:
Corporate Growth: organic, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), cash & capital management | Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)
Talent Management: acquisition, process, development, retention | Employee/Labor Relationships: union, HR, ERISA, non-union
Successful Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): JD Edwards, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, Microsoft D365, Shopify front end, and proprietary systems. All experience in manufacturing, supply chain, and retail (online/in-store).

CORPORATE EXPERIENCE
As COO and CFO for Bradley University, a top ranked national university with five Colleges for ~6,000 online/on-campus undergraduate/graduate students, Sheryl reported to the CEO/President, led 500 employees with full P&L responsibility for Growth Strategies, Financial Services, Information Technology, Real Estate, HR, Marketing, and Safety; plus served as an Investment Committee Member.  Numerous examples of her useful industry insights and strategies can be found on the Examples page, with most notable:

  • Corporate Growth achievement for Bradley University is that Sheryl restructured $150 million of debt from variable to public fixed bonds in October of 2021 when markets were at an all-time low interest—savings are $53M+ over 15 years.

  • Enterprise Risk Management achievement while at Bradley University include Sheryl leading the Board’s Audit and Risk Management Committee and being appointed to the internal risk management team where she identified top risk areas and reported to the Board on highest potential risks, such as: ERISA post-retirement benefits, reputational, and regulatory compliance.

  • Talent Management achievement while at Bradley University is that Sheryl enhanced talent recruitment/onboarding via championing an online real-time digital institutionalization of the employment process. She then replicated the process with Finance and Marketing “Centers of Expertise,” which reduced costs by $400k overall through changes.

  • Successful ERP Implementations significantly decreased Bradley University’s IT and deferred maintenance financial risk with Sheryl’s conversion of ~60% of proprietary technology applications to sustainable platforms.

As President and COO, starting as the CFO, for APEX MEDIA (Amazon, Private Equity, & Entrepreneur ownership), a multi-sited online and bricks-n-mortar global retailer (B2B & B2C) and distributor of textbooks and consumer electronics, Sheryl reported directly to the CEO in all roles with full P&L responsibility and supervising 100 employees. APEX is a Sheryl Corporate Growth story where she:

  • Doubled Apex Media’s line of business revenue via organic and acquisitions, delivered 20% annual EBITDA growth over 4 years, driving $100M in debt repayment, and creating value for all investors.

  • For the private holding company, bought/integrated a $75M online educational book retailer that transformed Apex Media into the #2 educational bookseller—and Amazon was #1—then successfully positioned its sale to a strategic ownership.

Another Sheryl Corporate Growth success is her achievements while the CFO of FAIRRINGTON, the largest privately-owned national printer, manufacturer, supply chain logistics. Of note, Sheryl:

  • Identified a new channel of customers; led financial modeling for a $100M vertical investment; solicited investors and successfully gained $50M of new capital funding.

  • Increased gross margin 6% by implementing LEAN practices/visual controls for process improvement and benchmarking.

  • Led M&A rollup strategy from candidates through due diligence—generated 2 acquisitions/increased 14% gross margin.

View many more of Sheryl’s successful Growth, ERM, Talent, and ERP Implementations stories on the Examples page, including ones not given here for above companies and her prior companies, including:

  • Paper Source, a private equity owned manufacturer, e-commerce, specialty retailer where Sheryl initiated 300% growth.

  • The Roomplace, a private equity owned retailer where she spurred on a 30% footprint growth.

  • Martin Brower, McDonald’s largest distribution partner, where Sheryl positioned them to gain the Chipotle launch.

  • Kraft Foods and PwC, where Sheryl began her career in global and national tax and audit work.