Donna Mackenzie
Strategic, passionate, entrepreneurial and respected leader focused on navigating companies during periods of high-growth and change bringing my financial, business, technical and operational expertise to drive solutions and take advantage of opportunities and challenges.
Areas in which I enjoy helping clients:
- Strategic Executive Leadership & Operations Management
- Strategic Planning & Execution
- Venture, Public and Debt Finanacings
- Mergers, Acquisitions (M&A), Due Diligence
- Venture Capital, Private Equity & Public Markets
- SOX, GAAP, SEC. IFRS Reporting
- Revenue, Pricing, Sales Planning
- Change Management
- Incentive Strategies
- Finance, Accounting & Audit Management
- Internal/External Stakeholders & Board Liaison
My career has focused on venture and private equity ecommerce, media, technology and tech-enabled SAAS, B2B, B2C and companies and non-profits. I have a solid reputation for achieving results through identifying new opportunities, raising capital, building management teams, moving products to market, and driving revenue to achieve profitable businesses. Strong leadership and people skills, as an open-minded executive my mission is to help make sound decisions based on fact and data without stifling creativity.
Successfully led companies through multiple capital raises, sales to private equity, and external forces such as the tech bubble burst, the great recession and most recently the pandemic.
I have raised over $100M in venture, debt, and public financings, often in very difficult times. Specializing in positioning companies for transactions, leading due diligence and negotiations for numerous equity and debt financings, mergers, and acquisitions (M&A) on both the buy and sell-side, public offerings, and reverse mergers (SPACs).
Some examples of significant initiatives that I have led and their benefits to my clients and employers, include:
- $60M sale of retail/ecommerce lifestyle company to Private Equity
- Launch of many tech-enabled companies driving first year revenue, most recently a ecommerce consumer goods company, ramping to $2M sales in Year 1
- $70M+ raised in venture capital from seed to Series D financings
- $60M+ raised in public and debt fianancings
- $100M+ in exit pricings, achieving 10x valuations
- Launched, managed and raised over $5M for startup Fund
- Strategic restructuring for significant cost savings and economies of scale
- Rapid revenue growth averaging 160%, doubling and tripling annual growth
- Cost saving initiatives of 20%+
- Immediate Past Chair Central Florida NPR Affiliate, WMFE 90.7
- Current Board Member tech accelerator and education organizations, Starter Studio, and Innovate Orlando
My mission is to continue to help navigate companies during periods of accelerating growth or change bringing my extensive finance, business, technical and operational expertise together with a calming force and perseverence to drive solutions and results. I look forward to continuing this work with companies in Central Florida and beyond.
Previously, I held executive positions from startup to mid-sized compnies including:
- CFO, Managing Partner, Orlando Opportunity Fund
- CEO, Executive Director, StarterStudio
- CFO/COO, Board Member, IZEA, Inc
- CFO/COO Channel Intelligence, Inc (subsequently acquired by Google)
- CFO Cytura Corp (acquired by Mobius Management Systems)
Testimonials
Partnering with Donna as our fractional CFO was an absolute pleasure! What began as an onboarding process to implement budgets and financial goals and streamline our P&L swiftly evolved into a strategic collaboration. Donna seamlessly transitioned into a trusted thought partner, contributing significantly to our strategic initiatives and helping enforce stability during the ebbs and flows of the pandemic. Donna's close partnership was especially crucial during our accelerated growth phase and navigating a successful transaction with PE. I wholeheartedly recommend Donna as a fractional CFO to any organization seeking not only financial expertise but also strategic guidance and leadership.