Scott Peterson brings over 25 years of executive management experience to the R.I. Heller & Co., LLC team.  Scott has diverse financial and operations management experience with start-up, turnaround, high-growth and multi-national corporations.  He has been successful at combining strategic and tactical financial expertise with strong qualifications in business development, operations, information technology, legal/regulatory matters and transaction structuring and negotiations. Scott has delivered strong and sustainable revenue and income gains in highly competitive business markets through cost reduction, process redesign, revenue growth and performance management.

Prior to his affiliation with R.I. Heller, Scott was interim CFO with Gulf Fleet Holdings, a portfolio company of H.I.G. Capital,  where he raised $15 million in debt financing, institutionalized strategic planning and annual budget process and streamlined the company’s financial reporting.

Scott was retained by DFC of Maine, Inc., a regional mortgage business, as a consultant and financial advisor. He assisted in the formation of a national mortgage lending company, Evest Lending. He raised $10 million in private equity and secured a $50 million warehouse line of credit.

Prior to that assignment, Scott was CFO for Miami Air International, a $100 million privately-held passenger charter airline.  There he transitioned the company from a $16 million loss to an $8 million profit in one year, while improving the enterprise value by over 400%. Scott developed and completed a recapitalization plan, including the early discounted retirement of all senior secured debt and redeemable preferred stock, negotiation of an unsecured revolving credit facility and the successful sale in 2003 of all outstanding common stock to minority shareholder.

In 2001, Scott joined Viasource Communications, a $200 million publicly traded broadband service provider. As CFO, he led the financial turnaround of the troubled company, which included significant operational and administrative improvements and subsequent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, leading to the 363 sale of company assets in early 2002. 

Previously, Scott directed the accounting, finance and administrative functions for Proudfoot Consulting, an international management consulting firm; DHL’s Latin America Region; and a division of ADP, Inc. Also, he managed corporate M&A program for Spherion, a leading staffing firm after starting career as auditor with KPMG.

Scott is a CPA with a BS in Accounting from Providence College and an MBA from Nova Southeastern University. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, the Institute of Management Accountants and Financial Executives International