Experience : Biographies

• James O'Connor, Jr. - Founder and President
• Steven C. Petrarca - Managing Director
• Jeffrey O'Connor - Managing Director

James O'Connor, Jr.
Founder and President

Having worked with over 80 troubled companies ranging from $3 million to $3 billion, Mr. O'Connor has served as CEO, COO and CFO (“C-level”) for both public and private companies, including All Seasons Services, The Whistler Radar Group and Netegrity, Inc. (NETE). Jim uses his thirty years of financial and operational experience, including over twenty five years working as a turnaround consultant with firms in New York and Boston, to assess the vulnerability of a company and appropriately redirect its focus. This is the foundation upon which The O'Connor Group has been built. Today, Jim serves as a C-level advisor providing strategic and operational expertise in finance, operations, legal, business planning, refinancing, and acquisitions and divestitures.

Prior to creating The O'Connor Group, Jim was a senior consultant to New York-based Alvarez & Marsal and Boston based TRG. He started his career in the NYC office of KPMG LLP where he focused on the large audits of international clients such as Diageo Plc., and Mercedes Benz of North America. Jim graduated from Syracuse University. His professional affiliations have included memberships with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Turnaround Management Association, Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, and the Association for Corporate Growth.

Steven C. Petrarca
Managing Director

Steven C. Petrarca is a highly regarded restructuring and turnaround professional who joined The O’Connor Group in 2007. He has over 20 years of hands-on experience in finance, operations, and accounting management. This professional expertise, combined with vast experience in the manufacturing, construction, distribution, services, retail/wholesale, telecommunications and transportation industries, has proven to be invaluable to our clients. Mr. Petrarca’s engagements have included financial and operational restructurings, profit improvement initiatives, accounting management, asset divestitures through sales, wind-downs, and liquidation, advisory roles for publicly and privately held companies, litigation support, and managing all aspects of the Bankruptcy process when necessary.

Prior to joining The O’Connor Group, Mr. Petrarca worked for ten years in the special situations group for a national lender, where he managed a portfolio of loans and leases to middle-market and large corporate borrowers nationwide.  He typically handled the most challenging and complex cases, and was consistently recognized as a top performer.

Recently, Mr. Petrarca’s work with a manufacturing client dramatically improved cash flow, reversed a steep three-year decline in EBITDA, and overhauled the company’s pricing model to reflect actual costs These actions increased Net Income by over $2 million in the first year of the engagement. Other recent assignments include CFO for a distributor with negative cash flow and strained liquidity, where Mr. Petrarca’s efforts resulted in profitability for the first time in five years, and further actions procured a buyer for the business. He was also retained to prepare and sell a specialty manufacturing company in the construction industry as a going concern through the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy process.

Mr. Petrarca holds a B.A. in Economics from Rhode Island College, and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from The University of Rhode Island. He is a Certified Turnaround Professional, and is presently a member of the Turnaround Management Association and the Association for Corporate Growth. He also serves on the Board of Manager’s for the Hockomock YMCA.

Jeffrey O'Connor
Managing Director

Mr. O'Connor has over twenty-five years of experience in accounting and finance and has served in closely held and public companies in industries such as information technology, software, biotechnology, publishing, and manufacturing. Jeff specializes as an interim Chief Financial Officer and successfully manages the finance departments of companies ranging from start-ups to multi-million dollar corporations. His areas of expertise include finance and administration, audit planning, long-term and short-term budgeting and forecasting, SEC filings and planning and integration of acquisitions. Additionally, he has significant experience with debt refinancing, cash flow management, and implementing profitability improvements through cost reduction programs and revenue enhancement analysis. His client list includes Corporate [IT] Solutions, Inc., UltraSource, Inc., Applied Analysis, Inc. and Ergo Science Corporation

Jeff's work experience also includes several years of tax and auditing with KPMG LLP. He graduated with a BS in Accounting from Northeastern University.

Please Note: The O'Connor Group employs CPAs, but is not a licensed CPA firm.