Mark Amabile

United States
0 years old
5.0 1 Reviews
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Mark Amabile is the Founder & CEO of Washington Valley Advisors LLC, offering angel investment to startups and early stage companies as well as interim CFO/COO and business consultancy services specializing in startups and the advertising, media, marketing and professional services industries.
Opting for a career in the startup arena, Mark Amabile founded Washington Valley Advisors LLC in 2010. WVA is a business consultancy offering interim CFO/COO services in the start-up space. Whether assisting the founders of a new startup with the development of strategic plans, organizing fundraising or establishing and benchmarking KPI’s, he puts his enthusiasm and business expertise to good use, helping companies to make wise decisions as they move forward and grow.

Several WVA projects have included launching a technology startup in the shopping portal space; interim CFO services for SCVNGR/LevelUp, a high tech company based in Boston specializing in mobile payments and customer loyalty solutions where Amabile provided strategic and tactical guidance for the company’s $21 million Series D financing round; and seed funding and consulting for a biotech and medical device startup based in New Jersey.
Mark Amabile brings a strong educational background to the table. He has both a Bachelor of Business Administration as well as a Master of Business Administration degree, majoring in Accounting. Both degrees were obtained at Pace University in New York City, between 1981 and 1985 through the university’s accelerated program.

Amabile began his professional career in 1985 at Arthur Andersen LLP, based in New York City where he became a Certified Public Accountant. During his tenure at Arthur Andersen, he supervised and managed a number of client audit engagements across a diverse set of industries including real estate, manufacturing, small business and advertising. He was tasked with managing all aspects of audit engagements and client services, including SEC compliance issues.

In 1990, Mark Amabile joined DDB Needham Worldwide, Inc., a global advertising agency with its headquarters in New York City and part of Omnicom Group Inc. There, he began as Senior Financial Analyst and was quickly promoted to Vice President, Director of Worldwide Finance, responsible for global corporate functions including financial and capital budgeting/planning, consolidations, client profitability analysis, talent incentive plans and mergers and acquisitions. It was Mark Amabile who introduced the first integrated financial reporting and planning system across global agency operations utilizing Hyperion software as well as pioneering an agency-wide equipment leasing program.

In 1998, his broad corporate experience and success took Amabile and his family overseas to Sydney, Australia where he was appointed Group Finance Director for DDB Australia Pty. Ltd., a division of DDB Worldwide, Inc. There, Mark was responsible for overhauling and expanding the finances and operations for one of Australia’s largest advertising and marketing services groups, with businesses in creative and media advertising, digital, direct marketing, sales promotions and public relations across three cities and customer contact centers across Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia.

Amabile relocated back to the U.S. in 2000 to the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of OMD Worldwide, a global media planning and buying agency network of Omnicom Group Inc. by assembling and organizing the media assets within Omnicom across five continents in approximately 100 countries. After five years of award-winning success at OMD Worldwide, he was appointed Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Omnicom Media Group in 2005 and joined its Board of Directors.

During his ten years within the media division of Omnicom, Mark Amabile oversaw significant growth, both organically and through a number of acquisitions and startup entities in both traditional and digital media services including SEM, SEO and the group’s launch of a demand-side platform. During this time, Omnicom Media Group’s businesses also expanded into new territories such as China, India and the Middle East. He co-authored the media division’s holding company and shared services structure, which encompassed OMD Worldwide and PHD Worldwide, with the latter’s expansion as a second global media agency network; and introduced the business intelligence and procurement practices within the agency group. Amabile also oversaw finance, M&A, legal, IT and treasury and was a key contributor to the human resources practices of the division.
Recently in 2014, Mark Amabile has decided to enter the world of angel investing in early stage companies through Washington Valley Advisors. His passion is to work with entrepreneurs who have game-changing ideas who can benefit from his business acumen and experience garnered from a twenty-five plus year career. While his background lends itself to companies in the advertising and marketing technology space, he is open to investing in any industry.

As an angel investor, he can offer access to capital to those entrepreneurs seeking to begin their journey to create a new product or service within a new company. Having reviewed hundreds of acquisition and startup business proposals over his career, he can also offer sound consulting advice to startups and established companies seeking funding or contemplating a sale.

As a startup consultant, Amabile can offer entrepreneurs advice in a variety of areas, acting as a challenger to those who want to realize a vision as well as offer guidance as to what limited infrastructure will be necessary in order to keep track of the business operations, its important milestones and key performance indicators. One of Mark Amabile's particular strengths is challenging assumptions or visions as part of a constructive process of development and improvement. Particular areas of specialty include marketplace evaluation, business or revenue models, cash requirements and burn rate assumptions and overall valuation perspectives, as well as systems selection and implementation. Every new business will face a series of opportunities, hurdles and obstacles. Recognizing all of these early in the lifecycle of a new company will provide the best chance of effectively capitalizing on and dealing with them leading to a greater likelihood of success within their various sectors.

In 2014, Washington Valley Advisors has also added consultancy services in the complex advertising and marketing space, such as client/agency contract negotiations, agency reviews, best practices benchmarking, acquisition due diligence or sell-side advisory services. WVA is flexible in its business model and may lead these projects or partner with other consultants or advisors. He is well-versed in the myriad financial, legal and operational issues that business owners face. He is adept at team building, business-planning and assisting others with realizing their visions.

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Anonymous
5.0
12/07/2018 @ 02:41 am

I highly recommend Mark...world class auditor.

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Education
  • Pace University - Lubin School of Business , United States , New York, NY

    BBA & MBA, Accounting
    www.pace.edu/lubin
    08/1981 - 05/1985
Career History
  • Chief Financial Officer , United States , New York, NY

    www.scvngr.com
    04/2012 to 10/2012
  • CEO , United States , New York, NY

    www.washingtonvalleyadvisors.com
    10/2010 to 12/2099
  • Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer , United States , New York City

    www.omd.com
    09/2000 to 08/2005
  • Group Finance Director , Sydney, Australia

    not defined
    07/1998 to 08/2000
  • Director - Worldwide Finance , United States , New York, NY

    www.ddb.com
    01/1990 to 01/1998
  • Auditor , United States , New York, NY

    www.andersen.com/
    01/1985 to 01/1990
Family & Friends

No neighbors Specified

Core Competencies
  • Finance and Capital Raising
  • Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Professional Services
  • Start Up Consulting
  • Media Advertising
  • Business Intelligence
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Process Improvement
  • Business Plans
  • Angel Investment
Greatest Attributes

No Greatest Attributes Specified

Business Achievements

No Business Achievements Specified

Worst Failures in Business

No Worst Failures in Business Specified

Political Party

No Political Party Specified