Mark Garavaglia joins Catalyst as a Strategic Finance Advisor, bringing more than three decades of executive leadership across finance, operations, and strategic growth. For more than a decade, he served as Business Unit Leader and Operations Manager at Cardno ChemRisk shaping growth strategies through organic expansion and M&A. Most notably, he served from 2007 to 2012 as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer of ChemRisk, LLC, a high-end scientific consulting firm, where he oversaw finance, accounting, operations, tax planning, and mergers and acquisitions.
Under his leadership, the firm tripled its gross revenue from $8.5 million to $26 million in five years while sustaining a 22% gross margin, expanding into markets including Southern California, Chicago, Brooklyn, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Recognizing that 90% of revenue depended on just two principals, he broadened the firm's base to 14 revenue-generating experts and led its conversion from a single-member S-Corp to a 14-member LLC to retain top talent. He also established the firm's Management Committee, designed its retention and incentive programs, modernized operations through three system conversions and its first CRM platform, and ultimately structured and executed the firm's sale to Cardno in 2012.
Earlier, as Executive Vice President of Finance and Operations at Cencal Insurance Services, Inc., he authored the business and financial plans that guided a financial services organization from its infancy to $115 million in sales while increasing earnings by 43%.
