Ann Vickers
Chief Executive Officer
Ann leads the strategic direction of the company. She brings over 20 years of financial experience in a broad range of industry segments served by Charles River CFO, including life sciences and high technology. Her experience includes venture-backed emerging as well as publicly traded companies but her passion lies with entrepreneurial start-ups. She is an entrepreneur at heart and has enjoyed recognition as one of Inc. 500′s Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America.
Prior to founding Charles River CFO in 2003, Ann provided CFO services to life sciences companies including InfraReDx and Modular Genetics. Previous to that, Ann was the CFO of one of the Acordia companies and one of the subsidiaries of Cleveland Clinic. Starting her career in public accounting, she worked for 10 years in the audit divisions of Ernst & Young and Deloitte. She holds a B.A. in Accounting from the University of West Florida and is a CPA in both Massachusetts and Florida. Ann was a CEO Forum member of The Commonwealth Institute for nine years.
Connie Wright
President
Connie is responsible for business development and expansion at Charles River CFO. She sits on the board of directors and the audit and gala committees at the Center for Women and Enterprise. Connie is also on the audit committee for the MetroWest YMCA. She is currently the Campaign Treasurer for the Massachusetts Senate President, Karen Spilka.
Connie advises companies on accounting and finance matters and specializes in M&A, SOX, and SAS 115. Previously, she was the Managing Partner of Patina Solutions - Boston Practice. Prior to that, Connie was the Managing Director - Client Services, of Accounting Management Solutions where she ran both the Boston and New York practices. Previous to that, Connie was the Managing Director of Resources Global Professionals – Boston Office which she helped to take public in December of 2000. Connie started her career at Deloitte (formerly Touche Ross) in the San Francisco Bay Area in Audit after graduating from Stanford University.
Gardner leads our High Technology Services Practice and serves in a CFO role for our clients. He has 40 years of experience in the high technology and communications industries as well as public accounting. Gardner has a diverse financial background and is experienced in taking companies public, SEC reporting, revenue recognition, raising capital, cash flow forecasting, mergers and acquisitions, business integration and taxation.
Gardner has worked in privately held corporations as well as emerging and large public corporations. He has held leadership positions at BBN Technologies, Verizon and Frontier Communications. Gardner is a CPA and a graduate of Hofstra University with a B.B.A in Accounting and Bentley University with a M.S. in Taxation.
Gardner Oleson
High Technology Practice Leader
Robin leads our Life Sciences Practice and serves in a CFO role for our clients. With over 25 years of experience, her background includes working with Biotechnology, Healthcare, Financial Services and Professional Services. She utilizes her experience with corporate transactions to help her clients through the preparation for and completion of mergers and acquisitions, including navigating the expectations and requests of investment bankers and potential buyers.
Robin's professional career began in public accounting working at McGladrey & Pullen (now RSM) in Iowa City and Price Waterhouse (now PwC) in Kansas City. Her background also includes a heavy emphasis in internal controls gained through her eight years in public accounting as well as six years at positions in internal audit and financial controls at BankBoston and Fidelity Investments. Robin received a BS in Accounting from Truman State University and holds her CPA license.
Robin Feeney
Life Sciences Practice Leader
John F. Gillespie
Nonprofit and Social Enterprise
Practice Leader
John delivers and manages CFO and outsourced accounting services for client engagements in the nonprofit and social enterprise sectors and is a key part of the senior team with responsibility for business development, client management, recruiting, and marketing. With more than 40 years of experience working with over 200 pre-revenue to multi-billion dollar companies, including Acumen Fund, Ashoka, Barnes & Noble, Share Our Strength, Grameen Foundation and the National Cooperative Business Association, John leverages his in-the-trenches CFO expertise to guide CEOs and boards on how to grow their enterprises in a strategic manner, implementing specific courses of action to improve the bottom line.
John has been featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, NonProfit Times, Entrepreneur.com, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Investors’ Circle Entrepreneur Newsletter, and other publications. John received his MBA from Boston College, where he was awarded the “Most Valuable Contribution to the MBA Program”.
James leads our Tax Services Practice and serves in the CFO role for business clients who request ongoing assistance with managing and minimizing taxation. He has saved our clients hundreds of thousands of dollars in R&D tax credits. James also leads our technical accounting projects, specializing in complex areas including mergers & acquisitions, equity accounting, revenue recognition, etc.
James has over 20 years of broad-based experience in various industries serving small, medium, and large enterprises. Prior to joining Charles River CFO in 2014, James operated his accounting firm which provided tax, accounting, auditing, and CFO services to clients throughout the globe with a specific focus on Asia and Europe. James was originally trained in external audit at Ernst & Young. He holds a B.S. in Accountancy from Bentley University and is a CPA in Massachusetts.
