Riding waves, ready for dips, swells

BETTER TIMES: Andera Chief Financial Officer Chris Burns joined the company in the midst of the financial crisis of late 2008. Despite this, he's been able to produce strong results. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL PERRSON
BETTER TIMES: Andera Chief Financial Officer Chris Burns joined the company in the midst of the financial crisis of late 2008. Despite this, he's been able to produce strong results. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL PERRSON

“We’re a people company,” said Andera Chief Financial Officer Chris Burns, speaking about the organization’s new offices. In November 2011, Andera moved from its two Westside locations to Downtown Providence, collecting its 87 employees under the same roof. Burns was the architect of this seismic company shift.
“With our old setup, connecting as a group was really difficult,” he said, walking past a common area where the motto “All Together Now” is stenciled on the wall. More than ever, he appreciates having impromptu meetings, or a collegial “by-the-way” thanks from a colleague for the open-plan atmosphere. The environment in which the company now exists means bright ideas aren’t lost through decentralization; they can be harnessed and successfully employed. After all, Andera is a people company – thanks to Burns.
Andera’s business is to provide customer-acquisition solutions to more than 500 progressive financial institutions nationwide, using multichannel software applications to improve their account opening, loan origination and lead-generation processes. In other words – thanks to Andera – a potential customer can be solicited, acquired and then walk into a bank or loan office, either physically or remotely, and apply using a tablet or smartphone.
Andera recognizes that banking has become less face-to-face and more interface to interface. Burns’ role in the midst of this trend has been to fortify business and grow it. Developing relationships with new investors, overseeing negotiations, managing acquisitions and generally having a guiding hand in all things financial has defined Burns as a cross between a very senior factotum and entrepreneurial Super Glue.
On the wall of the lobby is another symbol of the company’s ascending track. Less a representation of Burns’ logistical prowess, the collage made from tiny pink and green pigs shows the number “2.5.” “It’s kind of like our riff on McDonald’s ‘Over 250 Billion Served,’ ” joked Burns. Two point five million refers to the financial applications filed using the company’s much-sought-after software and correlates directly with growth: it is an undeniable fact of Burns’ three-and-a-half year tenure, where he’s found the sweet spot intersecting Andera’s capabilities and the desires of its clientele.
A roll call of his achievements in that time as the company’s first-ever CFO reads: Annual gross income up $2.3 million; employees up 27; new financial clients arriving at a clip of 20 to 40 per quarter; expanded customer base of financial institutions from 249 to nearly 600; and $15 million in fresh equity and debt capital.
Burns came aboard during the infamous fourth quarter of 2008. Morgan Stanley was on death’s door, Freddie and Fannie were tumbling as quickly as the Dow, and AIG was set to burst. He remembers describing his new opportunity to his wife. “She asked, ‘What’s the product?’ I told her that we’d be selling origination systems to the financial industry. Her response was, ‘Is that a good idea?’ ”
“If you can find what the market wants, you can grow on downticks and then do really well on the upticks,” he said.
Finding the “what” is one thing. Translating it into real business has shown Burns’ art of negotiation, something that Andera founder and CEO Charlie Kroll couldn’t be happier with.
“In late 2010, we closed a $10.3 million round of venture capital led by Edison Ventures. As CFO, Chris was directly involved in the negotiation, structuring, due diligence and execution of this transaction,” Kroll said. It was particularly complicated, he said, as it involved providing liquidity to several early shareholders along with negotiating and managing due diligence with multiple new investors.
“Chris is the primary arbiter of modifications made to customer agreements – negotiating directly with customers for most cases, and in exceptional cases, bringing in Andera’s outside counsel. Accommodating a large volume of new customers while at the same time maintaining consistency in our licensing terms is more art than science,” he said. “Due to Chris’ keen skill, we have been able to consistently grow our customer base,” he said. With true self-effacing largesse, Burns sends much of the kudos the way of his team. His thinking: “We have complementary business DNA. The toughest part of the job is acquiring the best people and retaining them.” The “All Together Now” motto doesn’t speak to only Andera’s unification, but also its cohesiveness.
“A balance sheet doesn’t show people, but they are the most important,” he said. To this, Burns’ ability to wield the axe or throw praise about like confetti might be his most important duty of all.
As companies grow, so do their capital structures. For Burns this means harkening to “financial angels” to invest. As Andera’s growth will attest, his nose for selecting the right kind of angel is impeccable. “An investor is a partner in a marriage that is more than just about the money,” noted Burns. “They are champions who don’t get in the way, but offer skills and opinion that matter.”
Maintaining a happy marriage has to do with good communication. “And like a marriage,” he added, “it’s good to be challenged and constructively locking horns. It helps push the process along.”
As CFO, Burns has employed three qualities in generating Andera’s success – real experience, business acumen, and that intangible quality that he receives bobbing on his surfboard waiting for the next wave. “It’s where I do my best thinking,” said the Middletown native of his time on the water. “There’s an elemental philosophy I don’t get anywhere else. And, you’ll be surprised who you run into. I’ve met CPA accountants out there, and while we wait we talk shop.” •

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