Revitalization Partners hired former corporate executive and senior advisor Richard von Riesen, who has more than 30 years of experience in CEO, chief operating officer and CFO roles as a senior financial, strategic planning and business development executive. His resume features experience in the technology, retail, healthcare, aerospace and nonprofit sectors.
Recently, von Riesen served as executive chairman for a NASA-approved scientific imaging company working on the agency’s spaceflight testing of launch and recovery systems. During his four-year tenure, the company received three NASA Group Achievement Awards. He also earned NASA’s Silver Achievement Award for his work in support of the joint NASA SHARC/JAXA Hayabusa spacecraft recovery mission in Australia.
Over the past three decades, von Riesen has led multiple corporate restructurings, including the successful turnaround of a large gas station and convenience store that was $2.5 million in debt and ranked 9,600th of 10,000 franchise locations for volume and revenue at the time of engagement. After embarking on a four-plus-year overhaul of accounting, pricing strategy, signage, traffic patterns, merchandising and employee recruitment/retention, the location ultimately achieved a five times increase in net revenue, placing it second out of 10,000 franchised stores. Its subsequent exit attained the second highest sale price of 1,500 sale transactions within the Pacific Northwest during that year.
Other of von Risen’s success stories include joining a struggling healthcare company as CFO, refining its business model and strategy and successfully raising $7.3 million to finance its expansion. The company was later acquired, resulting in a successful exit for investors. Additionally, while serving as board member and treasurer for a multi-million-dollar Seattle nonprofit, von Riesen restructured the financial systems and strategic plan, producing the first cash-positive year of operations in more than two decades.
His international turnaround and restructuring experience includes advising organizations ranging from a consumer facing software-as-a-service application in London to a financial services firm based in Shanghai. Currently, von Riesen serves as an advisor to the CEO of a large historic site owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
