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Jason Mercer

VC Investor focused on supporting Black, Brown and Women management teams

Chicago, IL, USA

Cleveland Avenue

Cleveland Avenue

About

Jason has over ten years of work experience in Strategy, Finance and M&A related roles within multi-national and publicly traded organizations. Most recently in the food and beverage sector.

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State of Diversity in Chicago's VC Industry Webinar

Experience

  • Principal

    Cleveland Avenue

    January 2020 - Present • 4 yrs 3 mos

    Cleveland Avenue is a Chicago-based investment firm that strategically finances innovative food and beverage adjacent concepts.... read more

  • Business Manager, U.S. Consumer Retail

    Fonterra

    August 2018 - November 2019 • 1 yrs 4 mos

    • Manage P&L for Fonterra's US retail business • Identify and prioritize key markets and retailers to target for incremental sales volume and value • Develop and execute pricing and promotional strategies to spur growth and maximize returns. • Design and implement systems to ensure best-in-class sales intelligence (pricing, market, competitor, partnerships, and innovation)... read more

  • V.P., Transformation

    Fonterra

    April 2017 - August 2018 • 1 yrs 5 mos

    Lead strategic transformation deployment of NZMP Americas' strategy. Key aspects of the role include developing and executing: integrated business planning, M&A strategy and due diligence, trade strategy, and operation improvement initiatives.... read more

  • Director, Corporate Strategy

    TreeHouse Foods

    October 2014 - March 2017 • 2 yrs 6 mos

    - Work with senior company leaders to develop strategies that deliver against multiyear inorganic and organic growth objectives- Collaborate with primary business unit leads to manage annual operating plans consistent with multiyear aspirations- Conduct due diligence on potential acquisition targets and lead post close integration efforts- Perform analysis on categories, financials, customers and cost structure. Create structure and framework for integrated 3 year plan... read more

  • Manager, Strategy & Operations

    Deloitte Consulting

    August 2013 - September 2014 • 1 yrs 2 mos

    Recent Project Experience: - Post-merger integration (Industry: Financial Services): Structured the customer segmentation and migration plan for 1,100 customers moving from the acquired company’s ACH platform to the acquirer's ACH platform. Developed the resourcing model that was used to create the migration goals and estimated timing for each migration wave- Innovation Research: Assisted in a research effort that looked into the drivers of exceptional corporate performance. Drove the development and implementation of a commercialization strategy for the research and analysis- Cost Savings Analysis (Industry: Telecommunications): Assessed the future evolution of the telecommunications industry to identify opportunities for innovation and savings. Evaluated and prioritized savings opportunities using a combination of external benchmarking and internal analysis - Business/Market Valuation (Industry: Telecommunications): Conducted to a study to assess revenue and margin implications of a potential changes in the wireline/wireless businesses. Analyzed internal regional and product financials to calculate account profitability under various strategic scenarios... read more

Education

  • Stanford Graduate School of Business

    Master of Business Administration, General Management

    2007 - 2011

  • Morehouse College

    Bachelor of Arts, Business Adminstration; Finance

    2001 - 2005