JANICE MORRIS
Entrepreneurial-minded executive with extensive experience leading all facets of business and financial operations across diverse industries-generating millions of dollars to top and bottom lines.
About Me.
Team Leadership
Successful directing high-powered finance, accounting, and operational teams that collaborate as focused units to achieve aggressive business goals.
Board Relationships
Particularly effective leveraging Board/stakeholder relationships, system/process improvements, and negotiation skills to maximize performance and ROI across operations.
Growth
Passionate and proven leader with strong commitment to promote culture of growth, partnership, and seizing business opportunities thought to be impossible.
Bottom Line
Serve as a catalyst in change management, aligning and leveraging cross-functional disciplines to deliver efficiencies and bottom-line results.
Achievements.
SUCCESS STORIES
Financial Administration & Reporting
- $100,000+ cut in external fees annually by installing the first company-wide financial reporting system that consolidated accounting services for development activities, property management, and construction. Read Full Story
- Completed annual budget within 90 days by automating the $300 million annual budgetary process for 5 companies and 65 budget centers.
- Gained access to $90 million of available project financing with three national banking institutions by restructuring corporate governance of 45+ limited liability companies using the centralized holding company’s legal structure.
- 30% increase in financial operations productivity realized as a result of pioneering an inter-departmental process improvement program aimed at eliminating unnecessary accounting processes.
- Developed and implemented written procedures and internal controls to direct 65 financial and operational team members, eliminating all critical management letter comments in the annual financial statement audit.
- Achieved a 75% decrease in monthly accounting closing processes by serving as project manager for an interdepartmental team to conduct research and negotiate contract pricing and maintenance fees for installation.
Sales / Pricing / Underwriting
- Designed, built, and implemented the first company-wide, activity-based cost accounting system that became the foundation to price $35 million of administrative services into group health insurance contracts. Read Full Story
- A record $125 million in gross revenue generated while eliminating $75,000 in duplicate operating expenses by collaborating with the President, EVP, and VP of Sales to implement tactical sales goals.
- $100 million in additional revenues seen as a result of working with the development committee to research new market opportunities for both national and international insurance operations, as well as e-commerce business solutions.
- Led team to meet a strategic plan goal of $85 million in annual risk premiums by presenting underwriting and pricing workshops to educate sales personnel on profitable insurance pricing practices.
Board Relationships
- Delivered investment returns for five consecutive years that matched industry benchmark goals for 12 corporations and five employee benefit plans. Read Full Story
- 40% cut to the company’s operating expense ratio achieved while increasing revenues $600 million by executing a Board of Directors and Senior Management Committee-sponsored program.
- Reached agreement with board of managing members to offer up to 25% in ownership opportunities for top performance, resulting in double-digit revenue increases for five consecutive years.
Operations Management
- Secured a $500,000 budget from the Senior Management Committee to reengineer the mailroom and printing operations into a fully digitized company-wide service bureau that managed 30+ million printed images annually. Read Full Story
- Ranked as a top 25 property management company in company’s first year of operation by creating, hiring industry experts, and launching property management and leasing company to service one million square feet of commercial office, industrial, and retail properties.
Treasury & Investment Portfolio Management
- Captured $15 million of investment sales to generate unprecedented profits within three years, de-leveraging the investment portfolio 20% and driving investor internal rates of return to approximately 30%. Read Full Story
- Created $25 million in capital asset sales at peak cap-rate thresholds, and disposal or rezoning of 400+ residential lots in anticipation of the national real estate recession.
Joint Ventures / Partnerships / Acquisitions
- $100 million, or 400%, increase in investment portfolios seen within the first four years of a 10-year strategic business plan. Read Full Story
- Paved the way for regulatory expansion rights in 30+ new states as a member of the merger and acquisition team alongside the Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Counsel, and Manager of Statutory Reporting.
Commercial Real Estate
- $3.6 million generated in immediate sales, $3 million increased in appraised value, and loan balance brought into compliance with lender requirements by creating a counter-sales plan strategy to rezone a signature 150-acre mixed-use development in order to right-size the loan facility.
- 70% expansion to the company’s real estate investment portfolio achieved by increasing visibility in a key suburb trade area and negotiating the acquisition of a new $17 million office building.
Government Contracting
- $3.5 million added in unplanned profits to the company’s bottom line by reprogramming activity-based cost accounting for compliance with the U.S. Department of Defense Cost Accounting Standards.
- Provided expertise as an advisor and member of a national government-contracting business team that successfully bid, negotiated, and won a $1.7 billion federal government contract with the U.S. Department of Defense that produced double-digit profit margins for five consecutive years.
Enterprise Accounting System Integrates JV Operations
Startup company needed to install an enterprise financial reporting system to account for the joint venture’s rapidly expanding operations. Existing staff did not have expertise in enterprise accounting systems that were designed for the commercial real estate industry.
Formed a staff committee to lead a request for proposal to three industry software service providers. Directed committee to present business proposals to automate development, property management, and construction accounting services into one company-wide financial reporting system. Simulated flowcharts of the company’s proposed operations to determine the “best fit” software that balanced the costs of installation against the benefits to the company.
$100,000 reduction to annual external accounting and property management fees achieved by drawing from extensive experience in financial reporting systems and information technology projects to create a highly efficient solution for a startup company.
Sales Planning & Pricing Drive Multimillion-Dollar Revenue Strategy
Gross revenues were expanding at rate of 20% annually, and pricing administrative services required development of the first cost accounting system based on activity-based accounting principles. However, actuaries and sales personnel did not want to accept the use of cost accounting principles to price administrative services.
Championed the development of an interdepartmental team comprised of key stakeholders from the sales, marketing, actuarial, underwriting, and operations departments to develop activity-based categories for direct and indirect cost structures. Models were built and tested by the team to gain universal standards that all management could embrace for pricing administrative services.
Cost accounting became a dominate factor in achieving a $600 million revenue increase and a 40% cut to the company’s operating expense ratio as part of a senior management initiative.
Informed Board Galvanized to Approve Sound Investment Polices
Investment policies statements were outdated, inconsistent, and not in compliance with the state departments of Insurance and Regulatory Affairs. State laws required each individual state’s board of directors to approve the new investment policies, but a majority of the directors lacked investment knowledge or regulatory experience and were resistant to approving investment policy changes.
Corporate counsel and external investment portfolio consultants were commissioned by investment department to provide educational programs to the directors. Surveys were disseminated to the directors to measure risk tolerance and asset allocation preferences. Staff charted these preferences to state insurance regulatory requirements and created new investment policy statements to govern the $400 million investment portfolios.
The combined $400 million investment portfolios achieved top-quartile performance by matching or exceeding the S&P 500 investment returns and Lehman Brothers Intermediate Treasury index returns for five consecutive years.
IT Infrastructure Implementation Streamlines Operations
The advancement of electronic media and publishing software required the replacement of the company’s mechanical inked-based printing systems. Information technology personnel did not support the use of large-scale computing and printing equipment outside of the company’s centralized data operations center or the use of unionized workers to operate the equipment.
Engaged bargaining unit employees to participate in research, selection, preparation of budget approvals, and installation of the new technology. Built unprecedented commitment by union workers to operate advanced computing systems. Recruited Information Technology personnel to participate in the training process and provide linkage of the Docutech system to the company’s LAN-based computing systems and servers.
Company in-sourced 100% of its printed marketing and provider communication materials, reducing turnaround times from several weeks to less than five business days and was awarded a $500,000 capital budget to purchase equipment.
Expert Portfolio Management Boosts Sales & Savings
Market demand for commercial real estate properties were setting new record highs due to the growth of 1031 Exchange powerhouses. Company was presented with opportunities to dispose of several retail properties at unprecedented profits. Investors were letting purchase agreements with the stipulation that occupancy rates must be a minimum of 85% and deferred maintenance cost must be less than 5% of the purchase price.
Assembled a capital investment sales team to analyze the company’s investment portfolio and earmark which assets would qualify for a quick sale. Engaged leasing brokers to fortify existing lease terms and push occupancy rates above the investor purchase requirements. Added exclusive land positions to the available for-sale list to deleverage the portfolio where market saturation was identified.
Approximately $15 million of investment sales occurred within three years, generating unprecedented profits. This achievement demonstrates executive leadership and financial modeling skills, as well as sharpened knowledge and insight to assess and capitalize on abnormal market conditions.
Innovative Ownership Structure Propels Startup JV to Success
Three independent entrepreneurs agreed to form a new commercial real estate holding company to grow their collective investment portfolio assets from $33 million to $250 million within 10 years. Being a startup joint venture, neither entrepreneur had existing legal or operating structures to serve as the umbrella company to drive forward the new strategic business plan.
Researched commercial real estate laws and tax regulations. Provided the guiding principles to create three new LLCs that were designed to partition different investment classes into safe havens based on market focus: commercial, residential, and brokerage/property management. Utilized negotiation skills learned from government contracting, modeled different ownership structures based on the initial capital contributions that each entrepreneur would invest, and tilted ownership percentages more favorably toward individuals with proven expertise in the different market disciplines.
Invested assets grew from $33 million to approximately $125 million in less than four years by being able to negotiate and communicate to gain buy-in from vastly different sources.
Work History.

EDUCATION
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (Management)
CERTIFIED MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANT
- 800+ continuing education hours in accounting, finance, and investments
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