Operational

Kawaru specializes in translating financing strategies into programs that operate efficiently. Our experience spans vendor programs, pure captives, and joint ventures. We understand processes, accounting requirements, finance, and systems. We have helped clients launch new programs, extend the reach and expand the profitability of well-running existing programs, and reinvent outdated models that aren’t producing the desired results.

Jim has worked in equipment financing since 1997. His interest began with a study of remarketing opportunities for a computer manufacturer who was about to be inundated with off-lease equipment. Applying his extensive supply-chain background, Jim and his team devised an operational approach for the remarketing function that is still at the forefront of the industry.

For example, in the 1980s, Jim was developing and implementing advanced forecasting and inventory management models that reduced finished goods and spare parts inventories by 25-50 percent. Later, Jim worked on "process reengineering" projects such as improving the core operations of a railroad and re-designing the order fulfillment process for a Fortune 500 food producer.

Jim’s recent experience also includes working with new customers for a start-up e-procurement services company, and running professional services for an early stage supply-chain software company. Jim has an A.B. degree in applied math from Harvard, an M.B.A. from Wharton, and a Master’s in Statistics from Stanford.