Resume of
Ralph C. Aikman
Mr. Aikman, the
President of Candlewood Consultants, has 15 years experience providing investment banking
and financial consulting services to a wide variety of corporate and government
organizations. Prior to that, he worked in finance and strategic planning positions for
major multinational corporations.
Professional Experience
1990-Present
President, Candlewood Consultants, New Fairfield, Connecticut,
Over the past eight years,
Mr. Aikman has provided the same investment banking services that he provided at MMG
Patricof, including corporate valuations, merger and acquisition advice and negotiation,
litigation support, corporate analysis, business development, and strategic planning
consulting. Clients have operations in all areas of the United States, as well as in
foreign countries including Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Japan, and China.
1984-1990 Vice-President, MMG Patricof
& Co. Capital Corp., New York, NY,
During his tenure with this multinational investment
banking/venture capital firm, Mr. Aikman designed securities and provided fairness
opinions relating to going-private and merger and acquisition transactions. He wrote
offering memoranda and assisted in securing financing in transactions of up to $600
million in value. He valued common and preferred stocks, debt, tangible and intangible
assets, partnership interests, etc. of publicly and privately held companies for
acquisition and divestiture, estate and gift tax reporting, buy/sell agreements,
recapitalizations, stock repurchases, litigation, and general corporate planning purposes.
He also conducted seminars for legal firms and other audiences on the subject of business
valuation.
1981-1984 Managing Director, Standard Research Consultants, New York, NY,
Mr. Aikman provided going-concern valuations with respect to
recapitalizations, estate tax, litigation, and other purposes for clients with interests
in such varied fields as automobile parts, defense contracting, apparel and fabric
manufacturing, clothing and accessories, retail sales, computer hardware and software,
cable television, restaurants, professional sports, publishing, food and beverage,
materials handling, toys and games, construction, oil & gas exploration, oil drilling
equipment, natural gas utilities and pipelines, coal and other minerals, farming and
ranching, real estate, insurance, gambling, building materials, and wine-making.
1976-1981 VP, Strategic Planning, United Brands Corporation, New York, NY,
In this position, reporting directly to the Chairman, Mr. Aikman
was responsible for analyzing and making recommendations regarding the future direction of
this multinational produce, meat, soft drink and communications company. Among his major
achievements were the following:
The relocation of fruit and vegetable distribution facilities in
France and Belgium, closing unprofitable facilities and opening new ones to most
efficiently serve shifting populations.
The development of a plan for branding oranges, grapefruits, and
other fruits to maximize the value of an internationally-known brand name.
The development of a computer-based decision system to enable a major
international shipping company to compare the economics of purchasing versus leasing
ships.
The development of a strategic plan to limit the United Fruit
Company’s financial and political exposure in destabilizing Central American
countries so as to best protect sources of fruit, corporate assets, and profitability.
The construction of a methanol plant in Indiana to take advantage of
a localized surplus of corn and the escalation of worldwide petroleum prices.
The implementation of banana, oil palm, and other fruit and vegetable
projects in Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Columbia, Ecuador, The Canary
Islands, Guadeloupe, and North Africa.
The implementation of a cost accounting and allocation system for a
Mexican subsidiary that produced over 500 food products, enabling management to determine
which products were profitable and which were not.
Prior to being promoted to the strategic planning position, Mr. Aikman
several positions of increasing responsibility in the finance department, including
directing the overall corporate financial function of over fifty employees spread among
almost twenty countries.
1966-1976 Various positions in finance and engineering
During this period, Mr. Aikman held various positions of increasing
responsibility in engineering at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, NY, where he worked on a
project designing cameras for spy-in-the-sky satellites and the lunar orbiter. He worked
in corporate finance at Polaroid in Cambridge, MA and in financial consulting at Abt
Associates and Charleswater Associates, both in the Boston area.
Education
1970 Harvard University Graduate School of Business, Boston, MA M.B.A.
1966 Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA B.S. Mechanical Engineering,
Other Interests
Mr. Aikman has worked with computers since he was a student at Georgia
Tech 30 years ago. He has a great deal of experience with computer hardware and software,
and is proficient in Word, Excel, CorelDraw, and various other software applications and
utilities, as well as the Internet.
While a graduate student at Harvard, Mr. Aikman edited and published a
weekly stock market advisory service newsletter, which was distributed to over 400
subscribers at its peak. He also wrote a weekly column on finance and investing for the
student newspaper, The Harbus News.
In the 1980s, Mr. Aikman conducted wine tasting classes and seminars
for business people and others interested in learning about wine tasting and wine
appreciation in the NYC area and elsewhere. He continues to be interested in wine tasting,
and has a cellar of over 3,000 bottles.
Among his other varied interests are basketball, horse racing,
gardening, woodworking, and tropical fish. He has an adult daughter.
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