• DON HAWLEY

    Partner – Cannabis and Agriculture/Wine Business

    “Trusted advisor with hands-on experience as C-suite executive and consultant in startups, emerging growth; hyper-growth situations”

    Don is a trusted advisor with hands-on experience as C-suite executive and consultant in startups, emerging growth & hyper-growth situations. His years of experience in early-stage strategic planning, leading to well thought-out business plans and management systems, help achieve desired goals.  

    Don helps clients based on his comprehensive global financial and operational management experience. Recent clients include complex and fast paced cannabis, agricultural-based companies. 

    His accounting, finance and operational experiences include, and are not limited to:

    • Strategy development, implementation, company transformation, acquisitions and divestitures
    • Financial and operational systems implementations
    • Profitability, and cash flow improvement programs
    • Improve financial governance and accounting processes
    • Treasury operations, international business
    • Legal operations
    • Human resources
    • Sales development
    • Product line general management

    Clients value his technical expertise and functional experience in senior financial and operational management across a broad spectrum of industries, including consumer products, sporting goods, telecommunications, technology, green tech.

    His past corporate roles include Deloitte CPA, Emerging Growth Consulting, Controller & CFO roles in consumer products, technology, and telecommunications companies for 15 years and President & CEO roles in telecommunication and green tech companies for 15 years.  Don has led 40 buy & sell-side M&A transactions and led strategic sales and IPO exits. 

    Don thrives on business challenges. No situation is too complex for him. He is willing and capable to balance current business and technology trends with tried-and-true business and financial management practices from his own hands-on experience.

    Don’s passion for the early-stage, hyper-growth through strategic exit relates to his early life as a passionate team player in baseball, basketball, and football. Don is most proud of being elected captain by his peers on most of these teams.  He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.S in Accounting & Finance. While majoring in Accounting in the School of Business there, he worked for a professor as paper-grader and junior consultant in the professors consulting practice.  After graduation, he became a California CPA. He began his professional career with an initial focus on emerging growth clients at Deloitte, a top- tier international CPA & Consulting firm. His scope continues to expand into contemporary opportunities such as cannabis and Ag Tech. Don married and raised 3 children in Danville for more than 30 years. Don has now moved “back home” to San Jose where he grew up.

    Don serves on advisory boards, private school boards, and held positions as Chairman and Director, including director of Valley Advisory Group, a pro bono entity providing consulting services to early-stage companies while living in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Don has donated time to his alma mater, Cal’s engineering department to assist engineering students in developing business plans to launch their invented products into the marketplace through licensing, direct sales and manufacturing.

    602-695-8020