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Coverage report.

Chief Financial Officer
Harbor Lane Foods

Prepared forSearch team, Harbor Lane Foods CFO
Prepared byFindem Research · September 2026
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCover  ·  01 / 27
Findem coverage report

Engagement overview

Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportEngagement overview  ·  02 / 27
The mandate

The success profile

Functional background

  • Sitting CFO of a distribution or adjacent business; the primary gate.
  • Sponsor and board reporting cadence in a PE-backed company.
  • Buy-side M&A led from the CFO seat, diligence through integration.

Scale & operating context

  • Revenue in or near the $200M to ~$1B band; above-band leaders scored down, not excluded.
  • Distribution economics: high SKU count, route-to-customer, thin margins. Food and foodservice distribution is the closest analog.
  • Growth-oriented finance leadership over pure controllership.

Seniority & title

  • Enterprise CFO preferred. Group, regional and divisional CFOs in scope.
  • Step-down titles (VP Finance, Head of Finance, CAO) mapped and ranked lower, never dropped.
  • BA/BS required; CPA or MBA preferred.

Geography & mobility

  • Massachusetts and Rhode Island proximity is a ranking factor, not a filter.
  • US national search; tenure stability weighted.
  • Full career arc read; current title alone does not screen anyone out.
ExclusionsHarbor Lane Foods and Gourmet Lane (subject company and affiliate) · Sponsor portfolio companies · Three named individuals held off-limits by the search team
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportThe mandate  ·  03 / 27
The mandate

Candidate scorecard methodology

01

Sitting CFO today

PRIMARY GATE

Currently holds the CFO seat (enterprise, group or regional) at a target or peer company. Strong: enterprise CFO with full P&L and board exposure.

02

PE-backed operating experience

CFO of a sponsor-backed company with direct sponsor and board reporting. Strong: has been through a hold period and an exit or recapitalization.

03

Buy-side M&A from the CFO seat

Has led acquisitions as CFO, from diligence through integration. Strong: multiple add-ons inside a platform build.

04

Revenue scale $200M to ~$1B

Has run finance for a business in or near the band. Strong: grew a business through the band. Above-band leaders are scored down, not excluded.

05

Distribution industry depth

DIFFERENTIATOR

Food, foodservice or adjacent distribution. Manufacturing and route-based services are adjacent. Strong: specialty or foodservice distribution.

Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportThe mandate  ·  04 / 27
Search strategy

Where we looked

7 segments defined for this search. Every supplied company is shown.

S1PRIMARY

Specialty & foodservice distribution · 1/2

★ Lantern Foods★ FreshlineHarborview Specialty Foods

Given
6
Yielded
5
People
14
S1PRIMARY

Specialty & foodservice distribution · continued 2/2

Ash & Elm ProvisionsNorthgate Food PartnersBramble’s

Given
6
Yielded
5
People
14
S2PRIMARY

Packaging & facility-supply distribution

PackOne★ Imperial CrestBradyPlus Supply

Given
3
Yielded
3
People
18
S3SECONDARY

Branded food manufacturing

Shearwater FoodsBakeHouse BrandsStonefield Kitchen

Given
3
Yielded
2
People
6
S4SECONDARY

PE-backed home & field services platforms · 1/3

★ Service Ridge★ Apex Field PartnersAptive Home

Given
7
Yielded
6
People
28
S4SECONDARY

PE-backed home & field services platforms · continued 2/3

Wrench CollectiveSila Home ServicesHawkline

Given
7
Yielded
6
People
28
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportSearch strategy  ·  05 / 27
Search strategy

Where we looked

7 segments defined for this search. Every supplied company is shown.

S4SECONDARY

PE-backed home & field services platforms · continued 3/3

Groundmark

Given
7
Yielded
6
People
28
S5SECONDARY

Route-based & environmental services · 1/2

Interstate Waste PartnersWinWaste InnovationsRockit Pest

Given
5
Yielded
4
People
9
S5SECONDARY

Route-based & environmental services · continued 2/2

PestCo HoldingsCERTIS

Given
5
Yielded
4
People
9
S6ADJACENT

Parts & equipment distribution

Marcone PartsDiversified Foodservice Supply

Given
2
Yielded
2
People
4
S7PEER

Peer companies added to widen the map · 1/7

★ Gordon Food PartnersC&L Wholesale GrocersChefs’ Depot

Given
20
Yielded
17
People
50
S7PEER

Peer companies added to widen the map · continued 2/7

★ KeyHE Distributors★ Reiter Affiliated Farms★ Parts Authority

Given
20
Yielded
17
People
50
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportSearch strategy  ·  06 / 27
Search strategy

Where we looked

7 segments defined for this search. Every supplied company is shown.

S7PEER

Peer companies added to widen the map · continued 3/7

★ Parts TownLegacy Food GroupmSupply

Given
20
Yielded
17
People
50
S7PEER

Peer companies added to widen the map · continued 4/7

Sweeping Corp of AmericaSSI Fire & SafetyPave America

Given
20
Yielded
17
People
50
S7PEER

Peer companies added to widen the map · continued 5/7

MopecHeritage-MEPDaida

Given
20
Yielded
17
People
50
S7PEER

Peer companies added to widen the map · continued 6/7

ZEO EnergyPetMartDr. Praeger’s

Given
20
Yielded
17
People
50
S7PEER

Peer companies added to widen the map · continued 7/7

PerkinAlderOpenRoad Technologies

Given
20
Yielded
17
People
50

company with at least one Bullseye · greyed chip: resolved or entered, no finance leaders returned · people = delivered rows before dedupe

Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportSearch strategy  ·  07 / 27
Section 02

Coverage.

46 companies canvassed, 124 finance leaders evaluated against the success profile, 99 of them at Potential Fit or better. This section shows where they came from and where the map is thin.

Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  08 / 27
Coverage · summary

Coverage at a glance

Companies

46

Companies given26 target companies in six segments plus 20 peer companies

44

Companies resolved2 kept as exact-name filters (Service Ridge, CERTIS); resolution does not gate yield

39

Companies with finance leaders found7 returned nobody: 4 target, 3 peer

People

129

People surfacedDelivered rows before dedupe

124

People evaluatedUnique people after removing 5 nickname and spelling duplicates

99

Potential Fit or betterBullseye 14 · Good Fit 39 · Potential Fit 46

Fit tiers · 124 evaluated

14
39
46
25

Title level

41Enterprise CFO
33VP / SVP Finance, Head of Finance
20Group, regional or divisional CFO
30CAO, Controller, FP&A lead

Relationship

122current employees · 2 former, surfaced incidentally

Review

124profiles to review before outreach

A dedicated alumni pass was not run on this map.

Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  09 / 27
Coverage · segment yield

Who came back from each segment

1 of 2

S1

Specialty & foodservice distribution

6 listed companies · 6 given · 5 yielded

Current 0Former 0Unknown 141 dot = 1 person
14
S2

Packaging & facility-supply distribution

3 listed companies · 3 given · 3 yielded

Current 0Former 0Unknown 181 dot = 1 person
18
S3

Branded food manufacturing

3 listed companies · 3 given · 2 yielded

Current 0Former 0Unknown 61 dot = 1 person
6
S4

PE-backed home & field services platforms

7 listed companies · 7 given · 6 yielded

Current 0Former 0Unknown 281 dot = 1 person
28
S5

Route-based & environmental services

5 listed companies · 5 given · 4 yielded

Current 0Former 0Unknown 91 dot = 1 person
9
S6

Parts & equipment distribution

2 listed companies · 2 given · 2 yielded

Current 0Former 0Unknown 41 dot = 1 person
4
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  10 / 27
Coverage · segment yield

Who came back from each segment

2 of 2

S7

Peer companies added to widen the map

20 listed companies · 20 given · 17 yielded

Current 0Former 0Unknown 501 dot ≈ 2 people
50
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  11 / 27
Coverage · by company

Companies: what we found

1 of 4

All 26 named target companies, ranked by yield within the table. Zero rows are shown deliberately; the reason is in the last column. Full ranked list per company is in the roster.

CompanyPeopleBest fitTop person found / outcome
S1Lantern Foods4BullseyeZed GarvinCFO
S1Freshline3BullseyeWes SableCFO · in seat 3 mo
S1Harborview Specialty Foods3Good fitVlad SinatraCFO
S1Ash & Elm Provisions2Good fitDonal JenksCFO
S1Northgate Food Partners2Good fitRob ParkhurstCFO · in seat 6 mo
S1Bramble’s0Noneresolved, no finance leaders visible
S2PackOne11Good fitMarc RufusCFO, PackOne New England · 5 regional CFOs
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  12 / 27
Coverage · by company

Companies: what we found

2 of 4

CompanyPeopleBest fitTop person found / outcome
S2Imperial Crest4BullseyeFarid KahnCFO
S2BradyPlus Supply3Good fitNigel KershCFO
S3Shearwater Foods3Good fitSteve FuchsCFO
S3BakeHouse Brands3Good fitEric TisdaleCFO
S3Stonefield Kitchen0Nonesurfaced in prior run, not this one
S4Service Ridge8BullseyeScott WolinskiCFO · 4 group CFOs
S4Apex Field Partners7BullseyeDan BronsenCFO
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  13 / 27
Coverage · by company

Companies: what we found

3 of 4

CompanyPeopleBest fitTop person found / outcome
S4Aptive Home6Good fitMark LawsonCFO · 3 near-duplicates removed
S4Wrench Collective4Good fitScott QuesnellCFO
S4Sila Home Services2Potential fitRachael WallisCFO
S4Hawkline1Potential fitBrent Engelformer CFO, now board advisor · former
S4Groundmark0Not resolvedentity binding ambiguous; two known finance leaders missed
S5Interstate Waste Partners3Good fitMichael KinnairdCFO · in seat 10 mo
S5WinWaste Innovations2Good fitDoug WilsonCFO
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  14 / 27
Coverage · by company

Companies: what we found

4 of 4

CompanyPeopleBest fitTop person found / outcome
S5Rockit Pest2Potential fitBrett EllisonCFO
S5PestCo Holdings2Potential fitValeri S.CFO
S5CERTIS0Not resolvednot resolved; known CFO missed
S6Marcone Parts2Potential fitKurt BrunningCFO
S6Diversified Foodservice Supply2Potential fitMarion DemelloCFO / COO
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  15 / 27
Coverage · by company

Peer companies: what we found

1 of 3

20 companies added at setup because the reference list showed finance leaders there. They contribute 50 of 129 rows and 6 of 14 Bullseyes.

CompanyPeopleBest fitTop person found / outcome
S7Gordon Food Partners8BullseyeRyan FischerCFAO
S7C&L Wholesale Grocers6Good fitKevin McNameeCFO
S7Chefs’ Depot6Good fitJohn AustenCFO · public company
S7KeyHE Distributors5BullseyeMichael JohnsCFO · in seat 6 mo
S7Reiter Affiliated Farms4BullseyeEduardo SeineEVP, CFO
S7Parts Authority3BullseyeJason CalabroEVP & CFO
S7Parts Town3BullseyeGlenn ChambersCFO
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  16 / 27
Coverage · by company

Peer companies: what we found

2 of 3

CompanyPeopleBest fitTop person found / outcome
S7Legacy Food Group2Good fitHeidi M.CFO
S7mSupply2Potential fitRaymond AndrusCFO · wrong-domain citation, review
S7Sweeping Corp of America2Potential fitKelly RicciCFO · former Groundmark
S7SSI Fire & Safety2Potential fitJohn HemansCFO
S7Pave America2Potential fitKyle FiskCFO · in seat 4 mo
S7Mopec1Potential fitMike HouleCFO · in seat 1 mo
S7Heritage-MEP1Potential fitJohn R.CFO
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  17 / 27
Coverage · by company

Peer companies: what we found

3 of 3

CompanyPeopleBest fitTop person found / outcome
S7Daida1Potential fitAlbert B. MaloneCFO
S7ZEO Energy1Potential fitCannon HolbrookCFO · public company
S7PetMart1Potential fit(name failed verification)CFO · review before use
S7Dr. Praeger’s0Noneresolved, no finance leaders visible
S7PerkinAlder0Noneresolved, scale far above band
S7OpenRoad Technologies0Noneboard advisor only
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  18 / 27
Coverage · talent intelligence

Where the fit sits

Fit tier by segment · 124 people

3542
14
2763
18
321
6
31087
28
342
9
121
4
6102013
50

People evaluated (unique, after dedupe) · scale held across all pages

BullseyeGood fitPotential fitBelow threshold
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  19 / 27
Coverage · insights

Market observations

The sitting-CFO pool at the original 26 targets is small

  • Only 22 of 26 target companies returned anyone, and just 79 of the 124 people evaluated sit at those companies.
  • Eleven of those 79 are at one company (PackOne, regional CFO structure). Without PackOne the primary segments average under three finance leaders per company.
  • Bullseye density is highest in S1 and S2, but the absolute count is 5. The shortlist will need the peer segment.

The peer bucket is where the depth is

  • The 20 peer companies contributed 45 of 124 people and 6 of 14 Bullseyes, including the three largest food distributors in the map (Gordon Food Partners, C&L, Chefs’ Depot).
  • These companies were not on the original slate. The researcher’s reference list is what pointed at them, which argues for widening the slate at setup on every distribution search.

Step-down titles double the map

  • 45 of 124 people hold a title below enterprise CFO. Including VP Finance, Head of Finance and CAO roughly doubled per-company yield versus a CFO-only pass, with no loss of the CFO-titled people.
  • Most of the 25 below-threshold people are from this ladder (shared-services, FP&A). They stay in the roster, ranked low, so the consultant can see they were considered.

Four true gaps, and they are data gaps

  • Groundmark, CERTIS, Bramble’s and Stonefield Kitchen returned nobody. Groundmark and CERTIS have known finance leaders; the miss is entity resolution and profile coverage, not scoring.
  • Stonefield surfaced a sitting CFO in a prior run and nobody in this one. Coverage-critical companies should be re-run and unioned before the map is called complete.
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportCoverage  ·  20 / 27
Section 03

Sample
profiles.

Five people drawn from the 124-person map, one per archetype: two Bullseyes, a sitting CFO at a peer company, a step-down title with local proximity, and the closest candidate in a thin segment. Each is scored against the five criteria.

Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportSample profiles  ·  21 / 27
Strategic fit

Sitting CFO in the exact model. Enterprise CFO of a sponsor-backed specialty food distributor for three years.

Sponsor and board cadence. Reports into a PE sponsor and board at Lantern; prior EVP & CFO seat at Joyner was also sponsor-owned.

Acquisitive platform. Lantern has continued to add on regional distributors during his tenure.

Segment CFO at scale. Seven years running segment finance at Aptin and Delphine before the enterprise seat.

Considerations

Lantern’s revenue sits above the $200M to ~$1B band; scored down on 04.

Career before 2023 is automotive, not food. Distribution depth is three years deep.

Detroit-based; relocation to New England is untested.

Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportSample profile  ·  22 / 27
Strategic fit

Seven years in a PE platform seat. CFO through Service Ridge’s sponsor-led roll-up of commercial HVAC and mechanical services businesses.

Buy-side M&A is the job. Dozens of add-on acquisitions completed during his tenure, with a group-CFO structure built underneath him.

Sponsor-backed before this. CAO at Novalex (packaging distribution and manufacturing) and Affinia, both PE-owned.

Controllership depth. Two CAO seats and a regulated-accounting background; strong on reporting rigor.

Considerations

Services roll-up, not distribution. Novalex is the closest distribution exposure.

Service Ridge is now well above the revenue band.

Charlotte-based, no New England history.

Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportSample profile  ·  23 / 27
Strategic fit

Food distribution at the largest scale. A decade as CFO of one of the largest grocery wholesalers in the US, headquartered in New England.

Local. Greater Boston; no relocation question.

M&A and integration. C&L has acquired and divested distribution centers and businesses through his tenure; Centerplate was sponsor-owned.

Consumer and foodservice breadth. Bacardo, Centerplate and Gillette before C&L.

Considerations

C&L is family-owned, not PE-backed; sponsor and board cadence is not the same.

Scale is an order of magnitude above the band. A step down to Harbor Lane would need a reason.

Ten-plus years in seat signals low mobility.

Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportSample profile  ·  24 / 27
Strategic fit

Distribution P&L, in Massachusetts. Runs finance for the New England region of a sponsor-backed packaging distributor, based in Westwood.

Food background. CFO/COO of a specialty food manufacturer and controller at a branded food company before that.

Hands-on operator. Combined finance and operations remit at Tazza; comfortable in a lean team.

Considerations

Regional CFO, not the enterprise seat. Sponsor and board reporting sits above him.

No evidence of leading buy-side M&A from the CFO seat.

Regional revenue is below the band; enterprise experience is at a much smaller company.

Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportSample profile  ·  25 / 27
Strategic fit

Sitting CFO, New England, sponsor-backed. CFO of a PE-owned specialty food platform an hour from Harbor Lane.

Operations plus finance. Three consecutive combined COO/CFO remits; understands warehouse, fulfillment and supply chain.

Consumer brand scale. Rhone and KEEN are both in or near the revenue band.

Considerations

In seat under a year; a move now is unlikely and would need a strong pull.

Brand and manufacturing background, not distribution.

Buy-side M&A from the CFO seat is not evidenced.

Coverage note: surfaced in an earlier run and not in the delivered run. Included to show what a stochastic miss looks like; the coverage table shows Stonefield at zero.

Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportSample profile  ·  26 / 27
Appendix

How this map was built, and what it does not cover

Method

  • Current-employee map of finance leaders at every company in the searched universe, run in Findem Studio on 2 September 2026.
  • Every criterion entered as a ranking signal. No hard filter; nobody dropped for failing a criterion.
  • Title ladder on: CFO, group/regional/divisional CFO, then VP or SVP Finance, Head of Finance, CAO where no CFO was visible or scope was equivalent.
  • Five near-duplicate rows (nickname and spelling variants) removed by hand. 129 rows became 124 people.

Review

  • All 124 people carry a review flag before outreach.
  • Two rows were flagged for data quality: one name at PetMart failed verification, one mSupply citation pointed at another company’s domain. Both are retained and marked in the roster.
  • The specific individual surfaced at a company can vary between runs. Coverage-critical companies should be re-run and unioned.

Not covered

  • Groundmark, CERTIS, Bramble’s and Stonefield Kitchen returned nobody. Groundmark and CERTIS have known finance leaders; treat these as open items for manual research.
  • Former employees of target companies were not mapped as a pass; two surfaced incidentally. An alumni pass is the natural next step for S1 and S2.
  • Compensation, mobility signals and off-limits checks beyond the three named individuals are outside this report.
  • Harbor Lane Foods, Gourmet Lane and the sponsor portfolio were excluded in post-processing.
Harbor Lane Foods · Chief Financial Officer · Coverage reportAppendix  ·  27 / 27