Biography

Mr. Pess has over 35 years of financial experience in public and private companies. He has been the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Chicken Soup for the Soul since May 2012. Mr. Pess began his career at a Big Four accounting firm and later served as the senior financial executive for several public and private companies, while completing four public offerings along with several acquisitions and mergers. As Chief Financial Officer of White Amber, a provider of human capital management solutions, Mr. Pess oversaw a five-times increase in revenues and managed the sale of the company to Taleo, a public company subsequently bought by Oracle Corporation. After the sale, Mr. Pess became Chief Financial Officer of USADATA, a SaaS provider of marketing leads, and was part of the company management team that affected a leveraged buy-out of the company during a period of rapid growth. Before joining Chicken Soup for the Soul, Mr. Pess was Chief Financial Officer of Certpoint Systems, which provides e-learning software and services to Fortune 2000 companies. Certpoint Systems was bought by Infor Software in 2012. He received his B.S. from Long Island University and is a Certified Public Accountant.