ARCUSCFO
Executive Financial Leadership

Strategic financial leadership for life sciences.

Executive-level financial leadership for founder-led and growth-stage businesses — with deep roots in life sciences and regulated industries.

ARCUS CFO

Bridging strategy
and financial execution

Deep Specialization In Life Sciences & Complex Industries Biotech · MedTech · Diagnostics · Regulated Manufacturing
What We Do

The work we do

Six core capabilities that we assemble — in different shapes and intensities — into the engagements that follow. We don't just produce reports; we help leadership teams make better capital allocation, growth pacing, and risk management decisions.

Fractional CFO & Strategic Finance

CFO-level leadership in the seat — capital allocation, executive partnership, board and investor communications, and the judgment calls that shape direction.

FP&A, Controllership & Accounting

Forecasting and variance analysis that surface the decisions behind the numbers. Disciplined monthly close on a predictable cadence. Technical accounting — revenue recognition, leases, inventory controls — that keeps you audit-ready and investor-credible.

Capital Markets & Fundraising

Fundraising strategy that positions your story for the right investors. Use-of-proceeds modeling. Data rooms and diligence support that accelerate close.

M&A & Transaction Advisory

Financial diligence that identifies value and risk before the LOI. Integration planning that protects synergies. EBITDA improvement programs that deliver measurable results.

Board & Investor Reporting

Monthly financial packages that tell a story, not just show numbers. KPI dashboards tailored to your subsector. Board decks that frame the decisions, not just the data.

Finance Operations & Banking Relationships

Audit, tax, and lender coordination. Treasury and banking relationship management. The institutional touch points that signal a finance function in good standing.

The Challenge

Your business is advancing. Your financial strategy has to keep pace.

The board is asking questions about capital allocation, growth pacing, and risk that demand CFO-caliber thinking. A full-time CFO costs $375K–$450K+ and may not match your stage — but the decisions in front of you can't wait.

Generalist advisors don't understand regulated pathways, capital-intensive operations, or the economics of your sector. You need a strategic finance partner who operates at the intersection of your operations and your balance sheet.

Arcus bridges this gap — pairing sector expertise with enterprise-level financial leadership, delivered as a dedicated team that integrates with yours.

$26B

Venture capital invested across growth sectors, 2024

310%

Growth in fractional CFO demand since 2020

10–150

Employee range where we do our best work

How We Engage

Three ways to engage, sized to where you are.

Every engagement draws from the same senior team — what differs is the shape, the cadence, and the commitment. Many companies start with a focused Capital Readiness project, but it doesn't have to.

Focused Project

Capital Readiness

Investor-ready in weeks, not quarters — closing the gap between a strong operating story and the financial one investors need to see.

Financial Model — built for scrutiny Equity Story — why this round now Pitch Deck — financials tell the story Data Room — diligence-ready
For Inflection Moments

Strategic Engagement

Capital raises, transactions, scale events, ERP transitions, leadership gaps — periods where the cost of getting finance wrong compounds quickly.

Structure

Pod model: Fractional CFO + Senior Manager + Analyst, sized to scope. Embedded, board-presenting, executive partnership.

For Steady-State Operations

Operating Partnership

Established companies running without an active inflection — where a full-time CFO doesn't yet make economic sense, but finance discipline still does.

Structure

Right-sized team: senior finance leadership paired with controllership depth. Predictable monthly cadence, quarterly scope reviews.

Your Dedicated Team

A dedicated team that integrates with yours.

A three-tier pod — senior leadership, operational depth, and analytical capacity — embedded on a sustained basis. We don't parachute in for a project and leave.

Fractional CFO

  • Strategic leadership & capital allocation
  • Board & investor communication
  • M&A and transaction advisory
  • Risk management & growth pacing

Senior Manager

  • Monthly close & financial reporting
  • Budget vs. actual analysis
  • Operational accountability
  • Quality control & compliance

Analyst

  • Financial modeling & scenario analysis
  • KPI dashboards & data visualization
  • Board deck preparation
  • Diligence & research support
Industries We Serve

Built for regulated, capital-intensive organizations.

Life Sciences & Healthcare

  • Clinical-stage biotech & therapeutics
  • CDMO, CRO & manufacturing partners
  • Cell, gene & biologics developers
  • Healthcare services & multi-site groups

Medical Device, Diagnostics & Medtech

  • FDA-regulated device manufacturers
  • Surgical, implantable & interventional
  • In vitro diagnostics & lab companies
  • Digital health & connected devices

Manufacturing & Complex Industries

  • Quality-regulated manufacturers
  • Capital-intensive scale-ups
  • Complex supply chains & distribution
  • Founder-led & PE-backed businesses

Finance leadership that has done the work — not consulting from the outside.

Leadership

A practitioner's firm.

Built by experienced professionals, not advisors.

Arcus is led by senior finance practitioners — three decades operating inside Fortune 500 life sciences, medical device, and healthcare organizations, including direct CFO leadership through capital raises, transactions, scale events, and ERP transitions in regulated environments.

Every engagement is supported by a dedicated team with direct industry experience. Arcus is built on practitioner judgment — finance leadership that has done the work, not consulting from the outside.

Senior finance leadership at
St. Jude Medical / Abbott Thermo Fisher Scientific Cardinal Health
Selected Experience

A track record of acquisitions, not a single deal.

Our founder has completed more than ten acquisitions, divestitures, and other transactions — together exceeding $300M in transaction value — from sourcing and financing through diligence, close, and integration. The named engagements below show that discipline across distressed, growth, and acquisition-driven conditions.

Acquisition Financing
10+

Acquisitions, divestitures & other transactions completed

$300M+

Total transaction value

Example — Led the company-side process for a ~$50M facility sourced through an accordion feature — persuading existing lenders to upsize and recruiting new lenders into the syndicate, then driving diligence to close. The financing closed and the acquisition was integrated into the capital structure and operations.

Distressed Refinancing

Out of forbearance, under daily monitoring

A customer default triggered a covenant breach and bank forbearance. Served as company-side finance lead — building and defending the model and managing diligence for prospective lenders.

Outcome — Refinancing closed; the company exited forbearance and removed the covenant pressure.

Institutional Equity

On the roadshow, in front of capital

Presented and defended the financial statements, projection model, and equity story alongside the CEO across institutional investor meetings for a publicly listed healthcare company.

Outcome — Engaged a substantial set of institutional investors to broaden sponsorship of the equity.

Commercial Scale-Up

CardioMEMS — development to national launch

Provided the finance leadership behind the commercial build of an FDA-approved implantable device — territory design, hiring plan, and the framework linking commercial investment to expected return.

Outcome — Scaled into a major heart-failure management product line within Abbott's portfolio.

Selected engagements drawn from 35+ years of senior finance leadership across Fortune 500 life sciences, medical device, and healthcare organizations.

Why We Do This
Mission

We bring CFO-level financial leadership to companies advancing patient care — at the stage it matters most.

Vision

A life sciences sector where financial discipline unlocks the resources science needs to reach patients.

Values

Integrity

We're honest and open on every topic, and we work in your interest — even when it isn't in ours.

Transparency

You see the assumptions, the math, and the risks — not just the conclusion.

Respect

For the science, the team that built it, and the constraints they're actually operating under.

Insights

The Arcus Engagement Framework

A practitioner's guide to how we structure fractional finance leadership engagements — from initial diagnostic through transition. Drawn from three decades operating inside complex, regulated industries.

  • The pod model and leadership bar
  • Diagnostic framework for finance maturity
  • Capital readiness checklist by stage
  • Transition criteria for permanent CFO handoff
Request the Framework

We'll send the PDF to your inbox.

The Arcus Diagnostic

Find out where your finance function actually stands.

Most finance assessments ask what a company does. The Arcus Diagnostic asks three questions at once: what does finance do, how well does it do it, and is it built for what comes next.

Six functions, five dimensions, three stages — each described in plain behavior rather than a rating scale. You don't score yourself on a feeling. You read three descriptions and pick the one that matches what your team did last month.

What you get back
  • The worksheet, to run with your own leadership team
  • A written read-back of which gaps matter at your stage
  • Not a grade — a prioritized view of what to fix first
  • Yours to keep, whether or not we work together
No charge currently offered at no cost

Request the diagnostic.

Delivered within three business days.

Getting Started

What it's like to work with Arcus.

1

Initial Conversation

A 30-minute call to understand your challenges, stage, and objectives — your board's expectations, your infrastructure, and where the pressure points are. No commitment required.

2

Diagnostic Assessment

We review your financials, reporting cadence, systems, and team structure — a clear-eyed assessment of where you are, the gaps, and a recommended engagement scope for your stage.

3

Proposal & Integration

A defined proposal with scope, team allocation, timeline, and pricing. Our pod integrates with your team within weeks — attending leadership meetings and delivering from day one.

Start a Conversation

The finance story, tight enough to raise on.

Schedule a Call
Connect

Let's start with a conversation.

The first conversation is thirty minutes. Tell us where you are, what's ahead, and what's pressing. We'll tell you whether we're the right partner — and if we aren't, where you should look instead.

Send a Note

We respond within one business day.