Meet The Team
With a career spanning over a quarter of a century, Paul's journey started in Public Accounting and includes two decades as CFO for various companies. From spearheading dynamic and creative financial strategies in established companies to nurturing start-ups, Paul's expertise in steering companies through turbulent markets is unparalleled. With expertise in distressed situations, his ability to understand business complexities, provide a deep understanding of the financial landscape, and communicate effectively with vendors, customers, shareholders, and debt holders is core to his success.
Paul's mastery lies in transforming financial complexities into streamlined, profitable outcomes. His acumen in strategic financial planning, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate finance is not just about numbers; it's about crafting stories of success. His approach involves a deep understanding of the market's pulse and an ability to predict and adapt to financial currents, ensuring not just survival but prosperity in the ever-evolving business landscape. At Hidden Trail Partners, Paul's role transcends traditional CFO responsibilities. He's a strategist, a leader, and most importantly, a visionary. From 2000, when Paul teamed with Jon Hopper to save a distressed private company on the verge of bankruptcy to a successful exit in less than 9 months, he has led financial operations of multiple companies in complex financial landscapes.
Paul Colan
Delbert Bray
Delbert has 25 years of experience in the development of comprehensive sales and operations organizations in companies of all sizes. His tenure as an executive for GE provided him with multiple opportunities to build, run, and manage global businesses for over 15 years. As a Black Belt in Lean 6 Sigma, his strategic and analytical approach results in sustainable profit and consistent growth. His extensive experience driving revenue growth for many businesses is due to his commitment to the development of strong sales and marketing teams motivated by engaged managers, all focused on achieving and surpassing sales goals.
After leaving GE Delbert used his skills as a good communicator with strong presenting and soft skills, as well as strong marketing management, logic, and problem-solving abilities to work and consult for businesses struggling to grow revenue or enter new markets. Delbert has consulted for Fortune 100 companies to start-ups and has been successful on all levels. Being awarded for meeting these companies' goals many times.
Delbert is a dynamic and result-driven Senior Executive with a proven track record in building high-performance sales and marketing teams, known for exceeding management’s goals and customer’s expectations.
Matt Colan
Matt is an accomplished and seasoned B2B marketing and business development professional. With over 20 years of professional work experience, I lead others to embrace all knowledge and develop their capacities as fully as possible. My passion lies in providing creative and innovative design solutions that help clients achieve their desired results. I am fluent in all aspects of creative process, knowledgeable in industry best practices, and not afraid to take risks in creative direction.
Based on client goals and feedback, I generate captivating and effective presentations while concurrently providing creative insight. I am passionate about presenting complex information in an easy-to-understand way. I take pride in using my graphic communications background to create solutions that will satisfy even the most demanding of clients, while maintaining professionalism throughout every project from start (planning) through finish line (execution).
In addition to presentation design services, I have experience leading and executing creative projects, managing creative teams and vendors, website design, training development, content creation, data visualization, branding, and photography.
Paul believes that the core of financial management is not just in reporting the numbers, but in a deep understanding of the financials and what is “behind the numbers” that is imperative to making good business decisions. He views every financial challenge as an opportunity to innovate and every success as a stepping stone to the next breakthrough. His philosophy is simple yet profound – finance is the art of turning challenges into opportunities.
I'm a hard-working, detail-oriented individual with an eye for excellence. My strong organizational skills make it easy for me to keep track of everything from meeting schedules to project details - all while staying ahead of deadline pressure.