Ralph G. Loretta
1413 Woodhurst Blvd. McLean, VA 22102
Cell: 571-236-2461
Fax: 703-448-0765
ralph.loretta@gmail.com
Recent Clients
AES Corporation
Dominion Resources
Duquesne Light Company
Hawaiian Electric
Northeast Utilities System
Pacific Gas & Electric
Pepco Holdings
Piedmont Natural Gas
Career Highlights
Developed global M&A Due Diligence program used on 40+ deals in 20 countries
Global lead partner for Fortune 150 multi-national energy company generating $20+ million in annual fees
Founded a start-up consulting business generating annual revenues of $30+ million
Education
BSBA, Ohio State University, Cum Laude with Business School Honors
Attended Indiana University Graduate Business School Program under a teaching fellowship award
Professional Licenses & Certifications
Certified Public Accountant, by American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Certified Management Consultant, by the Institute of Management Consultants
Awarded Certificate in Data Processing, by the Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals
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Professional Background
Ralph has more than 25 years of assisting executives respond to industry restructuring and emerging technology challenges. He has significant experience with merger integration, organizational re-alignment, business process improvements, and large-scale information system implementation. Ralph has helped many companies improve finance, operations and supply chain management functions.
Employment History
Warren & Lewis Investment Corporation, 2012 to present – President
Responsible for overseeing asset management, due diligence, financing and investor relations involving intellectual property, energy & natural resources, transportation and real estate ventures.
KPMG LLP, 2003 to 2012 – Partner
One of the founding partners of a national power and utility practice responsible for directing professional services to a Fortune 150 multi-national energy company and many leading domestic utility companies. During his tenure, Ralph secured a wide range of consulting and tax engagements resulting in global revenues of more than $100 million.
Arthur Andersen/BearingPoint, 2001 to 2003 - Managing Director
Lead partner responsible for the Mid-Atlantic energy market. Ralph was responsible for delivering consulting engagements to several leading domestic and international energy companies involving merger integration, regulatory filings and power generation improvement programs.
American Management Systems, 1996 to 2001 - Vice President
Founder and business unit manager of a global consulting and systems integration services group that helped power and utility companies respond to the challenges of retail open access. Under Ralph’s leadership, this start-up consulting business grew to more than 125 staff in less than five years.
Computer Sciences Corporation, 1995 to 1996 – Vice President
Developed and implemented sales and marketing strategies to expand professional service offerings to the energy and telecommunications industry sector by effectively leveraging outsourcing, system integration and management consulting. Ralph defined a unique vision for future services and created innovative business and pricing models to respond to emerging market changes.
Price Waterhouse LLC, 1985 to 1995 – Partner
One of the founder partners of a national power and utility consulting and systems integration practice that focused on helping executives to streamline procurement, warehousing, work management and customer service operations. Ralph played a key role in integrating the acquisition of a leading software vendor and developing a core of professionals which become the cornerstone of the business unit.
Relevant Experience
Change Management
Led the re-engineering of business processes to support a newly implemented billing and customer service system for a Midwest regional electric distribution utility. The effort identified staffing levels and defined organizational realignments for new business operations. Action plans were also developed to address gaps in workforce skills and to significantly reduce staffing levels.
Developed and executed plans to launch a new subsidiary offering competitive local exchange and Internet services. This effort involved acquiring an established Internet services provider, and selecting a billing, customer care and provisioning system to meet critical business needs. The subsequent implementation effort was completed in less than three months.
Assisted a regional Northeast gas utility in launching a new un-regulated subsidiary offering residential and commercial equipment installation and repair services. During the 16-month business start-up effort, new organizational models, business processes, information systems supporting order processing, inventory management, warranty tracking, and sub-contractor management were designed and implemented. Initial sales targets were exceeded by 200% within the first two months of operation.
Financial Management
Directed a study for a regional Midwest electric distribution company to evaluate IT transition options associated with the acquisition and integration of two gas utilities. This effort compared the relative costs, timeframes, and risks of supporting a wide range of business processes including: customer care & billing; business intelligence; financial reporting; mobile workforce management; outage management; asset management; and network modeling.
Assisted several electric companies in evaluating business process controls surrounding retail office management, load estimates, ISO settlement, month-end verification, and payment disputes.
Established a shared services organization for a regional Midwest gas and electric utility that had rapidly grown to a national diversified energy company with natural gas exploration, transportation, storage and distribution operations as well as a variety of non-regulated energy service companies. This effort consolidated administrative processes for several operating companies and established cost allocation methodologies to distribute costs to the holding company subsidiaries. Services provided included finance and accounting, purchasing, payroll and human resources, treasury and risk management.
Program Management
Assisted a Southeast regional gas and electric utility in selecting and implementing a new billing and customer service system. The project involved restructuring the system architecture to incorporate relational data base management technology. This instance was one of the first uses of this technology in the industry. The resulting application was successfully marketed under a joint venture arrangement that allowed the cost of the restructuring to be fully recovered.
Directed the Program Management Office for a major Mid-Atlantic regional electric cooperative to oversee the development of new business processes and information systems required for Retail Open Access. These new capabilities involved the exchange of information among the distribution utility companies, retail energy suppliers and the independent system operator (ISO) concerning customer enrollments, meter data and billing information.
Managed the implementation of new customer information processes and systems for two Midwest electric utility companies that merged to gain economies of scale and reduce operating costs. The effort resulted in the ability to address the complex needs of large commercial/industrial customer billing, provide advance service outage restoration capabilities, improved call center response times, and reduce retail customer billing exceptions.
Conducted a diagnostic assessment for a Western Independent System Operator (ISO) to identify and correct processing bottlenecks among market participants involving customer enrollments, meter data, bill calculations, usage profiles and settlements. The scope of the study included software configurations, application architectures, data base management and middleware technologies.
Directed the Program Management Office for a regional gas utility with transportation, storage and distribution operations to integrate a recently acquired gas distribution company. The transaction represented a 20% increase in customers and more than 450 additional employees. The company needed to take immediate action to realize cost savings through economies of scale and business synergies. The effort involved focused on programs to stabilize operations during the first 100 days of the merger through staffing re-alignments, communications programs, and other change management efforts. Specific areas addressed included information technology, gas storage & distribution, customer service, human resources, and pipeline construction.
Compliance Services
Assisted a major Western gas and electric utility company in responding to Commission and State legislative investigations regarding meter data integrity and billing accuracy associated with the roll-out of a Smart Meter program. This project focused on data communications, meter data management and responses to customer inquiries and complaints.
Provided expert testimony on behalf of multiple Western gas and electric utility companies regarding project management and the costs incurred in developing a new customer information system as part of State Utility Commission filings. Issues addressed in this effort included third-party software market analyses, implementation strategies and risk mitigation programs.
Assisted a major electric generation utility in assessing the financial controls, accounting and production records and operational condition of a key coal supplier who was not performing under existing supply contracts. This work included testimony in on-going proceedings in the US Bankruptcy Court.
Provided attestation services to a major mid-Atlantic electric distribution company in response to a Commission mandated examination of the allocation of service company costs to operating subsidiaries. This study also assessed compliance with standards of conduct regarding services provided by the service company to the holding company affiliates.
Assisted several gas distribution companies with Cost of Gas filings to State Utility Commissions. These efforts also involved improvements in underlying gas scheduling, transportation contract management, gas accounting processes, as well as the development of new web-based supporting information systems.
Provided attestation services for the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors for a major multi-national energy company regarding the calculation of a cash-based incentive compensation program.
Research and Publications
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) – Directed research scoping studies that identified emerging business strategies formulated in response to competitive market forces and the associated information needs. Survey efforts included assessments of revenue and cost information reporting frameworks needed for executing cost-based and marketing facing strategies.
National Association of Accountants (NAA) – Developed re-engineering methodologies and self-assessment guidelines to improve the effectiveness and streamline the operation of the finance and control function. The material was published as: The Price Waterhouse Guide to Financial Management, John Wiley & Sons; and a Statement of Management Accounting, National Association of Accountants.
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