Convene Appoints Kenneth A. Clark as Chief Financial Officer

NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Convene (www.convene.com), the nation's fastest growing conference center network, has appointed Kenneth A. Clark as the company's first chief financial officer (CFO).

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130722/NY50286LOGO )

Mr. Clark has more than 20 years of corporate finance, treasury and accounting experience in both the corporate, investment banking and accounting sectors.  He will be responsible for the overall financial and business operations of the company.

Prior to joining Convene, he served as CFO for Chef's Warehouse – a specialty food distributor. Mr. Clark helped manage the company's finances through several acquisitions and a major consolidation prior to overseeing its successful $155 million initial public offering. He enjoyed a nearly six year tenure with the firm starting as corporate controller in 2007 before moving up to CFO in 2009.

"Ken Clark brings the essential skills and experience that will help us to manage the accelerated growth trajectory the company has been on since its inception four years ago," said Ryan Simonetti, principal and co-founder, Convene. "In addition to Ken's strong financial management and systems expertise, he has extensive experience in raising capital in both the public and private markets which we will undoubtedly leverage as we continue to expand."

Christopher Kelly, Convene co-founder and principal, added, "At this stage of Convene's growth, we needed to find a full-time CFO who had the experience in managing the growing complexity of a young company's financial department, while at the same time, helping us to identify and analyze new growth and revenue opportunities. Ken is the perfect fit in both regards."

"The opportunity to join a young, dynamic and fast-growing company like Convene at this stage has tremendous appeal given my familiarity with a similar business model and capital structure that we had at Chef's Warehouse," said Mr. Clark. "I look forward to working closely with Ryan Simonetti, Chris Kelly and the entire Convene management team, in expanding Convene's highly differentiated value proposition that they have so successfully launched in such a short time."

Previously, Mr. Clark had been vice president-controller at Credit Suisse Energy and director of asset management and analysis for United Rentals, a $4.5 billion publicly-traded, equipment rental company.  He began his career at Arthur Andersen as a CPA.  

He is a graduate of Western Connecticut State University with a BBA in accounting and currently resides in New Fairfield, Conn. with his wife and four children.

About Convene
Convene (www.convene.com) is the leading developer, owner and operator of urban day conference centers in the United States.  Its full suite of business services includes meeting and collaboration space rental, "room service building catering," audiovisual and conference planning support.  Offered through various lease, joint venture and management arrangements, the company partners with landlords and tenants to enhance the quality of commercial office buildings and improve the workplace experience through better service and space design.

Contacts:
Rick Anderson / Emily Simmons
Feintuch Communications
718-986-1596 / 212-808-4904
[email protected]

SOURCE Convene