Bio

Mike Lyon has over 30 years of business experience both as a staff and line management operating executive and as a transaction professional involved in investment banking, acquisitions, restructuring, divestitures, business operations, complex negotiations and the law. He works with SFCo as a Principal Advisor in areas that include providing strategic advice, mergers & acquisitions, financial structuring, alternative financing methods, due diligence, recapitalizations, restructuring and the management of distressed companies. He has worked in industries including information technology, biotech and real estate as well as manufacturing, distribution and business services. Currently, Mike is serving on a part time basis as the interim CEO of a publicly held contract mining company. He is handling shareholder litigation, strategic planning, divestiture and restructuring of multiple business units as well as installing and strengthening operational and financial controls. Mike was formerly the head of Strategic Planning and Development for two publicly held companies, GATX Corporation and Bally Manufacturing Corporation. He spent several years at these companies where he handled the divestiture and acquisition of various business units as well strategic planning and corporate development. For Wisconsin Steel, as Senior V.P. Finance, Law & Administration, Mike helped to arrange the government financing to rehabilitate the steel facilities and managed what was then the largest bankruptcy in the State of Illinois. He managed the 3-year liquidation process including five years of litigation activity. He was also an operating executive for certain business units, including coal mines at the company. He spent five years with Hyatt Corp. where he performed internal legal work, SEC work, deal structuring and managed several businesses. Mike spent three years with the San Francisco law firm of Cooley, Godward, Castro, Huddleston & Tatum where he worked in multiple areas of securities law, anti-trust litigation, venture capital and IPO financing for various technology companies. In the late 1980’s Mike was associated with one of the original hedge funds, reviewing and managing various investments of the firm. He was a recipient of a Ford Foundation Fellowship in Santiago, Chile researching law and economics with respect to the allocation of water resources under a recently enacted agrarian reform program. Mike is a member of the California bar and the Federal bar. He holds a B.A. from Stanford University where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a J.D. from Stanford University Law School, where he was a member of Law Review.