Senior Leadership

Paul Bertrand

Experienced in diverse industries, Paul has held senior positions with companies ranging from start-ups to large multinational companies. His expertise is in accounting and audit, operational planning, internal controls, information systems, capital formation, transaction structuring, performance improvement and acquisitions and divestitures.

Prior to co-founding Tarsus in 2002, Paul served as the Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis at Allied Worldwide, a $2 billion international moving, storage and logistics business where he directed all aspects of the financial planning and reporting functions, led the financial due diligence team for a middle market acquisition and was instrumental in developing the overall corporate development strategy for an affiliated start-up company.

Paul previously served as CFO of Triax International, Inc., a closely held investment management company specializing in acquiring and operating small and mid-sized companies where he managed all financial aspects of the organization, including directing all mergers and acquisitions. In addition, he was intimately involved in the operations of the Triax owned companies and was instrumental in designing and implementing the “back-office” functions necessary to manage numerous portfolio companies.

Prior to Triax, Paul served in a number of financial management and audit positions with Angel Fire Resort and KPMG Peat Marwick. Mr. Bertrand has a BBA with honors in Accounting from Southern Methodist University.

Paul Burns

Paul is an experienced executive who has worked with companies from many different perspectives, including as investment banker, member of senior management, equity owner, and C-level strategic and financial consultant. His expertise is in finance, capital formation, mergers & acquisitions, business analytics, performance improvement, transaction structuring, plan development and execution, financial modeling, forecasting, negotiations and risk management.

Prior to co-founding Tarsus in 2002, Paul was CFO of Moveline, Inc., a web-based technology company serving the moving and storage industry. Hired as the sixth employee, he was instrumental in growing the company to nearly 100 employees within nine months.

Before Moveline, Paul was Vice President of George K. Baum Capital Partners, a Midwestern-based private equity firm. As a key member of a small team, he negotiated, structured and executed the acquisition and sale of private companies as well as provided CFO services to a number of portfolio companies.

For the three previous years, he worked on merger and acquisition and capital formation transactions for the Financial Institutions investment banking group at Salomon Brothers, now a unit of Citigroup. Paul has a BS with honors in Finance from Kansas State University.

Ben Olsen

Ben Olsen is an executive leader whose versatile skills are based on deep financial and operating experience. 

Services provided by Ben have largely focused on corporate development, merger and acquisitions (buy-side advisory support, searches, and diligence, as well as sell-side advisory), capital formation, cash flow forecasting and development of stakeholder financial and KPI reporting metrics to private equity and entrepreneur-backed companies. These services have spanned a variety of industries including transportation, industrial manufacturing, staffing and permanent placement, e-commerce, consumer products, wholesale distribution, business process outsourcing, telecommunications, specialty contractors, and medical equipment.  

Prior to Tarsus, Ben served as Managing Partner for The DVS Group LLC, a social impact investment bank specializing in small business and lower middle market mergers and acquisitions. He led a niche practice area focused on buy-side services to not-for-profit clients nationwide which led to multiple engagements across 6 organizations and 6 successful transactions. Other projects included a multi-transaction buy-side engagement with a family office, a 4 year preparation process resulting in a sale to a private equity-backed portfolio company, and numerous successful buy-side projects for executives accomplishing “Entrepreneurship through Acquisition.” 

Ben has a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies from Yale, where he met his wife.