03/31/2009

Senior Retail and Restaurant Industry Executive Joins Avant Advisory Group Management Consulting Firm

Los Angeles, California, April 1, 2009 - John Bayley has joined the CFO and C-Suite services team of Avant Advisory Group (www.avantadvisory.com), a premier management consulting firm. Mr. Bayley brings over 30 years of financial management experience from the restaurant and retail sectors. He has held senior financial positions, including chief financial officer, treasurer and controller, for both private and public (NYSE and NASDAQ) companies. He has extensive experience with some of the most prominent names in the restaurant and retail industry with individual company revenues up to $12 billion. Mr. Bayley is particularly knowledgeable about both franchisor and franchisee organizations of significant size. Avant Advisory Group provides specialty services relating to: turnarounds, restructurings, crisis and bankruptcy management; merger and acquisition advisory; and forensics and litigation support. The firm also provides strategic, operational, and financial expertise to its clients with its CFO and C-Suite services. "We are extremely pleased that John Bayley has joined the Avant team," said Jim Davidson, managing director of Avant Advisory. "John brings to us an outstanding senior executive background and exceptional expertise specific to the now troubled restaurant and retail sectors. He will be able to support those clients with profitability improvement, operating performance, strategy, turnaround, and restructuring services as well as as an interim CFO resource for those firms who cannot afford to fill that need on a full time basis." Bayley holds a master of business administration with emphasis in accounting and finance from the University of Massachusetts and a bachelor of arts degree from Boston University. To learn more about Bayley, his capabilities, and accomplishments, see http://www.avantgroup.net/bio_john_bayley.php. About Avant Advisory Group Avant Advisory is a professional consulting firm comprised of highly skilled strategic, operating, and financial executives. Avant's consultants have decades of combined business, executive, and consulting experience and thousands of successful case studies. The firm's professionals come from some of the most prestigious consulting firms and companies. Avant Advisory Group specializes in: * C-Suite executive and interim management: CFO, CRO, COO, CEO, and board of directors * Turnarounds, restructurings, and bankruptcy for troubled companies * Mergers, acquisitions, and capital transactions * Forensics, fraud investigations, and litigation support Clients include public, middle-market, and emerging-growth companies. Their management teams, investors, capital providers, and other professionals, including attorneys, trustees, receivers, creditor committees, secured lenders, and other parties-in-interest, all benefit from the firm's services. Avant Advisory Group's mission is to leverage trust and confidence in its services, create value, and enhance each client's success. The firm accomplishes this by helping clients improve profits, EBITDA, cash flows, and asset management. There is also no stronger advocate for each client than Avant whether it is by its turnaround, restructuring, and crisis management expertise, merger and acquisition advisory services, its profitability and operational improvement capabilities, or its forensics and litigation support services. To learn more about Avant Advisory Group, please refer to www.avantadvisory.com or call James F. Davidson CTP, CPA/CFF, CM&AA at (714) 924 7888. Media Contact: Martin S. McDermut, CPA Managing Director Avant Advisory Group Los Angeles, CA 90071 mmdermut@avantadvisory.com (213) 943 1308