Nick is the Co-Founder and CEO of AXIA Partners, a Houston based financial advisory firm that was formed in 2004 by former Big 4 CPAs with a broad background of risk, compliance, SEC & financial reporting, internal audit, technical accounting and Sarbanes experience at companies such as Deloitte, Andersen, Shell Trading, CenterPoint Energy and Continental Airlines. Nick’s leadership guides strategic direction and sets the cultural tone for the entire company. His broad and diverse background gives him unique perspective in driving AXIA to deliver on the multitude of challenges presented by its clients.
Throughout his experience, Nick has developed and implemented high level, comprehensive business risk and control assessments for several, large and mid-cap public companies. His strength lies in facilitating interactive working sessions with senior leadership teams to communicate results and build consensus. Nick provides hands on risk consulting services to companies in response to new and changing business conditions, including business restructuring, new business strategies and re-engineering outdated or poorly performing business processes.
Prior to joining AXIA Partners, Nick was Managing Director and Co-Founder of Sirius Solutions. He served as Chief Risk, Regulatory and Compliance Officer at Shell Trading in London, England where he was responsible for managing risk control, internal audit, and the regulatory and compliance function for Shell’s worldwide energy trading businesses. Nick was the Chief Accounting Officer for Coral Energy/Tejas Gas, the U.S. energy trading and natural gas pipeline division of Shell Oil. He also has had roles in corporate development and group controllership for Quanex Corporation, a Fortune 500 manufacturing company. He began his career in the audit practice at Deloitte & Touche, managing financial audits and special projects for public companies in the energy and manufacturing sector, leaving as a Senior Manager.
Nick earned a Bachelors of Business Administration degree, with Honors, in Accounting from Texas A&M University and is a Certified Public Accountant. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is a past member of the Committee of Chief Risk Officers, the Energy Markets Forum (UK) and the Texas A&M Finance Advisory Board.