LEADERSHIP

Evan Zawatsky, Partner & President

Evan Zawatsky is a partner of Wells Group and specializes in CFO and Controller services. At Wells Group, he has served as the VP of Finance at Draper James, interim Controller at Daily Harvest, and consultant CFO at Snowe, FEED, and State Bags, among others. Currently, he consults with 20+ organizations in consumer goods & services, healthcare, food & beverage, and financial services. Evan began his career in audit at KPMG, where he earned his CPA, and later joined Ernst and Young’s Advisory group. After completing his MBA, Evan spent four years as an independent consultant while partnering with Nomad Financial and Catalant, focusing on working with start-ups in finance, accounting and management consulting engagements. He consulted 100+ start-ups in tech, consumer goods & services, healthcare, and manufacturing, while also working with Anheuser-Busch’s ZX-Ventures, Estee Lauder and Covanta Energy. Evan received his BS in Accounting from the University of Delaware and MBA from UNC Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

George Wells, Chairman & Founder

George Wells is the Chairman of Wells Group of New York, a 15-person management consulting firm based in New York City that specializes in working with high growth businesses in the consumer internet, healthcare, technology, and contemporary arts spaces, and the CFO of quip, an oral care startup. Mr. Wells also serves as interim CFO of Maisonette, a children’s luxury goods marketplace and business manager to contemporary artist Mickalene Thomas. His previous executive roles include serving as interim CFO of Draper James, a lifestyle clothing brand founded by Reese Witherspoon, and interim COO/CFO of Lehmann Maupin, one of the top ten art galleries in the world.

Through October 2017 George served as the CFO of Zola, the fastest growing wedding registry and wedding company in the country. As a member of Zola’s eight-person executive team, George was responsible for designing and implementing the finance, accounting, legal and HR administrative functions as the first finance executive hire. During his time at Zola, revenue grew from single digit millions to hundreds of millions in a two year timeframe.

Prior to founding his consulting firm and bit by his father’s entrepreneurial legacy, Mr. Wells was Vice President of Lieberfarb & Associates, an incubator and investment firm started by Warren Lieberfarb. Lieberfarb is known in Hollywood as the “Father of the DVD” due to his work evangelizing the format as the President of Warner Home Video for twenty years.

He began his career in 1999 as a Financial Analyst in Morgan Stanley’s Mergers & Acquisitions group. Mr. Wells also held roles as a private equity analyst in Goldman Sachs’ PIA group, and as an associate in Houlihan Lokey’s Financial Restructuring Group.

Mr. Wells serves on the Out in Tech board, an organization committed to promoting diversity in the tech and startup community, and has pledged a $1 million dollar art donation to his alma mater, Morehouse College.

Mr. Wells received his bachelor’s degree in Finance & Accounting from Morehouse College in 2000 and his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2006. He and his husband, Manfred, maintain residences New York, Los Angeles and Tirol, Austria.