Victoria Chester

Victoria Chester is a Strategic Principal at MLA. She is an experienced CPA, CFO, and lawyer who blends financial expertise with legal skills.  She has extensive experience in direct sales, non-profits, and private equity.  Her particular expertise is business negotiations.

Victoria demonstrates her ability to integrate financial and legal skills through the development of strong relationships with key stakeholders such as investors, governmental agencies, vendors and consultants.  She has frequently managed projects outside the scope of day-to-day responsibilities.

Prior to joining MLA, Victoria spent eight years as the CFO and General Counsel for a $180 million direct sales company based in Cincinnati.  She was responsible for all finance, legal, and human resources.  She negotiated a significant economic development tax incentive with the City of Cincinnati, and participated in acquisition and integration of two major competitors.  She also coordinated administrative and legal requirements for their expansion into Canada. During her tenure, she reduced company day-to-day legal costs by 50%.

Prior to that, Victoria was CFO and Senior Vice President of Planning & Development for a $90 million restaurant group operating 35 restaurants in five states.  She was responsible for all financial areas as well as negotiation and signing of contracts, renegotiating of leases, oversight of new store development and store closure, legal, payroll, and information technology. Victoria performed analysis of both investment and divestiture opportunities and renegotiated leases resulting in over $2.5 million in savings and reduced company legal costs by 30%.

Victoria has also served as the CFO and Vice President of Administration for the Cincinnati Museum Center.  There she reworked their budgeting process, developed a $20MM financing package, and renegotiated contracts with City and State Governments.  She has also worked with two private equity venture capital firms. 

Victoria has her JD from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Harvard University. She is active with the Cincinnati Recreation Foundation, a board member with Tender Mercies, the Cincinnati Bar Association, Association for Corporate Growth, and the American Jewish Committee.