Arlene M. Nesser
CPA, PFS
Chief Financial Officer, Commander's Family of Restaurants, Inc
Arlene began the first 15 years of her career with KPMG where she gained her earliest experience in audit and tax but spent most of her time working primarily in tax and personal financial planning for a wide variety of clients. She left KPMG to accept a position with First NBC (currently JPMorgan Chase) as a Senior Vice President in the wealth management division where she worked with owners of closely held businesses. Shortly thereafter, she was lured away from the bank by one of its clients, the Commanders Family of Restaurants, Inc. As a New Orleans native with a passion for food, this was a career opportunity not to be missed as this Brennan-family owned company owns or operates a number of fine dining restaurants in New Orleans (most notably Commanders Palace) and Houston. She has been with the Brennan family for 15 years and holds the title of Chief Financial Officer. Her responsibilities include handling all traditional CFO responsibilities, Human Resources, Risk Management and also other areas such as handling multiple business interruption claims, succession planning and oversight of estate valuations. She has experience in dealing with theft and embezzlement including working with prosecuting attorneys in preparation for trial.