About Timberline

Timberline is the creation of veteran commercial banker TJ Kern. During his 40-year banking career, TJ had the privilege of working closely with hundreds of small businesses across numerous industries. TJ observed that the passionate owners of these businesses were often immersed in daily operating tasks, leaving them little or no time to focus on strategic planning and long-term value creation. In other words, their businesses were running them – they were not proactively planning & running their businesses.

Timberline helps owners rise above the daily operating demands of their business and re-direct their focus on prosperous long-term outcomes by providing the following services:

• Fractional CFO Services

• Pre-Sale and Pre-Acquisition Planning & Change

• Full-Service Loan Procurement

• Banking Relationship Management

• Financial Benchmarking

As a Denver area resident since 1972, TJ knows the local business community very well and has built a broad professional network. He began his commercial banking career in 1985 as a junior credit analyst and held progressively responsible positions in credit and financial analysis, business development, client relationship management, and executive administration with direct oversight of 25 employees, a $730MM commercial loan portfolio, and customer deposit accounts totaling over $900MM.

TJ's lending experience includes the sourcing, underwriting, negotiating, and closing of 29 Leveraged Finance transactions totaling $215MM of senior bank debt for private equity acquisitions of lower middle market companies across the U.S. TJ enjoyed the complexity and time pressure of these M&A transactions, and he relished the opportunity to help business owners monetize the enterprise value of companies they’d spent years building.

TJ holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. His academic training includes numerous Continuing Professional Education courses in Corporate Finance, Commercial Loan Structuring, Strategic Planning, Economics, Organizational Behavior, and Entrepreneurial Studies.

TJ's passion for helping small businesses and their owners is rooted in the founding of his own small commercial cleaning business as a 19-year-old college student. Drawing on his extensive commercial banking experience, strong business acumen, and active listening skills, TJ takes pride in crafting solutions that help small businesses reach their financial summit and peak enterprise value.

There are many advisors and consultants for business owners to choose from, so what sets Timberline apart from the crowd? We bring a unique combination of deep commercial banking expertise, a strong balance between strategic thinking and attention to detail, a broad professional network, and extensive M&A transaction and Private Equity experience to every client engagement.