Director James Dobberstein heads up Shea Labagh Dobberstein’s Wholesale and Distribution services and serves as Managing Principal. He has provided services to SLD clients for over twenty years in areas that include strategic planning, profit enhancement, and tax planning. 

Mr. Dobberstein has in-depth experience in the wholesale and distribution industry in businesses that include durable and non-durable goods, consumer products, food service, high-tech distribution, import/export, and international trade and brokerage.

• Analyzing the profitability of a major product line for a small manufacturer. A fabricator was planning to abandon a product line that represented 40% of his business because he thought it was unprofitable. Mr. Dobberstein and his staff performed an analysis of the product and determined that it was indeed unprofitable, and calculated the price change needed to make it profitable. The recommended price increase was readily accepted by the fabricator’s customers. The fabricator didn’t lose a single customer, didn’t have to abandon the product line, and the product is now very profitable.

• Calculating the costs and benefits of expansion. A wholesaler was considering expanding his warehouse facilities, but he knew the step was risky. Mr. Dobberstein analyzed the costs of the expansion and projected the revenue increases that would result, and determined that the move would be profitable. The wholesaler expanded .his storage capacity, and last year he had the most profitable year ever.

• Preparing budgets and projections for a struggling distributor. A distributor had been losing money for three years. Mr. Dobberstein helped the company analyze costs, develop a budget, set goals, make changes in staffing and purchasing, and control expenses. Since they began working with a budget, the company’s last two years have been profitable.

James Dobberstein is a CPA and a member of the AICPA, the California Society of CPAs, the California Society of CPAs’ Management Advisory Services Committee, and the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Heritage Club. He is a founding member of the Institute of Wholesale Industry Advisors and a member of the Manufacturing Industry Advisors. He received a BS in Business Administration from the University of San Francisco. Mr. Dobberstein and his wife Karen have three daughters, Katie, Lauren, Julia, and a son, Thomas.