TruWest Companies, a family-owned holding company whose subsidiaries include River Capital Finance, an IT equipment financing firm, announced the hiring of new Chief Financial Officer Christopher Free.

Free brings over 14 years of experience in financial management, mostly recently serving as CFO at Sandridge Foods, a family-owned leader in the fresh food manufacturing industry. He also has served as Group Controller and Manager of Financial Planning & Analysis at Nordson Corporation and has experience in a variety of roles at Ernst & Young LLP. He earned both his master's and bachelor's degrees in accounting from Miami University in Ohio.

Based in Westlake, Ohio, TruWest is a family-owned holding company with multiple operating subsidiaries located in the United States, Canada and Europe. Privately owned by the Kennedy Family, TruWest is the parent company of Technology Recovery Group (TRG) (AIDC, POS and payment processing solutions), MRK Technologies (IT security, storage and networking solutions), River Capital Finance (IT equipment financing), River SaaS Capital (debt financing for software-as-a-service businesses) and Sibling Revelry Brewing (craft brewery and taproom). Founded in 1978, TruWest is based in Westlake, Ohio.

The TruWest organization has experienced rapid growth in the past year, growing revenue nearly 30 percent year-over-year and hiring more than 50 employees in the last 12 months.

"We're thrilled to add a leader of Chris' caliber to our team," said Sean Kennedy, Managing Member at TruWest. "His experience will be instrumental in providing the financial vision, strategy and leadership to help us meet our growth goals and take our organization to the next level."

"This is an exciting time to be in our business," said Matt Kennedy, Managing Member at TruWest. "We are pleased to have Chris on board to help grow our company and continue our trajectory of success."