Global financial leadership career with both corporate and operating business unit experience within several Fortune 500 companies. Outstanding presentation, communication, and cross-cultural management skills. Expert qualifications across all corporate finance, accounting, and treasury functions. Strong technical, human resource, team building, problem solving, and decision making skills. Built and nurtured excellent working relationships with senior executives, management teams, professional staffs, support personnel, customers, corporate and investment bankers, debt and equity analysts, and auditors.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Vice President & Divsional Controller May 2000 - Present
10+ Billion Consumer Product Producer
Senior Finance Executive with full responsibility for the accounting, financial analysis, financial reporting, budgeting, and strategic planning of Technology Division. Technology division is responsible for global product development, product engineering, appliance research, and global procurement activities. In addition, Technology Division is also responsible for the operational control of one of the company's Global Business Units. Current division has a total of 3,400 employees with an annual capital and development expense of over $600 million and executes annual procurement purchases of $6.5 billion.
·Led several teams in the evaluation of three global manufacturing footprints. Challenge was to identify the optimal internal or external source for production of three global product platforms. Strategic focus was to leverage the company's fixed asset base and lower effective product cost. Used option-based platform transfer experiments, mix management, and asset hibernation as unique approaches to difficult product categories. Preliminary results point to a $10-30 million change in EVA for actions taken.
·Redesigned the divisional financial processes by launching a four-step performance management system to track and identify division performance. Performance management system pioneered new concepts such as “product pipelines” and “resource creation” to drive EVA down from the corporate finance view and into product development and fixed asset evaluations. Key result was the alignment of division’s performance review system to quantifiable strategic goals that were deployed throughout the organization.
·Championed the utilization of Six Sigma tools within the technology division’s financial processes. Initial focus was to better understand and predict the revenue growth potential of development projects during the business concept and selection stages of the project management process. Six Sigma tools were later used to execute several detailed statistical analyses of historical appliance growth and cannibalization trends. Upon completion of the above project it was found that the seemingly unobtainable growth goals were really well within reach and that the majority of recent incremental revenue growth was unprofitable.
·Launched the challenge to determine effectiveness of material sourcing activities within procurement organization. Developed an evaluative framework using governmental producer price indices to track the relative performance of the company versus the broad U.S. manufacturing environment. Further leveraged the work to create a Value at Risk framework that estimated and quantified the expected volatility within our material purchases. System provided early warning signals and a framework to evaluate the optimal duration of fixed-term procurement contracts.
Corporate Assistant Treasurer
February 1999 to May 2000
Appointed Assistant Treasurer upon my return to the United States. Responsible for both the global treasury operations and capital market activity for the Fortune 250 Corporation. Led a team of 20 individuals who executed the global day-to-day operations and strategic issues involving capital structure and risk management. Managed critical relationships with auditors, bankers, debt analysts, equity analysts, and attorneys for routine activity and a series of capital market projects.
·Led the strategic review of the company's capital structure through an evaluation of the risks and opportunities presented by our position within the industry. Reconfigured the entire debt structure to extend duration, eliminate complex derivatives, and properly balance the company's fixed-to-floating risk profile. Achieved a lower effective cost of debt with greatly reduced risk. Project culminated in the issuance of $300MM+ of long-term debt during the very difficult markets of 2000.
·Created a global treasury group through the integration of the Latin American and Asian treasury groups into the corporate standard. Created significant synergies in cash in both debt and asset management. Reduced the effective cost of funds by over 1% in Brazil and India while reducing the global debt levels through better utilization of available cash by over $300 million. Simple in concept, but difficult in execution due to decentralized nature of foreign operating units.
·In January 1999, the Brazilian Real devalued by over 50% creating an internal and external crisis within the company. I was appointed to lead the devaluation response team during my transition back to the United States. Utilizing my Latin American experience, the team responded correctly and prudently in reducing the company's exposure and minimizing the business risk. As an outcome of this project, the finance team was able to implement a much needed Value at Risk management methodology to communicate and manage global interest rate & exchange rate exposures.
Director, Treasury - Europe, Middle East, & Asia December 1995 – February 1999
Europe
Led a group of 23 people in Europe providing a wide range of treasury and finance services for the European subsidiaries of the Fortune 250 company. The primary services provided under my direction were treasury management, cash management, foreign exchange strategy and execution, financial control, trade finance, export documentation, credit collection, and emerging market finance. The European subsidiary had $2.8 billion in sales and was present in 32 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
·Leader of a project team focused on the implementation of a centralized shared service organization that provided all of the above treasury-related services for the company's European affiliates. Created a best-in-class treasury operation through disciplined project management that kept the project on target and under budget. Upon completion, the European treasury center won Treasury Management awards for Best European Cash Management Application and Best Shared Financial Services Center.
·Worked extensively in Eastern Europe during the volatile post-Soviet timeframe. Established effective cash management and treasury management systems to service the region. Often benchmarked for our best-in-class approach and professionalism of our operations. In addition, negotiated $250 million in bi-lateral credit facilities for the region at or below the cost of Western European funds.
·Evaluated the most cost-effective method of financing in each of the 32 countries by taking into consideration cross-border risk, reserve requirements, withholding tax, local monetary restrictions, and U.S. tax implications. Overall impact was a reduction of foreign subsidiary interest expense by over $1.9M per annum.
·Created an econometric-based model as a decision tool within the company's emerging markets in an attempt to lower the effective cost of financing through the use of foreign currency liabilities. Model utilized several key economic factors to predict the possibility of a substantial devaluation. Net effect of model utilization was significantly reduced financing costs and reduced overall earnings volatility. On average, each year the company saved over $5-7 million versus funding in local currency debt.
Director, International Treasury September 1994 – December 1995
Ralston Purina Company – Corporate Offices – St. Louis, Missouri
Played a key role in the overall treasury management of Ralston Purina’s international operations. Ralston was an $8 billion diversified, global company with significant operations in over 65 countries. Developed and executed strategies to minimize Ralston's after-tax cost of debt. Evaluated and implemented tax-driven structured finance proposals conceived in-house and externally. Evaluated and researched the most cost-effective method of financing in each of the above countries taking into consideration cross-border risk, reserve requirements, withholding tax, local monetary restrictions, and U.S. tax implications.
·Major accomplishment was in the implementation of the optimal, after-tax capital structure for each of Ralston’s foreign affiliates in light of U.S. and foreign tax considerations, local tax rates, real interest rates, exchange variability, local tax accounting, and dividend repatriation requirements. Positive impact from activities ranged from $1 to $4 million increase in cash flow per annum.
·Reported to the International Tax Department for nine months for a series of mergers and one major disposition. Built a working knowledge of the U.S. tax code in relation to interest expense allocation, foreign tax credits, dividend & gross-up treatment, subpart F income, and income sourcing rules.
·Used the acquired tax knowledge to create an interactive model that estimated the tax implications of all borrowing, lending, and investing decisions made via Ralston’s corporate entities and foreign operating subsidiaries. Re-configured the existing $500 million inter-company lending portfolio to achieve a $4.7 million reduction in annual after-tax interest expense.
·Implemented several structured finance transactions that leveraged our current U.S. and foreign tax positions. Annual savings were usually in excess of $3 million per annum and provided up to 20% of Ralston’s debt capital.
Senior Treasury Analyst/Manager,International Treasury September 1990 – September 1994
Ralston Purina Company – Corporate Offices – St. Louis, Missouri
Returned to Ralston Purina where I had been an intern during my graduate studies. Served as a senior treasury analyst responsible for global treasury reporting, foreign exchange management, and global debt and investment management. Within 18 months was promoted to Manager of International Treasury responsible for the international treasury operations for Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.
·Negotiated over $300 million of bilateral credit lines for Ralston’s international operations. Effective cost of funds was .10-.25% lower than the equivalent U.S. commercial paper cost obtained by Ralston. In addition, executed foreign exchange trading in excess of $2 billion per year in over 35 markets.
Treasury Analyst February 1988 - September 1990
Anheuser-Busch Companies – Corporate Offices – St. Louis, Missouri
Joined Anheuser-Busch as a treasury analyst responsible for daily borrowing, investing, & cash concentration operations for this $10 billion multinational company.
·Three months after joining was given complete operational responsibility for the department due to the departure of three staff members. Departures allowed me to assume other responsibilities including treasury management, cash forecasting, and foreign exchange management
EDUCATION:
University of South Carolina - Columbia, South Carolina
Master of Business Administration - International Finance - 5/87
University of Missouri - Columbia, Missouri
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration - Finance - 5/85
Bachelor of Arts - Economics - Minor: Spanish (Ibero-Americana University) - 8/85
Languages: ENGLISH, Native; ITALIAN, Very Good; SPANISH, Good |
