Chief Financial Officer for one of Australia’s largest smallgoods manufacturers (ham, bacon, salami & sausages) with a turnover in excess of A$ 370M as well as financial adviser to a related company that owns and operates numerous shopping centres throughout Australia.  

 

Responsibilities and accomplishments include:

·          Led a Finance team of over 20 covering statutory reporting, tax, treasury, manufacturing and financial accounting and inventory

·          Restructured the company’s financial and management reporting systems and streamlined processes to provide  management with relevant and timely financial information

·          Raised the profile of IT within the organisation to be a business partner rather than a service provider and expended the use of and accessibility to the company’s ERP system (JBA 21)

·          As part of the leadership team simplified the business footprint by closing two processing plants and an abattoir whilst outsourcing non core activities and increasing the capacity of the remaining plant by 40%. These changes were implemented without adverse employee issues

·          Implemented culture change management by removing historical prejudices and communication barriers and providing a sound platform to allow decision making at all levels

 

Ran a consultancy out of Bali in Indonesia, providing business, financial, taxation and management and systems advice to a variety of clients e.g.

 

·       A Singaporean hotel Management Company with 7 hotels in S.E. Asia

·       The largest computer software engineering company in Slovenia

·       A Jakarta based car, motorbike, electronic and construction materials distributor with 12 branches in Eastern Indonesia

·       Several retailers, manufacturers, exporters and freight forwarders in Bali

·       The US Department of Agriculture in respect of cold storage requirements in Eastern Indonesia

·       Tourist cruise and diving companies in Bali

·       A European world renown ski and snow board manufacturer and distributor

·       A new international airline

·       An Asia Pacific group of quantity surveyor’s, including acting as their Finance Director

·       Numerous hotels and restaurants in and around Bali

·       Preparation of several prospectuses for the disposal of businesses

·       Acting as a Director for a range of other companies

 

 

 

Country Controller for Indonesia and specifically Controller of Sheraton Bali Resorts, the name given to two adjoining properties managed by the Sheraton Hotel and Leisure chain. (Now part of the Starwood Group). The Sheraton Nusa Indah and Bali International Convention Centre is a 5 star group and FIT leisure complex comprising 367 rooms, 4 food and beverage outlets with the second largest convention centre in Indonesia.  Sheraton Laguna is a 272 room boutique hotel, then of the only 47 luxury properties in Sheraton’s portfolio.

 

·       Produced and monitored both hotels’ operational and capital budgets

·       Managed the monthly financial closings, that required submission within 18 hours of month end

·       Rationalised the two hotel’s Controller’s departments standardising processes & procedures to ensure they ran on similar lines

·       Responsible for the Resorts computerisation programme

·       Acted as a referral control and review point for Controller’s of all other Sheraton hotels in Indonesia. The number of properties grew from 5 to 9 over the period

·       Project managed a US$ 420,000 front office computer installation across two properties simultaneously without operational downtime resulting in staff becoming multi functional

·       Member of the Resorts Executive Committee responsible for all aspects of the long tern planning and day to day running of the Resort

Financial and Administration Director, directly responsible to the Chairman, for all financial and operational aspects of the Hong Kong Head Office and the overall financial position of a medium sized private group of garment export traders based in Hong Kong, with subsidiaries in the UK and Holland. Exporting middle-of-the-range garments to the EU and USA with an annual turnover in the region of US$ 40M.

 

·       Oversaw the Group’s initial expansion programme, from 45 to 200 employees with an increase in pre-tax profits from US$1M to US$ 3M

·       Effectively turned the Group around from being technically insolvent to being sold at a premium on historical results. This task was accomplished over a 2½-year period working closely with the Group’s Chairman

·       Set and monitored the Group’s financial budgets so as to provide financial direction and measurement  for the Group and as a consequence introduce staff incentive schemes

·       Installed computerised management information, accounting and operation systems

·       Liaised and negotiated with banks, legal advisers, buyers and customers

·       Negotiated with principals and their legal and financial advisers on acquisitions, disposals and workouts

·       Responsible for all company accounting, taxation, human resources, secretarial and audit requirements

The Peninsula Group is a division of this publicly listed company involved in the management and ownership of high quality hotels throughout South East Asia. The company also owned and managed a food processing plant, a chain of restaurants and a commercial laundry.

 

Initially employed as the Controller of the Group’s flagship hotel, The Peninsula. After 2 years promoted  to the position of Assistant Group Controller, then to Group Controller and finally to Assistant Vice President - Finance of the Peninsula Group.

 

·       Reviewed and held responsible for the budgets of all hotels and related operations within the Group

·       Completed numerous feasibility studies on potential Group hotel projects

·       Project managed the development of an on-line fully integrated hotel computer system, designed specifically for the requirements of the Peninsula Group of Hotels

·       Led the Company in their legal defence against a hotel owner that resulted in an out-of-court settlement in the Group’s favour after 2½ weeks of a projected 6-week trial in the High Court

·       Responsible for the successful opening and closure of several hotels

·       Reported to the owners of hotels managed by the Group on both financial and operational matters

 

Instrumental in arranging the sale of KR Castlemaine Foods Pty Ltd to a competitor. Leading the vendor due diligence including negotiations with lawyers, financial and taxation advisors, OH&S and environmental consultants and the buyer.