Benjamin N. Paredes Email & Phone Number

Greater Atlanta Area

-Responsible for extracting data, analyzing data, and providing recommendations to create new strategies and define new ways to understand and enhance the product/service needs of our customer base while reducing risk.-Extract monthly, vintage, cycle data and provide P&L evaluation of all acquisition campaigns.-Conduct on demand KPI reporting of various acquisition programs providing explanations and recommendations for product enhancement.-Analyze monthly and quarterly results of multiple brands and investigate variances and opportunities.-Assist as a liaison to the Marketing department providing reporting and contributing with actionable data.-Conduct and maintain documentation of all risk/product strategies.

Greater Atlanta Area

-Assist the worldwide Marketing leader coordinating budget and spend management across NA, Europe, MEA, LA and AP regions-Engage with Marketing managers, IBM Finance and Procurement colleagues to ensure and maximize proper execution of spend via IBM processes-Ensure proper allocation of expenses from project/campaign planning, to launch date/purchase order, to quarterly AP closing across all regions, providing plan to actual spend reconciliation to the Marketing leader-Assist NA managers transition into IBM spend processes; Expense Pre-Approval, Procurement (MFR/BOND/PO), Vendor Payables, IPVN-Assist (Silverpop) global marketing managers transition into local regional IBM processes pertaining to Finance and Procurement-Monitor and ensure accuracy of data between systems of marketing prospect, customer, and campaigns-Review/approve new lead generation list upload files for IBM Watson Marketing (IMC) coming from the global regions-Manage the accuracy of marketing data inside Salesforce.com; conduct lead reassignments, status changes, data imports, reporting, etc.Job Details:-Primarily engage with 10+ marketing colleagues located in the US and 12+ marketing colleagues located worldwide (Sao Paulo, London, Bucharest, Dubai, and Singapore)-Coordinate business process with IBM Procurement, Vendor Payables, Legal, and Finance colleagues located in the US, Mexico, Brazil, UK, France, Malaysia, and Singapore-Take ownership and resolve ambiguous situations related to global spend, data transfer files, process ownership, and hard deadlines -Since August, 2014, when Silverpop began using IBM Sametime instant messaging, I have added 140 IBM colleagues worldwide to my contact list, as a result of multiple interactions to get things done.-In 2016 our global marketing discretionary budget totaled $22.5M, an 80% increase from 2015

Greater Atlanta Area

-Responsible for the accounting, financial reporting, and budget/spend control of 3 global business units (US, EMEA, LA, AP), including 15 cost centers and 3 entities; about 50% of the company's operating budget-Ensured proper requisition of spend for Marketing/Sales/Business Development teams, focusing on effective control of discretionary budgets-Managed the AP process; coding/approving/submitting invoices, recording expenses to the appropriate time-period, and ensuring proper GL allocation and timely payments by Finance-Controlled the activity of the corporate Amex card, recording/reporting monthly reconciliations to Finance-Performed monthly expense reconciliations, analyzing actual to planned variances, resolving discrepancies with Finance and providing budget availability to business unit leaders to maximize spend opportunity-Assisted in the preparation of annual budgets and forecasts, providing leadership with detailed and accurate historical/relevant data as backup for each line item-Provided various reports to multiple audiences: budget to plan/spend analysis, variance analyses, prepaid activity/forecasts, accruals, planned vs committed, ROI for lead generation, marketing activity, ad hoc reporting, etc.Job Details:-I supported all SG&A expense matters for Sales, Marketing, and Business Development (2011–2015)-Internally, I engaged with 15+ marketing, 8+ sales/business development, 5+ finance, 3 legal, and 4+ MIS colleagues-Externally, I worked with many vendors/partners related to contracts/SOWs/IOs, tax/VAT, payments terms, and payment arrangement matters-My job involved constant stream of deadlines pertaining to new vendors, contracts, requisitions, invoices, coding, signatures, payments, accruals, Amex card recons, EOM/EOY, expense recons, reporting, etc. requiring continuous planning, adjustment, and iteration-From 2010 to 2015, our marketing discretionary budget averaged a 25% YoY growth and an 80% growth in 2016, as part of IBM

Direct Micro Loans Business Unit:-Assisted in enterprise development of loan activity reporting for Purposecashadvance.com-Managed the expense budget, monitored cash flow, and ensured funding for new loans-Developed accurate monthly loan settlement reports for Corporate Finance, tracking vintage program-to-date activity, by State; including loans, receipts, defaults, charge-offs, and receivables-Conducted cost-benefit analysis of expenses to minimize cost per lead and increase repeat loansMarketing Acquisitions Business Unit:-Provided finance support for credit card acquisitions with annual budgets of over $100M-Monitored the process of over 10 million card solicitations per month and coordinated budget cost activity with marketing directors, vendor managers, print-shops, and off-shore call-centers-Managed the Card Acquisitions marketing budget; validated AP/AR invoices, monitored contract pricing, reconciled forecast to actual volumes, and ensured accurate GL allocation of expenses-Provided expense accruals, prepaid disbursements, and GL adjustments to Corporate Accounting-Minimized prepaid cash by ensuring precise expense allocation of $1M direct mail campaigns-Developed and maintained solicitation/program level reporting of direct mail/telemarketing campaigns, tracking expense drivers such as cost per account, response rates, and approval rates-Created financial models to assess marketing expenditures, produce revenue reports, and provide senior management with variance analysis, budget forecasting, and cost-benefit analysis-Assisted the Finance Director with annual budget planning, volume revisions, and audit reviews

-Conducted bank compliance audits of federal/state regulations related to credit card acquisitions-Completed audits related to card solicitations, marketing, consumer lending, and account activity-Evaluated department policies and procedures and monitored implementation of process controls -Participated in monthly business unit reviews, product updates, and compliance audit reviews

-Monitored the exchange of information between the Systems/Inventory department and 67 collection attorneys, involving over 2 million accounts and monthly remittances of over $800K-Managed the ATLAS system of record; processed data imports/exports, monitored litigation workflows, produced collection reports, and ensured data integrity within the Litigation Network-Reconciled financial data and provided accurate weekly and EOM remittances to the client-Completed EDI certification and implementation of over 45 collection agencies nationwide-Conducted due diligence of potential bid portfolios for the Acquisitions department-Spearheaded the development of an automated data processor, providing programmers with record type and data type requirements, status processes, test scripts, and error-check messaging-Maintained daily communication with collection attorneys, agency managers, programmers, and senior management within operations, accounting, legal, and acquisitions departments

-Conducted favorable resolution of attorney disputes and consumer complaints against OSI-Interacted with consumer attorneys, state regulatory agencies, and credit reporting agencies

-Managed charged-off collection portfolios placed with various law firms nationwide-Negotiated settlements and payment plans with customers, credit counselors, and attorneys

Greater Atlanta Area

Masters, Information Technology

B.A., International Economic Affairs

Activities and Societies: Chi Phi Fraternity, SGA Judiciary Chairperson, SGA SenatorMinor: Business Administration