Bob Philipps Email & Phone Number

Ventura, Ca

* Set up, and responsible for, all business support functions including accounting/tax/audit, management & financial reporting, H/R, legal, compliance, risk management and real estate.* Assisted in securing $40 million in private capital equity,

* Raised nearly $3 billion in acquisition financing, and secured low-cost government bonds and lease financing to support capital expansion projects. Saved nearly $10 million in underwriting fees by leveraging long-term relationships with key lenders.* Developed and maintained complex financial models used for strategic planning, acquisition financing, capital structure analysis and cash forecasting.* Implemented hedging strategies to manage interest rate and foreign exchange risk.* Negotiated and placed all insurance lines. * Chaired Retirement Plans Committee and led effort to improve fiduciary practices and oversight.

* Expanded securities analyst coverage from 6 to 12, institutionalized rigorous process to prepare management team for earnings disclosures, and led investor outreach efforts. * Leveraged buyside relationships to support $200 million equity capital raise to support Kettle Foods acquisition.

* Developed and began implementation of a restructuring plan to fund increased brand-building funded by margin improvement attained by securing a permanent raw material source and replacing two aging U.S. manufacturing plants with a new, more efficient one. * Upgraded management team to shift from a production-driven business model to a customer-driven model, and reoriented operations from build-to-order to build-to-forecast. * Improved internal controls and business processes to reduce monthly inventory variances. First year results showed a $1 million improvement in operating profits through lower costs and better forecasting. * Responsible for IT and Purchasing.

Restructured $150 million in synthetic leases in order to maintain off-balance sheet treatment. Developed company's capital structure strategy which led to an interest rate swap that increased year-1 profits by $0.07 per share. Created new systems for tracking and documenting foreign exchange ("F/X") contracts, and put in place a net hedging strategy to reduce the purchase of forward F/X contracts by half. Led cross-functional compensation task force that established a consistent "pay for performance" system across the company, and led Retirement Plan Committee search for a new independent advisor and investment policy. In support of a plan to shed assets, obtained waivers on $530 million in private placement, revolving credit and synthetic lease debt, put in place a $450 million backstop facility to insure liquidity in the event waivers couldn't be obtained, refinanced a $150 million credit facility with new short term debt.

Developed IR strategy that relied heavily on educating investors about industry risks and opportunities, while providing transparency into Mondavi's business model and strategies. Responsible for financial communications, investor visits, targeting, annual report, annual shareholder meeting and traveled extensively to represent company at investor meetings. Increased analyst coverage from 6 to 15, and created IR website in 1997 to efficiently protect individual investor base and increase transparency. In order to rally employee support of change, developed and taught classes on basic financial management concepts and Economic Profit (EVA). Also taught classes at for the National Investor Relations Institute.

Built administrative staff of 12 professionals to support company's shift from being production-driven to market-driven by designing and implementing new sales force automation tools that revamped how the company approached planning, forecasting, inventory management and performance measurement. These tools included multivariate statistical volume forecasting (both long- and short-term), automated revenue and promotion planning, flexible budgeting and three-dimensional sales tracking. Broadened company's acceptance and use of scanner data for category management and performance measurement. Created new field and staff incentive pay systems linked to the successful use of these new tools. Managed month-end sales results, order entry/distribution and inventory. Project leader for company's sales force automation and MRP efforts, and member of company's compensation and IT policy committees.

Responsible for profitability analysis, business planning, competitive analysis, capital planning, budgeting, strategic planning, performance analysis and forecasting for newly created profit center. Created strategy model to evaluate various growth, investment and pricing scenarios, and designed competitive monitoring and trade spending systems to provide ongoing reporting and early warning detection.

Managed $3 million competitive information budget and staff of three responsible for volume forecasting and competitive analysis. As company converted from AC Nielsen to IRI scanner data, led project to define information needs, design three dimensional information systems and train field sales on the use of scanner data as a category management tool.

Several one-year assignments including: Marketing analysis: Provided tactical decision-support for DORITOS®, TOSTITOS®, FRITOS® and CHEE-TOS® business initiatives, and developed long-term pricing and funding strategies.Performance analysis: Wrote President's monthly performance letter to parent company PepsiCo. Tracked and forecasted expense performance, made monthly presentations to department heads and supported external financial reporting needs of PepsiCo. Led separate multi-year projects to improve expense performance in Marketing and Sales. Created tracking system to control staffing costs. Planning: Coordinated planning efforts of Sales & Marketing in developing $2.8 billion sales plan and $700 million selling expense budget. Developed $1.2 billion Cost of Sales budget by coordinating planning efforts of Purchasing, Logistics, Accounting and more than 40 manufacturing locations, while implementing new planning system. Developed long-range plan to sell and market in newly emerging club store channel. Office Automation: Responsible for introducing PC-based office automation to corporate staff. Developed and conducted formal training classes, technology assessment, capital budgeting, software evaluation and design and post-audits. Wrote prototype personal computer-to-mainframe data transfer program (to prove to IBM that it was possible), and worked with IBM and in-house team to implement electronic mail and filing system.

Mba, Accounting

Bs, Systems Analysis

Activities and Societies: Gymnastics Club