Brigitte Benquet Email & Phone Number

Austin, Tx, Us

Austin, Texas, United States

Austin, Tx

I created Unified Finance Organization to build a strong financial support system that emerging businesses could afford. I have 23 years of Fortune 500 international expertise, in both strategic and operational roles that benefit my clients of all sizes.CEO's and CFO's hire me to build scalable back office structures offering financial visibility and control. I work as an international interim CFO, or lean my expertise to other CFOs. Industries:- High Tech & Low Tech- Manufacturing & Distribution- International & USA - Software - Semiconductors - Chemicals - Medical Equipment - Automobile Equipment - Glass & Paint - Restaurant - Retail

Austin, Tx

Helped develop sales and marketing for RFG. RFG specialized on Employee Engagement and Benefits, serving mid size companies (25 to 2,500 employees). RFG was also co-founder of UBA (www.benefits.com) and partner of LeaderLabs, who created a series of Executive Leadership and Engagement Roundtables.

Independent sales agent, helping individuals and micro-businesses getting access to benefits packages, mainly health insurance.

Co-founded and operated Brigitte's, an acclaimed Silicon Valley restaurant. Administered many aspects of this food service start up, including daily operations, sales and finance, compliance. Implemented point of Sales (POS) systems. From a small 1000 square foot site, ramped up sales from zero to approximately $500k revenue/ year. Referred to as “The best news from France to hit the 408 area” by the media (San Jose Mercury News, 3.5 stars rating); ranked among the top 20 restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area (out of 7000). Provided proof of concept for a profitable, sustainable gourmet & healthy restaurant model emphasizing gourmet & healthy lifestyles education.

Silicon Valley (Usa) And Europe

INTERNATIONAL CONTROLLER - Applied Materials Inc. (1994-2001)- CONSILIUM CONTROLLER: Mountain View, USA (1999-2001). Led the daily finance operations for this newly acquired 200-person software subsidiary. Led the finance integration and ERP implementation. Responsible for accounting, payroll, legal & management reporting, consolidation, treasury, tax, sales administration. Supervised a 15+person team spread over 8 countries and 3 continents. Was appointed controller as a result of supporting this project initially as internal consultant.- SENIOR MANAGER, STRATEGIC FINANCE INITIATIVES (SFI): Europe, USA (1995-1999). Led Strategic Financial Initiatives for Europe, Israel, and Asia. Was at the front line of deploying the CFO’s strategies in years of extreme company growth. Led: policy development, finance education, IS transformation, and other strategic initiatives. Supported teams of 10-100+ persons. Consistently exceeded productivity objectives measured at 10-20% per year. As a result of this, was appointed TQM (Quality) manager for Global Finance (600 persons) during downsizing period. - SOUTHERN EUROPE CONTROLLER: France (1994-1995). Managed daily finance operations, including accounting, financial reporting, sales invoicing, inventory, payroll, etc.

Europe

INTERNATIONAL CONTROLLER - Medtronic Inc. (1989-1994)- CONTROLLER, PACING DIVISION: Belgium (1994). Supported division Europe VP and executive team with P&L financial management, including financial reporting, operations reviews, capital investment analysis, and product mix analysis. Supported Europe product launches.- CONTROLLER, SPAIN & PORTUGAL: Spain (1991-1993). Led all the aspects of finance operations for their subsidiary, including accounting, legal & management reporting, accounts receivables, accounts payables, order processing, sales administration, customer support, inventory, payroll, treasury, cash. Supervised up to 19 persons. Led the successful implementation of the general ledger and order fulfillment suite, including consignment inventory and accounts receivable management (J D Edwards). Led the resolution of an acute Day Sales Outstanding (DSO) issue leading to the successful recovery of a material debt owed by the Spanish HealthCare System.- CONTROLLER, SOUTHERN EUROPE: France (1990-1991). Supported the Vice President of Southern Europe in key business financial decisions for the region (France, Italy, Spain, and Eastern Europe). Financial planning and analysis, capital investment, operations review and strategic projects.- MANAGER, FINANCIAL PLANNING & ANALYSIS, EUROPE: France (1989-1990). Responsible for budget and financial analysis.

France

INTERNATIONAL CONTROLLER - Valeo SA. (1988-1989)LIGHTING DIVISION: France (1988-1989). Reporting to Division VP of Finance, responsible for FP&A, including P&L financial analysis, budget, long-range financial planning, capital equipment acquisition reviews, and manufacturing cost accounting. Led the re-haul of a profitability analysis process which enabled restoring the profitability of a newly acquired major subsidiary; this included leading the development of a custom software application for interactive sales price quotation/ costing.

France, International

Supervised financial audits in France, Italy, Scandinavia, U.S.A. Worked closely with IT auditors and supported external statutory audits.

England, France

FINANCE ANALYST, AUDITOR, TREASURER - Air Products Inc.: France, England (1980 – 1986)- SENIOR AUDITOR: Supervised financial and operational audits in England, France, and Germany. Participated in year-end statutory audits with Arthur Andersen. Involved in due diligence acquisition audit. - SENIOR FINANCIAL ANALYST & TREASURER: Financial analysis, operations support (P&L), profitability analyses, budgets and treasury management for the French Subsidiary.

Master Of Business Administration (Mba), Finance & Economics

Mba, Finance, Economics

Specialized in Finance and Economics

Education record