Gerald Coward Email & Phone Number

Winston-Salem, North Carolina, US

Research Triangle Park, NC, US

Proud to have been part of this Biotech platform company at a pivotal time in its development.- Exit with the sale of the business in two parts to publicly traded strategic buyers (Mitsui / Certis and Ginkgo)- Series D financing of $116M at target valuation- Strategic Financial advisor- Establishment of FP&A and reporting - Transition to Big 4 Auditor and.

Spring, Texas, US

CFO to a leading Private Equity portfolio company in the fresh fruit and salad business across the US and Canada. The group incorporates the heritage Country Fresh, Tiffany Gate and SunRich businesses. Broad responsibilities include Treasury, IT and Legal. - Accounting clean up and financial restatement - Debt restructuring - Cash management - Integration.

Watsonville, CA, US

Business Unit CFO to a $3Bn division. Responsibility for Accounting & Control, FP&A, IS and Project Management groups.

Sacramento, CA, US

Recruited to this rapidly growing $1.5Bn International Consumer and Ingredient Food Company to build the FP&A function and bring commercial financial analytics to the business.- Restructured, recruited and coached the FP&A team to deliver best -in-class commercial and financial support.- Established the redefined role and expectations for the finance.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

• Responsible for providing integration expertise and financial leadership for General Mills’ largest acquisition since Pillsbury. A highly successful $1.2bn multinational integration, awarded a Champions of Finance.
• Hit all integration objectives, timelines and budgets. Exceeded acquisition plan financials. o Delivered targeted synergies o Maintained business momentum o Retained all key personnel o Developed organization model
• Lead across all finance issues and disciplines for a flawless integration of financial processes.
• Built excellent relationships with the French dairy cooperative JV partner. Enabled constructive resolution of all decisions requiring their consent, including US licensing discussions.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

• Lead a cross functional team to drive board level corporate strategy and corporate development initiatives with a focus on international expansion.
• Lead team of senior management / external consultants. Built an accelerated emerging market growth strategy for General Mills taken to and adopted at board level. Phase 1 includes the $500MM acquisition in Brazil.
• Lead development of Russia entry strategy in conjunction with senior functional leadership / European regional leadership / in-market consultants. Project lead to board level approval of a staged acquisition and.
• Identified the need, researched, sold in and established the General Mills ‘Integration Center of Expertise’ (ICOE) enabling the accelerated acquisition plan. Defined the structure and approach for Yoplait. The ICOE is.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

• P&L responsibility for the $3bn International segment. Lead the consolidation, analysis and presentation of business results, forecasts and business plans for the senior segment team and General Mills Board of Directors.
• Balanced regional business performance and growth investments to hit stretching profit targets (18% CAGR).
• Revamped financial and supply chain reporting, improving reporting capabilities whilst reducing headcount.
• Responsible as statutory auditor and finance point for Haagen Dazs Japan, a joint venture with Suntory.
• Strengthened relationships and credibility at all levels to increase strategic impact and operational voice of finance.
• Lead resolution of open internal / external audit points globally, reducing run rate on open items by 75%.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

• Overall leadership of the finance function and key member of the executive team during a short term assignment for a $300MM business.
• Reviewed, restructured and lead a department of 25.
• Developed acquisition strategy and initiated Saxby acquisition process, the first acquisition for GMI in Europe after Pillsbury.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

• Leader of the finance function and key member of the regional management team. Promoted to Director in role.
• Worked with the regional VP to turn the business portfolio around following the Latin American financial crisis; transforming a loss making region to one with a 7% return on sales within 3 years.
• Financial leadership for restructuring businesses in the region, including the sale of businesses in Colombia and Puerto Rico and strategic review of Argentine and Brazilian businesses.
• Responsibility for implementing effective financial control within the region. Identifying and resolving significant accounting, fraud and diversion issues within the region.
• Provided functional leadership and direction to market Finance Directors.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

• Leader of commercial finance support to the $300MM business, providing business analysis and planning to the executive team and decision support to the commercial functions.
• Restructured, recruited and energized the department to transform the role of commercial finance function within General Mills UK from reactive information providers to strategic partners in decision making.
• Designed and implemented trade evaluation and tracking tool.
• Key member of the Operating Committee – a cross functional group of senior managers responsible for operational business results reporting to the executive team.

JP

Position as Corporate Auditor and General Mills finance representive to the JV with Suntory and Takanashi Milk

A fast track career from Graduate Finance Analyst to Commercial Accountant with a variety of roles giving a full breadth of experience in financial control and reporting, planning and decision partnership with Sales, Marketing and Supply Chain.

Accounting And Finance

Ba, European Business Studies & Spanish