James Colquhoun Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Il, Us

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Minnetonka, Minnesota, Us

Led commercial finance at CWT, including all finance business partners (business unit CFOs) and pricing. Managed a team of approx 50 finance professionals and reported directly to the Global CFO.

Minnetonka, Minnesota, Us

CFO for Partnerships and Growth organizations and business partner to respective Executive team leaders, with financial oversight of over half of CWT’s revenue.Responsible for all financial planning, forecasting and results reporting, new contract analysis, operating metrics, strategy development and new business opportunity evaluation. Significant involvement in high growth initiatives, including the hotel business and the China market.

Minnetonka, Minnesota, Us

CFO for all supplier revenue (Air, hotel, GDS) for CWT, representing half of the company’s total revenue. Played major role navigating company through the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic (e.g. scenario planning, cash management activities).Reported to President, Commercial & RoomIt, was a member of the Commercial & RoomIt leadership team and managed a large global team of finance professionals.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

CFO of RoomIt, the hotel division of CWT. Scope of role expanded to include all of supplier revenue (hotel, air and GDS).

Oakland, California, Us

Responsible for driving significant revenue growth for suiteness.com, a start-up digital technology platform focused on helping hotels better merchandize suites and multi-bedroom suite and connecting room inventory, with oversight of all key strategic hotel partnerships and business development efforts Developed and executed strategies to create new revenue streams and diversify the business model, for example by providing technology solutions to hotel partners (e.g. a suite white label product) Reported to the CEO as employee #23, and led a team focused on sales, partnerships and market management

Oakland, California, Us

Managed all hotel partnerships and sales team. Role expanded to include all revenue growth initiatives.

Chicago, Il, Us

Managed and negotiated all 3rd party distribution partner relationships on a global basis, including online travel agents and wholesalers totaling ~$2bn of rooms revenue; highlights included signing a new strategic partnership with Booking.com, a well-publicized renegotiation of Hyatt’s contract with Expedia, and rolling out strategies to drive increased bookings to hyatt.com (e.g. a new loyalty rate program) Reported to the Global Head of Revenue Management and oversaw a global team with regular interaction with the CEO and COOActed as Hyatt Board member for Roomkey.com, an online website established by 6 hotel chains, and Journera, a new data start-up funded by hotel and airline companies

Chicago, Il, Us

Oversaw an annual budget of over $500m as business unit CFO for the global marketing, sales, reservations and technology functionsReported directly to the CMO with additional reporting responsibilities to the Global Head of Technology and the SVP of Global Sales, and managed a finance team of 10Led cross functional teams on key company-wide strategic initiatives, for example; developing a global distribution and channel management strategy, building out a new customer data organization, and selecting new major technology and software providers

Chicago, Il, Us

Head of business unit finance for marketing, sales and reservations, as well as controller for construction projects. Promoted to Vice President as scope of responsibilities expanded.

Chicago, Il, Us

Managed team of 20 with overall responsibility for accounts receivable, accounts payable and payroll Implemented significant process change to improve department performance and resolve inefficiencies, including reducing month end close from Day 5 to Day 1

Chicago, Il, Us

Project managed multiple process improvement initiatives within Financial Services (e.g. including roll out of Purchasing Card program, SOx remediation efforts, competitor benchmarking)Designed, developed and rolled out invoice approval work flow to corporate office, which fully automated the invoice process and improved processing cycle by up to 3 times

London, Gb

Acted as manager on sell side advisory project for private equity owned company in retail sector. Responsible for agreeing scope, drafting due diligence report and presenting to CFO and advisory bankAssisted management with the preparation of the Information Memorandum released to potential purchasers, including US GAAP reconciliations

Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, Gb

Project managed group finance initiatives, including the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards and the design of key performance measures for internal and external reportingDelivered findings to senior management and the Group Finance Director in various formats, including written reports, formal presentations and ad hoc briefings

London, Gb

Managed and mentored team on audit engagements, including Readers Digest (UK subsidiary), the BBC, ITV, and public clients including WSP, Chrysalis and Telewest Played lead role in financial advisory projects, including financial review of the Swissair Group (based in Switzerland for two months) and a co-sourced internal audit project for Readers DigestQualified as Chartered Accountant (UK equivalent of CPA).

Bachelor Of Arts (Ba), History

Education record