Neal Simons Email & Phone Number

Wilmington , De, Us

The World's Finest Most-Awarded Tequila. Cierto is the Spanish word for "true" and Cierto Tequila is True Tequila - authentic 100% natural additive-free handcrafted by generational agaveros from the finest Highlands agave. Grown in harmony with nature. A pure expression of mature agave. Free of additives, artifice, and shortcuts.A confluence of organic processes and innovative techniques harvested from around the world. Transformed by time. A torch-bearer for the Mexico of today and tomorrow.

Wilmington , De, Us

Through Demeter and Co – a third party management services company

London, England, Gb

Interim CFO/COO following transition away from management services company; guided company and Board towards US sales agency partnership and fractional CFO model

London, England, Gb

Through Demeter and Co – a third party management services company

London, England, Gb

Leader of the fast-growing no-alcohol spirit alternative space. Hitting all of the flavors you'd expect from your favorite full-strength equivalent, our multi-award winning global taste developers work hard to replicate the sensation and mouthfeel of alcohol without the repercussions. We make alternatives to gin, rum, tequila, vodka, and whiskey.

CFO for start-up in the adult beverage space supporting the entire corporate lifecycle of individually managed SPV's.

Kilkenny, Ireland, Us

- Oversee commercial finance, promotion and deduction management, product supply finance, and FP&A for North America sports nutrition brands (Optimum Nutrition, BSN, Isopure, and ABB), along with continued responsibility for think!, reporting into CFO- Lead 42-person finance function across North American brands with 6 direct reports responsible for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, financial strategy, and operations finance of four in-house manufacturing plants- Currently partnering with McKinsey to lead revenue growth management workstream that is part of broader transformation project aimed at re-gaining top line momentum and improving business margins- Successfully instituted first price change for sports nutrition brands in five years to combat rising inflationary cost pressures- Executed first ever price increase for think! following re-branding efforts in previous year, helping to lead business case and retailer sell-in story during COVID and leading to initial improvements in margins with volumes above business case- Leading route-to-market optimization project to reduce warehousing and transportation spend and take advantage of enhanced scale of GPN brand family and customer overlap.- Improved reporting of results at the customer and item level, opening up enhanced insights to the commercial business and resulting in key strategic decisions to exit underperforming territories and channels.- Publish monthly business review decks and lead discussion with CEO, CFO, and COO to highlight business successes and challenges and gain alignment around key decision points.- Oversee weekly leadership team meetings (with dotted line into Chief Commercial Officer and President of Lifestyle) to address hot business topics with leadership counterparts from sales, marketing, operations, and product development.- Part of leadership team to help improve diversity and inclusion engagement and metrics across organization

Kilkenny, Ireland, Us

- Oversaw accounting, promotion and deduction management, and FP&A for think!, a brand in the lifestyle better-for-you snacking category, operated independently from the rest of Glanbia and reporting directly into global CFO with dotted line into think! CEO- Managed transformational re-branding from thinkThin to think! with new packaging, target marketing, and consumer proposition. Worked with co-manufacturer and internal network to minimize packaging write-offs and develop marketing strategy to return once dominant brand back to above average category growth- Led 9-person finance function with 3 direct reports responsible for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and financial strategy, including newly created operations finance function that resulted in $2m of annualized direct material savings through procurement savings and enhanced visibility on co-manufacturer cost detail- Instituted several process changes to promotion and deduction management to bring open (‘unknown’) deduction balance down from $12m to less than $1m, providing improved visibility and strategic direction for trade promotion management and effectiveness- Identified and corrected several process gaps around inventory control, demand planning, and supply planning, ultimately correcting problem surrounding excess and obsolete inventory- Improved new product development process by inserting financial discipline and building customer and product P&L’s, improving the post-launch margin of several new items and adding visibility to strategic decisions around investment effectiveness.

Kilkenny, Ireland, Us

- Oversaw accounting and financial controls for Americas and Asia Pacific for largest division of Glanbia,publicly held Irish corporation- Led 18-person finance function with 4 direct reports and personnel on the ground across 5 different countries and 14 different legal entities, growing team from 12 people when first brought into role- Reported on financial results and performance and prepared ad-hoc financial analysis across cross-functional reporting lines including direct reporting into North America CFO, and with additional key users spread across business unit management teams, Group Finance, Investor Relations, and FP&A functions- Administered creation and build-out of new legal entities and new hires across rapidly growing Asia Pacific region with annualized realized sales growth of +30%. Engaged cross-functional stakeholder groups including HR, payroll, sales, marketing, legal, treasury, IT, and tax in build-out of functions and support structure- Consolidated 3x/year forecasts and budgets for broader Glanbia Performance Nutrition business with direct responsibility for cash and treasury forecasting by building and implementing strategic initiatives around cash targets and metrics

Kilkenny, Ireland, Us

- Relocated to California and led finance integrations and SAP ERP implementations for new acquisitions of thinkThin and Amazing Grass for Glanbia’s expansion into the natural/lifestyle channels including incorporation of corporate policies and procedures around treasury management, accounting and reporting, financial reporting and analysis, IT systems and infrastructure, and taxes- Prepared and assembled budgets and forecasts for separate commercial reporting entities with initial results for thinkThin that ultimately saw net sales growth of 25% under first year of Glanbia ownership- Analyzed and optimized spend across disperse co-manufacturers by cross-comparing tolling charges and leveraging parent company volumes and relationships resulting in COGS savings of $1m- Effectively utilized syndicated and trade data to identify key trends in underlying business results and explain key changes across the broader industry

Kilkenny, Ireland, Us

- Recruited to join in role intended for M&A integration for fast-growing organization with heavy M&A focus- Built controls and processes for North American business including development of process flow charts through cross-departmental workshops and collaboration- Optimized several outdated legacy processes around consolidation, transfer pricing, and financial analysis through development of new tools and structures, resulting in significant departmental efficiencies- Balanced competing demands of rapidly evolving organization that had outgrown existing processes and structure with commercial realities by adding financial controls in areas such as HR, payroll, and fixed assets

New York, Ny, Us

Financial statement auditor in the Consumer, Industrial Goods, and Retail industries. Clients ranged from closely-held private companies to SEC-reporting Fortune 500 multi-national corporations.

New York, Ny, Us

New York, Ny, Us

Worked on a rotation in Transactions and Restructuring group providing buy-side financial due diligence for private equity and strategic corporate buyers. Targets consisted of companies within the manufacturing and distribution industries. Also worked on a due diligence for lenders engagement involving a large publicly traded company seeking a borrowing base in excess of $0.7 billion.

New York, Ny, Us

Deerfield, Il, Us

Worked on audits of school districts and employee benefit plans within the manufacturing and real estate industries in the Chicagoland area

Master Of Business Administration (Mba), Finance, Economics, Strategic Management

Program Certificate, Succeeding As A Strategic Cfo

Mas, Accountancy

Bs, Accountancy