Obadiah Watson Email & Phone Number

Atlanta, Ga

• Finance leader on $14 million SAP enhancement that is projected to drive $56 million in efficiency over a five year period for all aspects of customer promotion management•Strategic Consulting, including business plan & sales strategy development.• Collaborated with software developers and all US business finance teams to develop customization of software to ensure functionality essential for the multitude of ways businesses go to market with customers• Joined project as first fully dedicated Finance Manager six months after conceptual design, scope, and timeline were established and became integral to project launching on time with required functionality• Led and facilitated functionality gap meetings with senior management to address successful and efficient resolution while minimizing impact to budget and launch timeline• Managed and communicated weekly finance specific timelines, escalated risks, scope changes, and solution accomplishments to project team• Facilitated training on multiple interface capabilities of SAP enhancement for 620 users across sales, trade, and finance functions for $3.6 billion business segment• Gained project management experience on a resource constrained, budget challenged, complex project that necessitated multiple scope changes to address business intricacies• Tested financial posting, cross promotional metric calculations, costing logic, and functionality of new SAP software with existing functionality• Collaborated with internal audit team for process adoption and security risk assessment• Collaborated with business users and IT support to build and standardize SAP Business Explorer (BEx) reports for new functionality

Atlanta, Ga

• Provide financial decision making support for Sales and Channel Marketing teams driving Calphalon and Goody brand sales of $270 million and $145 million respectively• Manage a direct report, a dotted-line report, and collaborate with a Senior Sales Operation manager to maintain sales volume and profitability of $18 million retail store business• Led due diligence processes for acquisition bids by two separate private equity firms• Drove financial aspects of business divestiture• Managed and coordinated financial aspects of 18 store closure over a 10 month period• Hired, trained, and managed five contract financial analysts during a two year hiring freeze which required multiple weeks of managing duties for two roles while still hitting financial targets• Finance consultant on Goody rebranding project for the entire $145 million business

Atlanta, Ga

• Managed two direct reports while collaborating with a team consisting of three functional managers to drive sales volume and profitability of $18 million retail store business• Supervised financials of $2 million Canadian retail and service business segment• Increased sales by $6 million through both organic growth and new location additions• Increased operating income by $2 million with four years of back to back improvement through low volume store closures, SG&A cost reductions, and improved promotional rigor• Developed and reviewed annual three-year financial strategic plan for business segment with division President, CFO, and retail functional managers preluding the budgeting cycle• Presented financial results and fielded questions from executive leadership team• Organized all budgeting processes and management of targets for business segment• Utilized SAP and Navision operating systems to drive financials of the business segment• Reviewed journal entries and reconciliations to maintain Sarbanes-Oxley compliance while being lead for customary compliance audits orchestrated by internal and external auditors• Developed bonus metrics, managed and coordinated bonus payouts for field team• Developed and analyzed six new site projections with summarized recommendations• Collaborated with corporate director of real estate to negotiate the terms of ten multiple year leases with a multi-million dollar impact to SG&A expenditures• Coordinated with corporate tax director to fulfill multiple state tax audits on retail business• Assumed responsibility for division wide material price variance product allocations and oversea in-transit accruals to accommodate staff reductions in operational cost positions

High Point, Nc

• Managed analysis and pricing strategy while collaborating with product managers to increase profitability of $200 million product segment of a $406 million business• Analyzed promotions for organization’s largest customer account totaling $167 million• Increased profit margins on various customer accounts which led to increased responsibility and management of progressively higher profile customer accounts• Collaborated with product engineers and utilized Oracle database to construct profitability and demand analytics in the successful launch of 3 new products and 6 product • Reconciled and maintained Sarbanes-Oxley compliant on customer rebates, customer and consumer returns, prepaid and amortization schedules of displays and samples, marketing and advertising accruals, warranty reserve, buybacks, and markdown accounts• Managed, forecasted, and budgeted nine marketing accounts with expenses over $37million• Prepared monthly expenditure reports for various marketing directors and Marketing VP• Chosen, based on performance, to work closely with Finance VP and corporate officers in a divestiture project which resulted in maintained custody of a profitable division• Collaborated on team responsible for implementation of SAP operating software in division

High Point, Nc

• Prepared and analyzed monthly, quarterly, and yearly financial reports using Hyperion• Assembled forecast/budget reports for business and strategy reviews with 100% accuracy• Reconciled and maintained accounts receivable, payment term discounts, chargeback and rebill reserve, payroll, corporate cross charges, worker’s comp, property and liability insurance, supplemental pension, and royalty charges• Analyzed pricing and promotions for $2 million account• Resolved $1.5 million of intercompany out of balances with various global divisions• Audited various invoicing processes to uphold Sarbanes-Oxley compliance• Managed, forecasted, and budgeted ten admin cost centers with expenses over $12 million• Coordinated monthly meetings with Human Resources VP to review and forecast expenditures, and updated President on variances for related admin account