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

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

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

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.
• Managed, forecasted, and budgeted nine marketing accounts with expenses over $37million

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.
• 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