Sara Foster Email & Phone Number

Greater Seattle Area

Transitioned from a global, client-focused role to an office leadership role responsible Wunderman Thompson Seattle financials.• Manage a Finance team of 9 and have supported the merger of three separate entities (JWT, Wunderman, POSSIBLE) into a single Wunderman Thompson brand presence—unifying disparate systems and streamlining reporting of all performance/financial data• Prepare quarterly financial forecasts, annual budgets and ad hoc reporting for the SVP, Operations — in addition to advising on pricing strategies and assisting with contract review/negotiations• Provide timely and accurate analysis of budgets, forecasts, and client profitability— as well as ad hoc financial reports and trend analysis — to inform Executive leadership of current office health/performance• Educate Project teams and the various Discipline leads on financial implications of their decision-making• Hold ownership of all office P&L and the month-end close process, including revenue recognition calculation, journal entries and account reconciliations• Ensure the integrity and security of financial systems and business processes to maintain legal and regulatory compliance (full scope SOX compliance)

Greater Seattle Area

Served as Global Finance Lead for the agency, overseeing the agency’s pivotal Microsoft engagement spanning 50 markets worldwide and $120M in annual revenue. Responsible for all financial/contractual matters and escalations. Provided strategic and executional oversight to local, regional, and global teams and held accountability for assuring all agency financial processes ran smoothly and profitably.• Managed a 3-member Global Finance Team and served on the agency Leadership Team, helping devise all organizational strategy/vision, pursue and close major RFPs, and continuously evolve the agency’s people, processes, and capabilities to maintain a leadership position within the competitive global marketplace• Took on additional role as WPP Commercial lead for the Microsoft engagement during shift of the account from Wunderman to POSSIBLE• Oversaw creation of a new revenue reporting and forecasting process for POSSIBLE Seattle, managed re-negotiation of the global Wunderman contract with Microsoft (including pricing, legal, and client engagement strategy, and sat on the Microsoft account Leadership Team• Advised WPP Agencies on Microsoft-related contractual matters, provided support in case of escalations, and led WPP-wide MSFT initiatives—working in partnership with the Microsoft Agency Management team, Global Procurement Group, and Global Marketing Operations teams• Built Executive Reporting tools and functions for Global WPP and Wunderman leadership, including the development of advanced database solutions, dashboards, and business intelligence capabilities• Provided guidance/mentoring/education to the Account and Leadership teams in relation to firm policies, best practices, data privacy issues, and other emerging guidelines and internal/external standards

London, United Kingdom

Managed financial practices and drove process improvements across worldwide Microsoft engagement. Ensured audit/contract compliance across 50 global markets. Trained local teams on financial processes. Delivered financial content for internal executive and client business reviews. Supported regional and global business leads in the financial planning. Managed annual contract review process, including bill rates and commercial terms in each market, and supported CFO in contract negotiations.• Successfully managed the consolidation of separate Microsoft & Nokia contracts after companies merged. Assumed Nokia financial scope into existing team, at an efficiency of 5 resources• Led financial business planning for a multi-million-dollar global production engagement which grew to $70M revenues in 42 markets in under 3 years. Built processes and tools that enabled business leads to manage financials on increasingly complex pieces of global business• Managed a successful outcome on client audit covering 5 years of financials in 10 worldwide markets in 10 weeks; independent auditor praised financial practices and imposed no sanction

London, United Kingdom

Managed global client contractual deliverables for the global Microsoft account, including retainer utilization, staffing, and spend. Supported Global Finance Manager for all internal stakeholder reports and client deliverables. Provided ad hoc support & guidance to local finance teams and resolved client billing issues. Reviewed revenue forecast, actual results and profitability of over 90 entities working on Microsoft. Identified risk & opportunity and interfaced with regional & local CFO’s. Trained and mentored a junior financial analyst.• Stepped up to present the Microsoft update at the 2012 EMEA Regional CFO conference amid manager’s sudden family emergency; received accolades from CFO for conveying a clear story• Commended by leadership for team focus, clear communication, transparency and awareness of team workloads and local requirements• Successfully transitioned 50 markets to a new pricing model and auditable rate card

Greater Seattle Area

Led business planning and portfolio management for Seattle Agencies’ work on 18 commercial Microsoft business groups totaling $30M in revenue across 8 WPP partners; additionally conducted resource and budget planning for cross-agency teams, as well as custom financial reporting on spend of budgets against plans and scopes. • Centralized data streams and provided solutions to realign data process used across Microsoft businesses amid a chaotic business model change; solution became reporting cadence basis• Lowered FTE needs by 1.5 by increasing efficiency and scope of responsibility, saving $50,000 yearly• Refined workflow and data processing, realigning tasks to lower team work hours 20% while producing 15 new reporting views; engineered process around clear operation functions to cut duplication

Greater Seattle Area

Managed general ledger, monthly close out, operations plan and small business loan functions for this residential window and door installation service. Provided financial reporting and analytics; conveyed sales status, job profitability and monthly projections. Computed accrual accounting and prepared taxes; calculated sales commissions and payroll. Supported vendor relationships, processed credit and oversaw accounts.

Master Of Business Administration - Mba

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), Political Science And Comparative History