After several years in the finance area, I was looking for a new challenge with more external contact. GK offered me to become the SVP of Sales for a new daughter company, which offered a cloud-based POS extension to achieve VAT tax compliance in Germany. My role included the following responsibilities:- Coordination of all sales activities towards GK group clients, other retailers, and partners- Optimization of pricing strategy, contracts, and sales material for non-GK clients- Personal responsibility for main clients and partners across Europe- Representation at trade fairs and online marketing events- Contribution to the overall marketing measures (website, communication)- Representation of Sales in internal and external steering committees- Negotiation of purchase prices with major suppliers (cloud & logistics)- Leading the sales team of 15 sales and consulting employees through highs and lowsDespite various delays due to regulatory changes and required technical adjustments, we built a strong team and managed to contract >100,000 devices for Deutsche Fiskal - even before the official certification of the service! Personally, I gained additional confidence, proved my ability to apply my skills in a new field, and realized my passion for Sales and Communication. 😎Nevertheless, after 8 years at GK and ahead of the construction of our house and expected twins, I decided to slow down a bit and start a new chapter with more flexibility.

As Commercial Director, I switched to the line-management and took over the following responsibilities on the *group* level:- Time tracking, project accounting and billing, revenue recognition under IFRS- Monthly reporting, analysis, and forecasting of the client-oriented performance- Coordination of the annual financial planning and budgeting process- Commercial support of the acquisition and integration of DBS Retail Inc. (Raleigh, NC)In 2016, I got additional responsibility for the Corporate Controlling team on the group level: - Complete responsibility for the entire P&L planning and reporting to the board and all senior managers- Support of the quarterly and annual closing and publishing processes- Collaboration with external auditors and advisors- Constant improvement of tool usage incl. Excel, PowerBI, DynamicsNAV - Commercial support of the acquisition and integration of prudsys AG (Chemnitz)- Commercial integration of the entities in Lwow (UA) and Cape Town (South Africa)- Introduction of a group-wide travel reservation and approval tool linked to the finance processes- Finally leading two teams of 10 employeesBased on that, I was asked by the supervisory and executive board to design an efficiency program lifting the group's financial performance by 10% and delivered successfully on time ("Fit for growth"). During that time, I gained full insights about the whole group (1,000 employees on three continents), was in constant exchange with all boards and managers, and improved my commercial skills. 📊

At GK Software, a leading global POS provider, I supported the C-Level in several corporate projects with international reach. My main responsibilities were:- Program management: Program lead for several group projects to harmonize internal processes and reduce tools for issue tracking, task management and time tracking across the different group entities and functions- M&A and PMI: Commercial support of several due diligences, acquisitions and post-merger integrations from buyer side for national and international deals- Coordination: Optimization of internal admin processes (Accounting, Controlling, HR, IT) across different entities and locations- Board topics: corporate organisational design, group reporting, guidelines for time tracking and travel expenses- Financial Planning: Leading the financial group planning for 2014Driving above projects, I was in direct exchange with all C-Level and senior managers, all functions, locations and entities of the group (DE, US, CZ, UA, ...) as well as external partners and advisors, providing an excellent basis for my next steps in the group. 🚁

At PharmaZell, an API supplier for big pharma, I was responsible for the following topics to improve our financial performance in various aspects:- Financial controlling of two Indian production plants (analysis, reporting, forecasting, planning)- Improvement and support of the monthly group reporting and annual closing activities- Led the corporate annual planning process across on group level (sites, entities, functions)- Harmonization and improvement of all Sales reportings and forecastings- Led a project to improve production planning based on Sales forecasts- Improvement of the ERP tool usage within the group (new reports, accurate data, etc.)- Support of M&A activities from the seller side (special reports, q&a, meetings)I had a nice time in Raubling with a rather small team, but a quickly growing, international company in a very nice location. 🌄

I started my career at Horváth, a leading management consulting firm in Europe, and worked on several projects and studies with a broad range of topics for large, multinational enterprises:- Bayer Material Science (now: Covestro): Reorganization of the global finance organization- Boehringer Ingelheim: Improvement of financial forecasting for global clinical studies- OMV: Program management for 20 projects in the downstream business- Munich Airport: Establishment of a new controlling concept to steer all airport entities and businesses- Other smaller projects (upstream business in Romania, Health eCom from the US, ...)- Big pharma: Benchmarking study for >20 pharmaceutical production sites across Europe- Big pharma: Comparative study on financial R&D best practices with 5 different multinationalsCreation and support of white papers and sales decks:- Supply Chain Management and Performance in the Life-Science industry- Financial Controlling in the Pharmaceutical industryI really enjoyed this time, allowing me to work in a great team on different topics in >10 countries including Germany, Austria, Romania, the US, the UK, and others. Go Horváth! 👍

In addition to various jobs as a pupil and student, I collected practical working experience in the following internships:- Horváth & Partner GmbH: Paid diploma thesis on "Budget allocation in Energy Grids" (2007)- Horváth & Partner GmbH: Consulting internship for a project at Südchemie in Munich (2006)- AUDI AG: Factory logistics at the Ingolstadt plant for Just-In-Time deliveries of the GVZ (2005)- WM Handelslogistik GmbH: Retail logistics for the German drugstore chain "Schlecker" (2004)- AUDI AG: Working at the assembly line in the Ingolstadt plant at the A4 production line (2003)All of them extended my skills, funded my student life and travel, and finally led me to my first full-time engagement at Horváth, right after graduation. 🤗