Cardinal Stritch University

Lakeland College

Venture Capitalist, Finance & Business Management Expert skilled at expanding organizational reach

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

In his present role at Evonik, Eric is responsible for identifying strategic investments to support Evonik’s business strategy, analyze and execute on targets including business and financial assessments.Some of his contributions here include:•	Set up a network with regional VC funds, incubators, and relevant organizations in North America. Tasked with identifying and assessing potential companies that could pique Evonik’s interest for equity.  •	Examined deal flow from partners, sat on panels to provide feedback to help the early stage company refine business plans. Negotiated confidentiality agreements, investment terms and conditions and calculate valuations.•	Involved necessary internal and external partners (legal, finance, ESHQ) to lead perform due diligence prior to an investment decisions. Drafted internal documents including deal memorandums and presentations for senior executives to secure approval of deals.  •	Developed new relationship with the Houston based accelerator – Houston Technology Center. Served on 2 advisory panels at pitch session for Houston Technology Center companies.•	Presented Evonik & Evonik Venture Capital in a reverse showcase global Webinar - highlighting Evonik interest areas. Created network with other VC’s, Private Equity Firms, Accelerators, Angel Networks•	Evaluated business plans of 20 companies with 5 projects being considered for further internal review by the related Evonik business. Generated interest within Evonik for technologies and ideas just outside the core..

Evonik Venture Capital

Investment Director

Eric’s role as the Director of Innovation entailed the development and implementation of a BU strategy for Open Innovation and a successful filling of the pipeline with multiple opportunities including investment opportunities, R&D collaborations, and strategic alliances.The highlights of this role include:•	Forged strategic partnerships to further grow business with Startups, Middle Market and Multinational corporations.•	Leveraged search fields developed with the research and development groups of 4 business lines and implemented and open innovation process in North America to identify technologies, products and business models that Evonik could benefit from.  •	Developed relationship with targeted Universities, early stage and mature companies. Negotiated confidentiality agreements, proposed and negotiated joint development agreements and licensing agreements.  •	Examined the potential commercial success and financial return of the technologies and steer the due diligence efforts on the technologies.•	Drafted internal documents including presentations for senior executives to secure approval of deals and assumed accountability of supervising a project team of more than 20 members.  •	Attained success in developing and executing an open innovation strategy in the Americas for the Business Unit. Filled the pipeline with 30 new ideas for R&D collaborations or joint development agreements.•	Understood business needs, identified growth opportunities and performed preliminary vetting of those opportunities.

Director Innovation Americas

Within his role as the Vice President of External Growth, Eric was accountable for creating and implementing the External Growth process to align external growth with business unit and corporate strategy executing on strategic partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions.Some contributions include:•	Played a key role in realizing acquisition strategy creating active targets lists and evaluation mechanism. Directed multiple global projects including execution of all phases from due diligence to closing of a successful acquisition immediately creating value worth millions of dollars.•	Set up and maintained external growth as part of the strategic plan of all business within the business unit including processes and procedures. Steered multiple projects to determine acquisition targets in all major regions of the world – Europe, China, India, Brazil and North America.•	Collaborated with the Business Line heads and developed plans for external growth. Utilized financial background to support modeling and analysis and while confirming projects’ expectations and outcomes.•	Comprehended business needs and offerings, proposed a market consolidation concept in China and prepared the drawer ready plan. Discovered significant hidden markets and potential for the business in the future.•	Negotiated complex potential transaction with a business owner and his investment bank in India while maintaining excellent prior commercial relationship.

Evonik Degussa GmbH

Vice President External Growth

As a member of Advisory Board provided financing ideas support and advice, assisted in the development of the business plan, evaluated strategic decisions and acted as a sounding board for executive management.

IQPLUS Foods

Member of the Advisory Board

As Manager of Corporate Finance, Eric contributed greatly in optimizing external Evonik credit rating and analyzing impact of planning scenarios on the Group external credit rating.Few highlights include:•	Examined foreign exchange risk through weekly risk analysis of foreign exchange positions. Also analyzed all strategic decisions and the impact on the Evonik credit rating from Moody’s and S&P.•	Served as a member of the team that managed the credit of Evonik. Assumed accountability for all debt and credit arrangements for Evonik including a multi-billion euro syndicated note, multi-million euro bond, letters of credit, guarantees, etc.•	Developed a system to monitor all banks having cash deposits by Evonik, utilizing the sovereign debt rating, the bank’s credit rating and automated the same for daily review using Bloomberg  and Excel.•	Forged and maintained strong relationships within the organization.  Automated many processes using Excel that allowed for faster preparation of key reports.•	Comprehended the financial impact of strategic decisions on the credit rating of the company.

Eric Breese

Eric Breese