University of Louisville

Indiana University Northwest

Business Development at Cuddle Clones

Providing Finance, Accounting, Treasury, FP&A, and other financial services to an array of clients. Have a particular fondness for startups where ideas and decisions come fast.

Freelance

Fractional CFO

•	Oversaw all aspects of accounting and finance for SAAS/ecommerce startup
•	Joined Dianthus when it acquired Cuddle Clones, and promoted to corporate role
•	Wound company down due to lack of funding

Accomplishments:
• Assisted with fundraising, helping secure $19M in equity and $22M in debt.
• Built entire Dianthus finance function from scratch, including staff, policies, procedures and reporting, laying groundwork to support growth via acquisition from $0 to $100M in twelve months.
• Created corporate financial model, brand models, cashflow models, product/line profitability models, etc.
• Trusted adviser to CEO on financial and other strategic matters.

Dianthus

Chief Financial Officer

• Began with Cuddle Clones as contract consultant, then joined as full time Operations/CFO.
• Oversaw all aspects of Finance for eCommerce retail brand.
• Joined Dianthus when it acquired Cuddle Clones.

Accomplishments:
• Identified and implemented multiple cost-saving initiatives, reducing unit costs by over 20% 
• Led process to procure, ship, and price facemasks at onset of pandemic, generating $725k in profit in 2020 (5x growth).
• Streamlined systems and processes while increasing quality of analysis and financial reporting while simultaneously reducing headcount from 3 to 1.5.
• Created tools and analyses for marketing to improve forecasting and decision analysis.

Cuddle Clones

• Senior financial officer of company.
• Oversaw company's Treasury, Internal/External Reporting, Investor Relations, FP&A, Corporate Development, Risk Management, Shared Services, and Credit.


Accomplishments:
• Revamped board reporting package to improve clarity and reduce volume of data presented each month by 40%, improving trust between the Board and management.
• Revamped external reporting, including earnings releases and calls, to simplify and improve quality.
• Completed due diligence for international acquisition targets, including accountability for valuation model.

Century Aluminum

Senior Vice President of Finance

• Led financial planning, forecasting, corporate development and decision support efforts. 
• Worked closely with operations to deliver actionable information and insights faster.

Accomplishments:
• Completed due diligence for domestic and international acquisitions, including accountability for financial models.
• Acted as VP of Procurement when incumbent vacated without notice. Oversaw global procurement for strategic raw materials without disruption to supply chain, while reducing inventory levels and streamlining tracking, reporting, and communications with operations.  
• Oversaw financial transformation to reform corporate financial team from isolated staff to one team fully-integrated with operations. 
• Oversaw implementation of Hyperion planning and reporting software while harmonizing multiple legacy cost-center structures.
• Executed various major projects, including divestiture of idled and non-core assets and negotiating complex legal settlement with retiree class action group.
• Brought client-service and hands-on culture to corporate finance group, deepening ties to the business and sharpening focus on key operation and financial performance metrics.

Vice President of Corporate Development, Financial Planning and Analysis

• Head of North American sales and marketing team, working closely with customers and operations to provide value-added products in a cost-efficient manner to ultimately improve both companies' bottom lines. 

Accomplishments:
• Negotiated annual and one-time contracts ranging from $2MM to over $2BB across multiple product lines.
• Designed and led implementation of new market segmentation, route to market, and commercial negotiations that dramatically improved realized pricing, decreased working capital, and reduced credit exposure.
• Accountable for customer management and market analysis as company entered two new product lines.
• Completed due-diligence for multiple domestic acquisition targets as functional expert in Sales and Marketing.

Vice President of Sales & Marketing

• Accountable for all aspects of HR for the company - strategy design/execution, day-to-day function, etc.
• Trusted adviser to senior leadership of the company, leading the establishment of HR strategic objectives, modification of HR systems and programs, and ongoing enhancement of total rewards program.  
• Brought a client-service approach to HR function to increase its ability to add value.

Accomplishments:
• Led turnaround of group, transforming stale, siloed function into dynamic, business-facing, consultative group focused on supporting the business.
• Redesigned entire total rewards program, including annual performance reviews, base and incentive compensation system, long-term incentives, active welfare benefits (including rolling out CDHP program), freezing of pension, implementation of DC program, and freezing of retiree medical benefits.
• Led relocation of corporate headquarters.
• Regularly consulted to Board of Directors on myriad sensitive topics in all roles, such as setting executive pay, incentives, and benefits, executing multi-billion dollar deals with related parties, and strategic projects.
• Completed due-diligence for multiple domestic acquisition targets as functional expert in HR.

Vice President Human Resources

• Responsible for all aspects of HR management for unionized manufacturing facility with approximately 600 employees

Accomplishments
• Implemented new labor contract with US Steelworkers (USW)
• Led grievance resolution under NLRB and union agreement
• Oversaw hiring of over 100 employees for facility expansion

Human Resources Manager - Hawesville Plant

•  Accountable for analysis, design, decision support, and communication of all strategic HR initiatives.

Accomplishments:
• Conducted all modeling for negotiation of collective bargaining agreements.
• Modeled cost savings impacts from benefit plan changes.
• Modeled cost impact of curtailing facilities.

HR Strategy and Metrics Manager

• Responsible for day-to-day administration of compensation and benefits programs.

Accomplishments:
• Led process to overhaul entire total rewards program, from data collection/storage to plan design, decision support, and communications.
• Insourced benefit program cost monitoring during 2008 economic downturn, saving $300k in annual fees.
• Earned CEBS credential in 6 months while simultaneously earning MBA degree.

Senior Compensation and Benefits Specialist

• Worked in PwC's HR consulting practice, focusing on combining HR strategy and financial rigor to provide clients with tailored, value-added services related to its total rewards programs.  
• Held progressively increasing roles from individual contributor of analytics growing into project management, client relationship management, and staff development roles.

Key skills:
• Excel modeling / valuation (including VB, multiple actuarial modeling platforms)
• Financial analysis / communications to C-Suite and BOD
• Technical Proficiency in US retirement programs
• Client management
• Project Management
• Team Management
• Attained Enrolled Actuary credential

Actuarial Manager

• Technical - became one of PwC's experts in the modeling, analysis, and communication of benefit plan design changes.

• Workflow - managed day-to-day workflow deadlines and multiple competing client priorities.

• Communications - engaged in day-to-day communications with  low-level client staff regarding data, basic deliverable needs, etc.

Senior Actuarial Associate

Responsible for executing various client projects with a focus in:

• Data - analyzed data and scrubbed for accuracy and validity. Erich edited, prepared, and conformed for incorporation into valuation models. Erich heavily used Excel, VB, and proprietary actuarial models.

• Valuations - performed actuarial valuations for multiple uses (IRS, FASB, GASB, IFRS, Due Diligence, IRC 280G, Economic Analysis)

• Analysis - analyzed results and prepared client-specific analysis and forecasts in Excel.

• Communication - created client-specific communications for C-Suite/BoD in the form of financial exhibits (Excel) that told the story, presentations (PowerPoint) that supported/led decision analysis, and drafted formal communications/reports (Word).

Erich Squire