SMU Cox School of Business

Hardin-Simmons University

Culture ROI

Stagen Leadership Academy

T. Boone Pickens Leadership Institute

John F. Dulles High School

CFO  -  People Leader  -  Transformational Change Agent  -  SMU Cox MBA

Skills: Leadership · Financial Reporting · Accounting · Private Equity · Process Optimization

Teasdale Latin Foods

Corporate Controller

Private equity backed automotive group comprised of three dealerships located in Central Texas, including Chevrolet, Ford, and Stellantis franchises, specializing in upfitting vehicles for government agency use – particularly police. The company is the largest upfitter in the USA for General Motors and has a multi-year GSA contract.

Key member of the senior leadership team responsible for the accounting operations for three dealership operations, the upfitting operation (light manufacturing/vehicle assembly), an offshore warranty company, a real-estate entity, parent company operations and all consolidations activity. 

Handled day-to-day cash management, banking relationship management, identification of new systems needed to streamline operations and implementation of NetSuite ERP and DealerTrack functionality

Key Projects & Achievements
• Reduced aged over 90 payables by 90% within 3 months restoring critical vendor relationships with key suppliers
• Cultivated and managed key banking relationship on $100M+ floor plan line of credit facility, providing monthly reporting and communications in coordination with the CFO and the PE investors
• Responsible for managing accounting, AP, and reporting associated with the construction of a $10M+ facility buildout while waiting for a construction loan facility to be put in place
• Expanded employee benefit offering at minimal cost to company, increasing employee satisfaction and helping to attract and retain talent and worked with HR leadership to implement at open enrollment
• Identified & implemented several system solutions to solve key inefficiencies in processes & streamline month-end close processes – Rippling HR/Payroll, Gatekeeper (document management), Varicent (commissions management)
• Responsible for oversight of external engagements with FORVIS/DHG for tax return filings and financial audits; responsible for reviewing/providing all PBCs and any other communications required to complete engagements

USA Automotive Partners, LLC

Chief Accounting Officer

Skills: Budgets · Relationship Banking · Business Process

Veryable

Chief Financial Officer

VP, Finance & Accounting

Leader of Corporate Accounting, Supply Chain Finance and Financial Systems. 

Insure integrity and timeliness of consolidated financials. Conduct monthly and quarterly financial reviews with business segments & key leadership.  Establish reporting package guidelines and criteria.  Maintain and develop corporate financial reporting package, including bank and board communications. Conduct ASC 606 and ASC 842 impact assessments, develop adoption plans, and drive software selection and system changes in support of FASB changes.

Establish Supply Chain Finance organization in support of a significant supply-diversification effort. Create framework for standard cost model and methodology for 17+ cost components, driving automation and transaction processing within JDEdwards. Develop monthly financial results cadence and reporting package including operational and financial analytics. Develop inventory control processes for multiple 3PL warehouse locations resulting in 99.9% accuracy rate.

Provide strategic leadership for transformational business initiatives - a 280+ distributor-facing ERP solution, a lead-recycling program management solution, and support for key national account billing and collections initiatives. Cultivate relationships with peers across the organization to drive organizational efficiency and alignment around corporate goals and objectives. 
  
Key Projects and Achievements
•	Reduced month-end close cycle from 17 to 14 days
•	Cultivated relationship with external auditor (KPMG), consistently delivering fiscal year-end audits with no proposed entries or adjustments
•	Implemented Blackline solution to drive efficiency in reconciliations & close task management
•	Developed short-term treasury policy for effective cash management

Interstate Batteries

Director, Finance & Accounting

Leader of Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll & Financial Systems in support of 5 business segments with operations across the US, Canada, Latin/Central America and China. Led a team of 30+ including 4-5 managers/supervisors and 25+ associates & analysts.

Key Projects and Achievements
•	Transformed manual expense management program through implementation of Concur for Travel & Expense Management & a Corporate Card program - improving internal controls and reducing FTEs required to manage $10M+ in annual spend
•	Drove working capital improvement of $8m by adjusting payment terms, payment cycles, and leveraging ACH payment processing 
•	Implemented GetPaid solution for Accounts Receivable & Collections and drove increased focus on collection activity - improving AR currency from 80% to 90%+
•	Drove implementation of Workday & Kronos Time & Attendance solution - dramatically reducing manual efforts and achieving consistent zero-defect payroll cycles.

Finance Director, Shared Services

Led largest system implementation in company history to overhaul Order to Cash & Procure to Pay processes for the core business operation.  Managed 50+ resources, interfacing with Finance, Marketing, Supply Chain, Distributor Operations, and IT to deliver a $20M program on-time and under-budget.  

Key Projects and Achievements
•	Developed 2 modern custom portal solutions for order entry & customer self-service 
•	Implemented BillTrust online bill payment portal for receivables
•	Implemented JDEdwards EnterpriseOne for approx. $1B in transactions - INV, AP, AR, SO, PO, GL, custom Notes Receivable solution, and Item management solution 
•	Most successful implementation in history at Interstate - with no show-stopper issues at go-live and no disruption to business operations

Finance Director, Strategic Programs

Created an organization and developed a team of 3 business analysts to serve as finance SMEs for all corporate initiatives and system implementation projects.  Drove thorough requirements gathering efforts, design & development decisions, and UAT in partnership with IT and other cross-functional areas within the business.  Designed and implemented a structure for first line system support to100+ finance & accounting team members. 

Served as Corporate Trainer for Culture ROI, Quantum Leadership training. Trained in 4-month intensive "train-the-trainer" program with 6 other colleagues selected by senior management. Facilitated intensive 2-day transformational  training for all levels of organizational leadership.

FInance Manager, Business Process / Corporate Leadership Trainer & Facilitator

Served as key SME for finance & accounting for all corporate initiatives and system implementation projects.  Crafted and documented project requirements, provided input to system design decisions, and served as lead analyst for UAT efforts.  

Key Projects and Achievements
•	Implemented Inventory, Sales Order & Purchase Order for local distribution center (approx. $10M operation)
•	Implemented ACOM EZPay check writing solution with JDEdwards
•	Served as SME for JDEdwards EnterpriseOne upgrade from 8.9 to 8.12
•	Served as Administrator support for Hubble (formerly InsightSoftware.com) reporting solution - driving system upgrades, managing user licenses & functionality, and building reports

Sr Business Analyst, Finance

Full-cycle accounting, financial reporting & analysis, oversight of AP & AR

Border Foods Inc

Accounting Manager

Sales forecasting for Sprint & Verizon handheld unit sales

Nokia

Sales Controller

Thermadyne, Inc.

Manager of Financial Analysis

$100M in revenue manufacturing division of loading dock equipment - dock levelers, seals and shelters and doors.  Child company of SPX Corporation (at the time).  Responsible for full-cycle accounting on a 4-4-5 closing calendar, top to bottom balance sheet account reconciliation, sales & use tax filing for all states, consolidation reporting, financial reporting & variance analysis, freight lag analysis, warranty lag analysis, order-to-cash & procure-to-pay process mapping & design, SME for JDEdwards system initiatives, liaison with IT for all system initiatives

Entrematic - Loading Dock Products

Senior Accountant/Assistant Controller

Complex excel modeling of telecommunications capital budget for network buildout - driven by input of forecasted lines sold driving required collocation, DACS, and switch equipment, Ongoing monthly capital spend management, financial reporting & variance analysis, Fixed asset maintenance and accounting oversight, Business case support for strategic development and growth opportunities

XO Communications

Sr. Financial Analyst - Capital Spending

Sales operations & marketing financial planning & analysis, excel based budget modeling, full-cycle accounting in Peoplesoft accounting system - including journal entry preparation and variance analysis, business case preparation & analysis on promotional offerings

PrimeCo Personal Communications

Budget Analyst

Customer service to clients in a 24/7 call center environment; Series 7 and Series 63 licensed

Melissa Wickham