Linda Hester
Finance Business Partner - Marketing
Fort Myers,FL
Summary
Over 15 years of expertise in Sales Compensation, Revenue Recognition, Operations and Business Partnering for Software as a Service sector businesses. Cultivates rapport with individuals to optimize project goals and output, resolve complex problems and deliver innovative improvement strategies.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work History
Principal Finance Business Partner
SAS Institute Inc
Fort Myers, FL
07.2018 - Current
- Responsible for tracking projected/allocated and actual spend in excess of $175M across global Marketing functions, growth initiatives, industries, personas and interaction types to aid executive leadership team in investment decisions
- Cross-functional liaise in educating and communicating budget and expense management guidelines to ensure optimal corporate profitability targets are met
- Orchestrator and functional lead of Global Marketing budget and forecast process with responsibility to report on organizational performance and execution
- Reviews, analyzes and articulates cross-functional policies, processes and guidance documents to continuously improve business protocols and create greater organizational efficiency within Marketing
- Current system integration lead representing Finance responsible for identification of system transactional data sourcing across disparate financial systems to get comprehensive view of worldwide Marketing investments
Marketing Operations Specialist
SAS Institute Inc
Cary, NC
06.2013 - 08.2018
- Managed US Discretionary budget of US$72M working through quarterly re-forecasts with functional Marketing leadership team
- Tracked US discretionary expenses across myriad of functions from Advertising to Events Management.
- Onboarded new team members and coached personnel in all finance-related processes.
Sales Compensation Analyst
Red Hat
Raleigh, NC
04.2012 - 06.2013
- Modeling and critical analysis done in support of sales compensation for Public Sector (Government), Strategic Alliances business units including sales compensation plan design and quota build
- Performed analysis of sales compensation data utilizing quarterly Salesforce results data for in excess of 175 sales representatives
- Lead in design of variable pay targets and compensation range development analysis to ensure compensation plans are designed in line with corporate spend and strategy initiatives
- Cross-functional collaboration with payroll or other departments to ensure accuracy of sales incentive payouts and explains and interprets sales compensation policies and procedures
- Preparation of quarterly business reviews and management presentations and reviews and approves sales commission exceptions to standard practice.
Business Analyst
Allscripts
Raleigh, NC
04.2010 - 06.2012
- Responsibility for monthly commission validation for 350 sales representatives, comparing Salesforce opportunity data to financial feed data
- Using statistical software and internal competitive market data, lead on market study analysis to determine and extract key regional sales prospect areas
- Lead in sales planning and quota roll-out initiatives for corporate sales organization
- In first six months of taking over newly created role, efforts created estimated 28% improvement in process efficiencies, allowing for additional resourcing in expansive data analysis, report creation and time-sensitive sales queries.
Global Marketing Operations Analyst
Nortel
Research Triangle Park, NC
04.2008 - 09.2009
- Consolidated and reported monthly expense and forecast results for Global Marketing organization
- Developed financial models and metrics including long term forecasts and key measurement ratios and graphs via dashboard delivery
- Developed detailed global marketing spend report used by executive management that enabled quick decisions regarding risks, enablers and results of various management scenarios to meet expense spending challenges
- Within first eight months of taking over this new role, full-year 2008 actual to forecasted spend accuracy was pulled in from 2007 differential of >20% to 2%.
Senior Revenue Analyst
Nortel
Research Triangle Park, N
03.2006 - 04.2008
- Provided senior-level financial support in area of complex product revenue and margin forecasting for two product lines with combined annual sales of $150M
- Partner with Enterprise Corporate Accounts organization providing financial analysis, support and guidance on revenue and margin expectations on quarter-by-quarter basis
- Lead in submission of rolling quarterly revenue/margin view for over 300 complex projects into operations and supply planning team which entailed cross-functional collaboration with project management, installation managers, global revenue governance, supply chain, order management and corporate forecasting teams
- Improved forecasting variance by 10% within first year of managing this role by engaging and leading cross-functional team and incorporating new reporting content and data accessibility into forecasting process.
Education
BS - Marketing
University of North Carolina At Wilmington
Wilmington, NCSkills
- Microsoft Office Suite
- Fiscal Administration
- Procedural Updates and Implementation
- Salesforce
- Business Partner Management
- Problem Solving
- Presentation Skills
- Oral and Written Communication
- Financial Documentation
Accomplishments
2018 SAS CEO Award of Excellence Recipient
The CEO Award of Excellence recognizes 25 employees annually from around the world for their exceptional work and for living out SAS' core values
- Authentic
- Accountable
- Curious
- Passionate
These award winners all have something in common in the pursuit of excellence and a consistent willingness to go the extra mile.
Work Availability
monday
tuesday
wednesday
thursday
friday
saturday
sunday
morning
afternoon
evening
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Quote
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
Henry David Thoreau
Timeline
Principal Finance Business Partner
SAS Institute Inc
07.2018 - Current
Marketing Operations Specialist
SAS Institute Inc
06.2013 - 08.2018
Sales Compensation Analyst
Red Hat
04.2012 - 06.2013
Business Analyst
Allscripts
04.2010 - 06.2012
Global Marketing Operations Analyst
Nortel
04.2008 - 09.2009
Senior Revenue Analyst
Nortel
03.2006 - 04.2008
BS - Marketing
University of North Carolina At Wilmington
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