Melika Salim Shahshahani

Strategic Leadership and Team Management: Provide visionary leadership to a team of 3 program managers, orchestrating the seamless coordination of technical sales managers and customer account managers.
Spearhead initiatives that resulted in exceeding the 2023 revenue target by $2.0M, achieving a total of $53M, showcasing strategic planning and execution capabilities.
Client Relationship Management and Revenue Growth:

Cultivate and enhance relationships with 40 major aerospace OEM customers, resulting in the delivery of 231 unique Line-Replaceable Units (LRUs) and contributing significantly to revenue overachievement.

Successfully managed and navigated customer escalations, demonstrating a commitment to ensuring customer satisfaction during critical periods.
Cross-Functional Collaboration and Process Improvement:

Collaborate seamlessly with various stakeholders across functions, driving the development and deployment of processes that enhance day-to-day operations.
Championed initiatives that resulted in improved operational efficiency and resource utilization, elevating the overall performance of the business unit.
Strategic Planning and Forecasting:

Lead the development and execution of strategic plans, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and objectives.
Drive revenue forecasting efforts, contributing to the overall financial success of the business unit and positioning it for sustained growth.
Risk Mitigation and Problem Resolution:

Proactively identify and address risks, leveraging a comprehensive understanding of the aerospace industry to implement effective mitigation strategies.
Demonstrate exceptional problem-solving skills, particularly during critical junctures, showcasing an ability to navigate complex challenges inherent in the aerospace sector.
Customer Satisfaction and Stakeholder Representation:

Build and maintain close relationships with customers, ensuring their satisfaction and acting as a representative of the company in dealings with contractors, suppliers, and other stakeholders.

Strategic Revenue Assurance and Customer Satisfaction:

Orchestrated a dynamic quarter, surpassing financial commitments by $1.0M through strategic program ramp-up, ensuring on-time customer delivery, and addressing long-term systemic issues.
Pioneered resolutions in processes such as resource planning, ERP management, and increased equipment and testing output, optimizing efficiency and elevating customer satisfaction.
Cross-Functional Leadership and Optimization:

Spearheaded daily engagements with all functional departments—customer service, operations, supply chain, engineering, and finance—ensuring seamless collaboration and removing roadblocks for optimal performance.
Implemented and facilitated systematic improvements month by month, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and efficiency across the Program Management team.
P&L Management and Budget Oversight:

Delivered weekly reports on financial performance, optimizing profit margins, and ensuring adherence to revenue commitments.
Contributed significantly to the budgeting process by providing robust financial models and data analysis, identifying sales funnel opportunities and supporting long-term inventory management.
License Adoption and Transition Excellence:

Spearheaded preparations for new license transitions, focusing on system setup, supply chain planning, and effective communication with customers.
Successfully managed novation processes, new order placements, and customer introductions, ensuring a seamless transition with minimal disruptions.
Business Support and Process Enhancement:

Provided critical support to the Program Management team through the development and implementation of flash processes, data analytics, month-end support, and live dashboard reporting.
Facilitated KPI tracking and analysis, identifying areas for improvement and driving efficiency throughout the program management operations.

• Revenue Assurance and Customer Satisfaction: Met and exceeded financial commitment in a quarter by 1.0M with managing program ramp up for long run increase in output and efficiency to ensure customer on-time delivery and past due burn down with approaching resolution on long term systemic issues and improve in processes such as resource planning, ERP Management and increase in equipment and Testing Output
  • Cross Functional Leadership: Engaged all functional departments such as customer service, operations, supply chain, engineering and finance and led regular daily meeting to ensure remove roadblocks for optimum performance in month by month execution
  • P&L Management and Budget Process: Reported and managed on financial performance weekly to ensure revenue commitment is met, profit is optimized and long term inventory is managed / Took part and assisted in budget process with providing financial models and data analysis to identify sales funnels opportunities
  • License Adoption and Transition : Led preparation for new license transition with focus on system set up. supply chain planning, new order placement and novation, customer communication and introduction
  • Business Support: Supported PM team with flash process, data analytics, month end support and several KPI and live dashboard to increase efficiency across the Program management team

P&L Review and Consolidated Reporting:

Led weekly forecast meetings across two sites, overseeing a 12-month rolling forecast for the entire business. Improved accuracy over direct profit and EBITDA projections.
Collaborated closely with the accounting team to ensure precise operating cash flow forecasting.
Annual Forecast and Budgeting:

Spearheaded the preparation of the annual budget plan, working collaboratively with the Sales team and supply chain to develop a detailed bottom-up annual business plan.
Finance Business Partner:

Cultivated strong and trusted partnerships with key members of the senior management team.
Supported business projects through data analytics, providing actionable insights, and presenting data in meetings to enhance business profitability, efficiency, and risk mitigation.
Weekly Forecast Review:

Prepared and analyzed consolidated P&L for 8 businesses across two sites, facilitating actuals and forecast review meetings.
Delivered comprehensive variance analysis on a weekly basis to the senior management team for Ontic North America.
Dashboards and Analytical Tools:

Built and enhanced analytical tools and live dashboards using Tableau, Excel, or Power BI to optimize processes.
Leveraged data analytics and financial modeling creatively, employing a deep understanding of the business to research, discover, and present efficiencies and various scenario analyses.
Monthly Finance Review:

Executed monthly close activities and consolidated management reporting.
Conducted a thorough monthly finance pack review, providing insightful commentary and reporting on pricing analysis, booking analysis, operating KPIs, revenue and profit variances, inventory, and working capital.