Vaibhav Kukreja
Summary
Proven track record of driving financial strategies, optimizing costs, and enhancing business profitability in global, complex organizations. Adept at leading cross-functional teams, streamlining financial operations, and delivering financial results in high-growth and dynamic environments
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Director, Financial Planning & Analysis
ELM Home & Building Solutions
10.2022 - Current
- Company Overview: Private Equity Portfolio Company
- Responsible for Budgeting, Forecasting, Variance analysis, Monthly Business Reviews & Board presentations, Cash analysis & forecasting, Industry Analysis, KPI monitoring, Investments RoI evaluation, Pricing Strategy, Strategy plans, Growth Initiatives and Risk Management
- Developed a high-performing team from scratch and provided mentorship, guidance, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Led design, implementation & enterprise-wide rollout of Workday Adaptive Insights as primary tool for integrated reporting & planning
- Developed KPI dashboards & planning-budgeting module in Adaptive & conducted trainings across teams for easy migration to Adaptive
- Designed advertising spend optimization tool & collaborated with marketing team to drive up return on advertising spend (ROAS) by 8%
- Developed Inventory optimization & forecasting model to forecast supply & procurement releasing working capital worth ~$16mn
- Led cross-functional team to strengthen internal controls across entire Order to cash cycle & DoA matrix for pricing & credit decisions
- Designed tiered incentive structure for sales reps linked to performance & pricing, boosting EBITDA performance by ~+4pp
- Led workstream to identify liquidity improvement initiatives worth ~$36mn & set up execution & governance mechanism to deliver the same
- Streamlined Business Unit EBITDA reporting with setting up of allocation methodology of shared services cost for better decision making
- Conducted Industry sensitivity analysis with respect to economic indicators & identified leading indicators for industry growth & pricing
Director, Manufacturing Finance
Cipla USA Pharmaceuticals
05.2021 - 10.2022
- Head of Finance for Cipla's entire US manufacturing set-up with 950+ employees across 4 sites & output of 6 billion dosages/year
- Core responsibilities include Business partnering, Accounting, Month end close, Budgeting, Forecasting, Cost analysis, Product costing, Audits, Compliance, SOX testing, Inventory management, Financial Reporting & Analysis, Investments evaluation & Strategy plans
- Led a team of 8 professionals and part of leadership team responsible for setting business, financial & people agenda for the entity.
- Won 'Star Achiever' award in Global Finance Forum for 'Effective business partnering' & going beyond the role to drive business value
- Led 5-year strategy plan for the manufacturing operations of the company and developed roadmap to increase EBITDA% by +12pp
- Analyzed levers of product cost optimization & partnered with operations to bring about 18% cost reduction via productivity improvement
- Conducted benchmarking of expense base and cost per dosage across 30+ manufacturing sites & prepared automation plan for the US sites
- Designed business case development & financial analysis of greenfield project with business value worth $200mn USD for new therapies
- Developed balanced score card & KPI metrics for operations & worked with cross functional teams towards continuous improvement
- Conducted productivity analysis & benchmarking & coordinated with operations to optimize resourcing & improve productivity
- Led annual budgeting (zero based) exercise for the entity & coordinate with cross functional teams to finalize targets & KPI metrics
- Prepared financial & operational performance material & presentations for senior leadership detailing variance commentary & outlook
- Improved working capital by +$21mn via inventory & payables optimization leading to cash conversion cycle reduction of over 30 days
- Led setting up, execution & governance of financial systems, policies & processes for the sites in line with global corporate policy
- Anchored process improvement (SAP), streamlining & setting up of processes & policies (SOPs) for financial transactions & approvals
- Led month-end books closing process, supported teams on taxation and ensured transfer pricing implementation & compliance
- Strengthened Financial controls via SAP driven preventive protocols & ensured regular 100% verification of inventory & fixed assets
- Led cross-functional initiatives focused on productivity improvement, footprint expansion & optimization of plant capacity
- Coordinated with external & internal auditors to ensure successful completion of financial audits & SOX testing of all controls
- Anchored board meetings & strengthened controls by launching corporate governance charter to provide enhanced visibility to the board
- Spearheaded development & execution of US Compliance tool enabling system monitoring & review of 600+ financial compliance activities
Associate Director, Commercial Finance
Cipla (EU) Pharmaceuticals
01.2017 - 05.2021
- Led a team and responsible for Business partnering, Forecasting, Budgeting, Strategy plans, P&L management, Expense analysis, Accounting, Performance analysis & reporting, Investment evaluation & planning, KPI development & monitoring, Portfolio analysis & financial controls
- Prepared financial analysis & business cases for multiple licensing deals, investments, M&A, portfolio acquisitions and new launches
- Restructured operations & product mix to improve profitability from negative (30) % EBITDA to sustainable +25% level
- 'Star Achiever' award by Global CFO for 3 straight years for turning around and consistently delivering stellar financial performance
- Led Cost Leadership initiative for Europe yielding 35%/$10mn cost reduction via alternative procurement options, sales potential $40mn
- Led Design of Spain Portfolio & Growth Strategy and laid out resource and investment planning to enable 5X growth in 5 years
- Reduced operating expenses by ~60% by leading vendor negotiations, benchmarking rates & exploring innovative distribution models
- Developed 'Business Pulse' - comprehensive business & function performance scorecard with over 40 KPIs, leading monthly reviews
- Designed brand P&Ls via sound allocation methods and analytics to drive brand performance and ensure optimal resource allocation
- Supported launch of branded portfolio in UK and enabled expansion of respiratory footprint in Europe via effective pricing strategies
- Spearheaded new launches execution & project managing cross functional initiatives on Portfolio & Growth Strategy for key direct markets
- Led 'Re-imagination drive post Covid' for Europe increasing cashflow of $15mn by going digital, vendor negotiations & cutting spend
- Designed & launched Contract Compliance tracker for over 100+ contracts, enabled plugging leakages & recovery of $2mn cash
- Designed Risk & Opportunities tracking mechanism yielding opportunities ~+$10mn and mitigation/contingency plans of risks ~$15mn
- Spearheaded SAP implementation for European subsidiaries and developed digital tool to help with market potential for business cases
- Anchored board meetings & ensured corporate governance for the complex entity structure (7 entities/branches spanning 4 countries)
Associate Director, Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A)
Cipla Pharmaceuticals
01.2016 - 12.2016
- Head of FP&A for Emerging markets across 80+ countries with business structures of JVs, Direct to market operations and B2B operations
- Responsible for Budgeting, Forecasting, Strategy plans, R&D investments & capex evaluation, Variance Analysis & performance reporting
- Prepared financial & operational performance material & presentations for senior leadership detailing variance commentary and outlook
- Won 'Business Ally' award and 'Horsepower Award' by CEO for excellent cross functional Project management and business support
- Led business model change in 10 markets to DTM from B2B & spearheaded development of portfolio, pricing & investment Strategy
- Improved GM% by +2.5pp with the help of pricing strategies, cost optimization & mix improvement including rationalization of skus
- Supported topline & productivity growth via distribution enhancement model & sales/marketing effectiveness analysis & benchmarking
Senior Manager, Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A)
Cipla Pharmaceuticals
11.2014 - 12.2015
- Developed and built dedicated FP&A function for Emerging markets and Global Access business (~ $500mn or 25% to overall company)
- Responsible for Budgeting, Forecasting, Strategy plans, Variance Analysis, performance tracking, management reporting & ad-hoc analysis
- Developed a comprehensive tender bidding & tracking tool to ensure maximum win percentage (20% of the business was tender driven)
Practice Manager, Corporate Strategy
Ocwen Financial Corporation
10.2013 - 10.2014
- Responsible for Financial analysis, reporting and modeling of the business components including work on strategic plans and initiatives
- Developed a playbook to streamline budget process by integrating top-down and bottom-up approach at various levels
- Researched and identified potential acquisitions for Lending segment supported with a comprehensive economic analysis
Commercial Finance Manager
Mondelez International
06.2012 - 09.2013
- Responsible for performance analysis and business partnering, compliance (SOX) and taxation of South branch (30% of India business)
- Received the award 'Indispensable business partner' from the Finance Director, India for outstanding work during FP&A stint
- Generated $4.2 million risk adjusted savings by performing an end-to-end cost analysis for Bournvita, a key brand of Cadbury
- Developed a RoI model incorporating decision tree analysis for Perfect Stores, one of the key customer marketing programs
- Conducted analysis of damaged stock returns & provided recommendation and insights leading to savings potential of 27% in damages
- Formerly Kraft-Cadbury
Education
MBA - Finance & Economics
Indian Institute of Management (IIM)
03.2012
Bachelor's - Electrical, Electronics And Communications Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
05.2010
Skills
Financial analysis and reporting
Profitability analysis
Cost Control
Budgeting expertise
Financial Forecasting
Accounting & Internal Controls
Business Partnering
Team Building Leadership
Financial Modeling
KPI Development & Monitoring
Proficient in Excel, Power BI, Workday Adaptive, Tableau, SAP
Teamwork and Collaboration
Certification
- Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) US GAAP
- Chartered Global Management Accountant
- Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM)
Timeline
Director, Financial Planning & Analysis
ELM Home & Building Solutions
10.2022 - Current
Director, Manufacturing Finance
Cipla USA Pharmaceuticals
05.2021 - 10.2022
Associate Director, Commercial Finance
Cipla (EU) Pharmaceuticals
01.2017 - 05.2021
Associate Director, Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A)
Cipla Pharmaceuticals
01.2016 - 12.2016
Senior Manager, Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A)
Cipla Pharmaceuticals
11.2014 - 12.2015
Practice Manager, Corporate Strategy
Ocwen Financial Corporation
10.2013 - 10.2014
Commercial Finance Manager
Mondelez International
06.2012 - 09.2013
MBA - Finance & Economics
Indian Institute of Management (IIM)
Bachelor's - Electrical, Electronics And Communications Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
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