Laurie S.

Experience

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  Montana Legislative Auditor's Office

  Jun 1986 - Mar 1988

  Senior Auditor
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  Washington State Auditor's Office

  Mar 1988 - Jun 1990

  Senior Forensics Auditor
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  Department of Aging and Long Term Care

  Jun 1990 - Nov 1992

  Accounting Manager
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  AlliedSignal Automotive

  Jan 1992 - Jan 1995

  Assistant Controller

  Responsible for the financial and import/export activities of the OEM and Remanufacturing activities for AlliedSignal’s recently purchased Bendix facility in Acuna, Coah Mexico. Appointed first financial, six-sigma, green-belt by corporate CEO. Saved $200,000 annually by implementing activity-based costing and streamlining manufacturing processes; directed and resolved all import-export issues, prepared NAFTA reports, reconciliations, performed cost variance analysis, fixed assets and general accounting. Show less

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  Del Rio Community College

  Jan 1993 - Jan 1994

  Accounting Instructor-Part Time
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  Philips

  Jan 1995 - Jan 2002

  Catalyze business development and optimize the P&L and working capital for a $100M revenue generating recently purchased subsidiary from a publicly traded, Dutch distribution company; providing leadership across 28 Mexico distribution and sales branches, including management of sales, distribution, operations, supply chain management, purchasing, human resources, and accounting. **Freed $7M in working capital by championing an inventory reduction program and achieved a positive cash position by consolidating operations.**Formulated a simple pricing model for safety services that covered training costs and 15% mark-up; secured a $12M sale to Pemex that delivered a $1,8M profit. Show less Responsible for accounting leadership and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with US GAAP and IFRS and the accounting activities for single and multiple factories supporting $1B annual revenue for Philip's Electronics and Components divisions, actively addressing issues and providing solutions for cost effective improvement. Established and maintained internal control structures within the COSO framework. Established an industrial complex centralized accounting department. **Requested to transform a business with a record of deficiencies in balance sheet and income statements and passed internal and external audits for the 1st time in 4 years. Develop cross functional team to conduct financial clean-up of SAP implementation across five factories within Juarez complex assuring accurate financial reporting.**Business unit controller over 5 production facilities in the Netherlands, Portugal, Mexico and Brazil for a European business unit with €130M in sales. Introduced activity based costing which identified an unprofitable product line; changed the corporate paradigm and sold the business at a premium price. Designed and implemented best practices for strategic planning, budgeting, forecasting and cost saving techniques; improved predictability and decreased yearly costs by $200k.**Factory controller for $100M North American automotive unit; cut $300k of waste; decreased employee costs by $200k; corrected errors that enhanced profits by $500k. Tapped by corporate leadership to troubleshoot problems in Gyor, Hungary; formulated strategic and budget plans for 2 factories and trimmed $400k of operating expenses. Implemented activity based management principles and led project throughout the business processes; eliminating $500k in non –value added activities and waste. Inspired a teamwork ethic among a staff of 12; trained corporate leadership on principles of ABM/ABC and principles of lean. Show less

  • Vice President of Mexico Operations

    Jan 2001 - Jan 2002

  • Industrial Complex Controller

    Jan 1995 - Jan 2001
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  General Cable

  Jan 2002 - Jan 2007

  Business Team Finance Manager

  Responsible for the accounting leadership, presentation, and accuracy of financial statements, disclosures and related accounting activities in accordance with GAAP for the two business segments generating $825M revenue and $125M EBITDA. within a publicly-held, copper cable manufacturing company. Responsible for financial presentation and regarding business team and factory financial/operation performance. Develop policies and procedures assuring compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and ISO 9000. Monitor cash flow and working capital through active participation in sales, scheduling, and production meetings. Prepare accurate financial forecasts, budgets, and strategic plans. Responsible for segment copper hedging. Participate in weekly cell meetings. Develop business, accounting,and operation KPI's. Responsible for budget control, cost accounting, bill of material accuracy, cycle count audits, physical inventory, all month-end close activities including account reconciliations and journal entries, factory accounts payable, receivable, and payroll. **Provide project management for the business segments' manufacturing efficiency optimization lean project. Initiative led to the closure of two segment factories. Actual project costs were within 1% of the total approved project budget; realized $2M annual savings and $12M working capital improvement; **Factory Controller over 325 union employee, $150,000,000 Telecom factory in Bonham, TX initiating cross functional lean projects to improve raw material inventory, material usage and scrap by improving material margin by 3% through a 44% reduction in scrap, saving $500,000 yearly costs; factory earned corporate Most Improved award for General Cable. Show less

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  Sealy

  Jan 2007 - Feb 2010

  Vice President of Finance - West Region

  Provide accounting leadership for nine factories or reporting entities generating $650M in revenue and $85M EBITDA for a publicly held, consumer good or bedding manufacturing company. Generate west region and plant financial statements in accordance with GAAP and present results to corporate leadership and region team members; establish spending controls; develop SOX action plans and initiate weekly plant and region forecast financial report card; develop quantitative accounting objectives and key performance indicators based on team's proposed areas of improvement within accounting department and factory including forecast accuracy, days to close, # of manual journal entries, and inventory and bill of material accuracy. Assist with Sarbanes Oxley implementation, compliance, and reporting. Recommend improvements over various internal control structures within business processes. Identify weaknesses and create action plans for improvement. Establish operation and accounting key performance indicators. Provide pricing and customer reviews for regional sales managers. ** Assisted plant accounting team within closing process improvement from 4 to 3 days. Improve relationship between plant leadership and accounting through accurate, timely financial data. Plant accounting team responsible for region best practice for physical inventory process, achieving $20k savings per month. --Propose accounting initiative to align plant controller and accounting functions, develop cross-training plans, and eliminate non-value added accounting activities resulting in projected savings of $900k/year. Show less

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  Smurfit Stone-Mexico

  Mar 2010 - May 2013

  Division Controller

  Financial oversight for three factories including centralized or shared services accounting group for $100M Mexico and subsidiary of bankrupt US company.

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  The Texas Falls Corporation

  May 2013 - now

  CFO & Vice-President

  Responsible for all financial & operational aspects of The Texas Falls Corporation including The Falls Resort & Golf Course and it's timeshare legal entities.