Thomas Pacal-Leading global organizational change executive / digital transformation & post-merger integration
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Experience
Change Manager / Sales Transformation
SEFE
- Organizational Change Management as part of a group-wide, supranational sales transformation as the centerpiece of a comprehensive restructuring of critical areas, managing the end-to-end change process, and ensuring the sustainable embedding and future viability of the sales organization.
- Initiated and holistically managed the sales transformation program, including in-depth analysis to identify, assess, and strategically involve all relevant stakeholders by tactically leveraging their specific operational interests and influences.
- Conducted advanced, detailed change impact analyses to forecast organizational effects of the transformation, derive a tailored change strategy, and develop a change roadmap and change story as the core narrative of the campaign.
- Designed and implemented an integrated communication and action plan to ensure maximum transparency, effectively manage implicit expectations, and steer a reactivating change process that all stakeholders can follow.
- Actively managed all phases of the transformation, including establishing robust monitoring mechanisms for continuous progress analysis and forecasting based on recommended and jointly defined KPIs.
- Established an agile analysis and adaptation cycle for ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of measures, early identification of challenges, and timely fine-tuning of the change strategy.
- Conducted precise gap analyses to identify skill deficits in the sales team in the context of the new strategic direction and derived and developed targeted qualification strategies (e.g., coaching, training).
- Significantly reduced resistance to change by transforming opposing stakeholder mindsets into proactive change ambassadors.
- Deep and sustainable realignment of sales structures and processes fully aligned with overarching corporate goals.
- Qualitative and quantitative improvement in sales efficiency and performance as a direct result of the implemented transformation initiatives and competency building programs.
Change Manager / Product-Centric Transformation
Arlanxeo, Saudi Aramco Group
- Organizational Change Management as part of a group-wide transformation initiative focused on restructuring into a product-centric organization (PCO) while concurrently driving an agile transformation of IT (global IT pilot) including designing new ways of working and strengthening leadership capabilities.
- Strategically steered the transformation process toward a product-centric organization within global IT, creating a positive pull effect across the entire group beyond silos and cultural boundaries.
- Identified and analyzed all key stakeholders in IT and interface areas; developed a tailored change roadmap for structured navigation through the change process.
- Continuously supported the implementation through progress monitoring and establishment of a robust two-way feedback system using pulse-check surveys and 1:1 stakeholder meetings for ongoing evaluation and adaptation.
- Iteratively identified critical leadership skill gaps (e.g., prioritization, ownership, psychological safety, decision inertia) through analysis in one-on-one interviews, executive jour fixes, and town halls.
- Designed and facilitated leadership off-sites (workshops) to strengthen (re-)prioritization skills, cultivate an ownership mindset, and clarify responsibilities.
- Conducted executive leadership coaching sessions to promote psychological safety and trust building at the top two leadership levels.
- Ensured continuous communication and genuine alignment throughout the process to foster transparency, acceptance, and maintain change momentum.
- Increased leadership effectiveness by 68% through improved prioritization skills and establishing a clear responsibility culture in global IT.
- Improved organizational climate by 39% and increased psychological safety at the leadership level with top-down role modeling and a more open communication and feedback culture.
- Successfully anchored transformation effects in global IT as a group-wide blueprint.
Change Manager / Digital Transformation
Mann+Hummel
- Organizational Change Management for a strategic flagship digitization initiative to end-to-end transform the global PLM system by building a multi-scenario-forecasting-capable digital twin of all processes (design-to-cost approach with VR/AR support for product developers).
- Comprehensive stakeholder management at the executive level with the step-by-step development of a dedicated change agent network to generate maximum leadership commitment.
- Planning and execution of change communication campaigns and strategic internal communications management to ensure high acceptance before, during, and after go-live; measured change acceptance and gave regular interactive presentations to the executive board.
- Agile change management support during the parallel agile transformation of the entire company, including initially highly transformation-resistant production sites worldwide.
- Developed the change strategy and crafted the change story as the core of the cross-functional communication strategy.
- Designed, prepared, and conducted leadership change workshops in a change roadshow format to inform about the digitization program, changes, and new ways of working at leadership and operational levels in all affected sites.
- Implemented comprehensive training, communication, and engagement measures focused on operational execution and KPI-based success measurement.
- Achieved a 100% acceptance rate through numerous individualized 1-on-1 stakeholder engagement meetings.
- Established the new target operating model sustainably while improving internal communication and overcoming existing silos, especially at production sites.
- Fostered an agile mindset and a collaborative, cross-silo working environment to prevent new silos from forming.
Change Manager / Digital Transformation & Scale-Up
RTBE
- Agile transformation of globally distributed business units while digitally transforming the core business model for frictionless scaling across three continents and establishing a new target operating model during ongoing operations.
- Complete digitization of the core business model by building a digital twin of the entire process landscape, buildings, and building services, including design, setup, and deployment of an IoT for sensor data generation as a PoC for an MVP that became the flagship product (AR headset support for early corrective interventions and predictive scenarios).
- Prepared global expansion (EU → US → APAC) with rapid scaling to about 700% of company size; ensured controlled, healthy growth despite pandemic-related staffing shortages and resistance to change, including safeguarding strategic, administrative, regulatory, and operational aspects.
- Agile transformation of all business units based on DevOps to harmonize heterogeneous development processes and bridge existing silos and cultural boundaries, especially between physicists, technicians, and software engineers.
- Sustainable establishment of the new target operating model with significantly improved internal communication after overcoming manifest silos.
- Significant increase in EBITDA despite early scaling phase and high expansion costs.
- Created an agile, efficiency-boosting sense of community and mindset as a critical success factor.
Change Manager / Digital Transformation
WRW
- Operational setup of a Digital Office as the central control platform for all digitization projects of the group and consolidation of continental market leadership by introducing a digital innovation hub based on Scrum.
- Defined a comprehensive, clear, and unambiguous digital governance affecting decision authority, processes, and procurement transparency (e.g., PPPs), based on analyses of digitization levels, competency overlaps, process flow delays, and digital bottlenecks at interfaces with municipal network partners.
- Set up the Digital Office on personnel, physical, educational, and organizational levels, including recruiting, team composition, role distribution, infrastructure, workshops on change, innovation, Scrum, crisis communication, and de-escalation, embedding at the executive level, and creating a digital roadmap.
- Introduced a digital innovation hub for generating, executing, and controlling disruptive innovation measures, for example by greatly reducing scheduling and administrative effort through automated interaction with nearshoring partners via a digital contractor platform.
- Integrated critical legacy systems in collaboration with group IT, including revision of non-functional components and planning and managing suitable interfaces to support a market designed under private-sector conditions.
- Designed and implemented 27 projects and subprojects in preparation for turnkey handover to the CDO, ensuring up to nine months of leaderless self-sustaining Digital Office operation to minimize PR risks.
- Dramatically reduced project cycle times to a fraction of their original values with corresponding savings at the municipal level.
- Established the Digital Office and especially the innovation hub as the central driver and point of contact for digitization matters.
- Fail-safe setup of the Digital Office through buffer design without immediate leadership requirement in case of potential CDO absence.
Change Manager / Digital Transformation
Esperta
- Strategic realignment to increase the competitiveness of an outdated business model through deep operational changes, organizational development, and project management for system integration and upgrade of core applications and technology platforms (Secure Translation Brokerage Platform).
- Conducted comprehensive fundamental analyses of the organizational structure, processes, standards, critical workflows, strategic partnerships (triage of a globally distributed, heterogeneous expert network), internal and external communication, go-to-market strategy, diversification efforts, competitive environment, market regulation, industry standards, sourcing aspects, and legacy systems in use.
- Designed and implemented business process re-engineering measures, including repositioning from a translation provider to a full-service translation agency with a focus on project management to use onshore resources more efficiently.
- Built a strategic competitive advantage by introducing disruptive innovations, especially radical cost reduction via efficient use of the global offshore contractor network across all time zones.
- Carried out a thorough technology analysis, redesign, and implementation of the entire ICT area with multi-stage, incremental, and cross-platform migration of the legacy enterprise software environment using agile methods (Scrum, Kanban).
- System integration and upgrade of all operating systems for all internal ICT components (notebooks, servers, backup systems, external storage, cloud storage connections, audio and video conferencing systems, mobile devices) while maintaining ongoing operations.
- Significantly reduced internal process complexity and shortened go-to-market intervals.
- Decreased qualitative and organizational heterogeneity to prevent further critical HR situations.
- Reduced project lead times by about 80%.
Founder; Change Manager
Embrace
- Built a small, effective, highly flexible, global consulting firm specializing in change management.
- Focused on digital transformation, strategic change management, innovation management, as well as crisis prevention, intervention, and company stabilization.
- Developed and delivered projects in core business areas: business transformation, innovation think tanks, and transfer of business.
Change Manager; Senior Project- & Program Manager
Global Blue
- Crisis intervention, stabilization, and coordination of a large, intercontinental expert team, as well as project and program management, system integration, and upgrades of mission-critical big data applications and technology platforms (Tax-Free Shopping Processing & Real-Time Currency Conversion).
- Immediate triage and intervention on a repeatedly failed, historically grown, and core-business–linked project involving multiple on-, near-, and offshore teams averaging 2,000 experts.
- Stabilized massive turnover effects caused by leadership weaknesses and psychological bonding issues, and consolidated fragmented teams to restore fast, efficient decision-making.
- Integrated legacy systems and prepared data warehouse–ready data from end-of-life-cycle systems, as well as substituted and homogenized divergent technology stacks (e.g., Microsoft .NET and IBM BPM).
- Defined an approach for the seamless embedding of the newly developed IBM BPM–based processes into the organization and provided continuous progress reporting at the executive level.
- Program management in a highly dynamic, hybrid development environment (Scrum, Kanban, Waterfall) with ever-changing business requirements, acting as a bridge between business units and IT.
- Mediated between team leads, eliminated toxic behavior patterns, dismantled bullying structures, and reduced silo mentality to restore interdisciplinary collaboration vertically, horizontally, and intercontinentally.
- Held overall responsibility for designing and sustainably implementing a change management program while meeting cost, time, and quality targets.
Senior Consultant
IBM
- Project management, business analysis, presales, and use-case design in the big data space, specializing in data warehousing, business intelligence, content analytics, and business process re-engineering.
- Managed multiple projects for an average of 17 clients from industries like banking/finance, oil & gas/energy, transportation & logistics/forwarding, and electronic engineering across all project phases from initiation to rollout and stabilization, acting as a bridge between business units and IT.
- Led a ten-member development team, coached and mentored a junior project manager, and managed external implementation partners.
- Served as senior business analyst and technical DWH/BI solution architect for Raiffeisen Bank International, including analysis, re-engineering, transformation, integration, and migration of the cDWH-based core banking system to an eDWH-based overall solution, and designed a master test plan for all bank divisions.
- Executed a digital transformation project for a leading European machinery manufacturer (automotive, robotics), introducing real-time streaming sensor data analysis via a big data-enabled DWH and predictive analytics for machine failure prediction and plant monitoring, including AR-based mobile monitoring.
- Analyzed, planned, and implemented management dashboards/cockpits in IBM Cognos for simplified representation of complex relationships, trends, and patterns in heterogeneous information architectures.
- Supported presales through use-case design, including analysis of existing business processes of potential clients and on-site presentation of concrete BI solutions.
- Additional BI specialization in customer insight, market analytics, supply chain, and human resources.
Change Manager; Council Consultant
Gerson Lehrman Group
- Carried out numerous consulting projects in areas such as contactless/wireless/mobile payments, mobile banking, AML, KYC, and CRM with, for, and on behalf of companies in the strategy, packaging, and investment banking sectors.
- Advised strategy firms like Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, and Ernst & Young.
- Supported packaging companies such as MeadWestvaco.
- Consulted for investment banks and financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, MFC Global Investment Management, Fir Tree Partners, and La Financière de l'Echiquier.
Head of Treasury BackOffice
DenizBank Financial Services, Dexia Group
- Restructuring the entire Treasury BackOffice, including the departments for securities settlement, foreign payments, and domestic payments.
- Planning and carrying out treasury trading-specific tests, usability evaluations, and technical assessments as the final step before fully migrating from the AS/400-based core banking system to a modern Windows-based system.
- Self-initiated analysis, design, planning, and execution of the integration of separately running banking applications (SWIFT, SEPA, Reuters, Bloomberg, Svenson, etc.) into the core banking system.
- Creating a multi-part, fully illustrated manual for setting up and operating Treasury and Treasury BackOffice, including special cases, worst-case scenarios, and troubleshooting, specifically for quickly onboarding career changers.
Strategic Consultant
Petroleum, Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa
- Implementing a risk management system for the company.
- Conducting in-depth, multi-stage training for all employees in the trading department and the supply & logistics department on the new risk management approach.
- Creating a manual on the functions, use cases, special scenarios, and edge cases in commodity trading, supply & logistics, including troubleshooting.
Strategic Consultant
HPCL - Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
- Implementing a risk management system for the company.
- Conducting in-depth, multi-stage training for all employees in the trading department and the refineries department.
- Creating a manual on the functions, special scenarios, and edge cases of commodity trading in the refinery environment, including troubleshooting.
Strategic Consultant
Essar Oil Ltd, Hutchison Group
- Co-implementing a risk management system for oil and gas operations.
- Providing broad and in-depth training to the risk management team on hedging strategies against physical cargo or freight loss for large oil tankers and offshore oil and gas platforms in upstream Indian Ocean waters.
- Creating a manual on the functions, capabilities, special scenarios, and edge cases of risk management, including troubleshooting.
Change Manager
Galenika Fitofarmacija Serbia
- Implementing comprehensive organizational development measures after evaluating all company areas with greenfield and blue ocean approaches to transform into an international player without internal friction.
- Rolling out innovation teams (internal micro think tanks) company-wide, guiding the process with selected internal experts, mid-managers, and shop-floor staff; goal: rebranding as the innovation leader in the SEE region instead of a low-cost differentiator.
- Restructuring, forming, coaching, mentoring, and training the sales executive team, including the sales director general and 14 regional sales directors, to improve negotiation outcomes with international, especially Western European, business partners.
- Designing, planning, and delivering a multi-part intercultural training for the entire executive team to secure competitive market advantages against international competitors.
- Introducing an open, less restrictive, and less patriarchal communication culture to promote internal knowledge transfer based on partnership and mutual trust building at top management (inspired by Nash equilibrium).
Online & Wireless Marketing Manager
Universal Communication Platform Group
- Transformed all market communication into a permission marketing-based setup, including introducing a multiple opt-in for email newsletters and their mobile versions.
- Set up a highly granular customer master data segmentation that enabled targeted direct marketing based on customer preferences instead of mass communication.
- Achieved high click-through rates and exceptionally high ROIs for clients by using enriched existing data after data-cleaning communications.
Project Manager Digital Transformation
Zurich Insurance Group
- Solely responsible for digitizing all internal and external forms across the entire group.
- Completely eliminated previously costly manual data entry.
- Enabled automatic transfer of form data into internal ERP systems.
Senior Product Marketing Manager
Goldbach Media Group
- Introduced permission marketing in an environment where spam was still a common method to increase reach.
- Prepared the merger with Goldbach Media, including marketing strategy and product-related groundwork.
Co-Founder; Head of Sales & Media Planning
Buongiorno Digital
- Co-founded the first company branch outside Italy.
- Strategically planned and prepared the expansion into other European countries with a strong affinity for newsletter marketing.
- Executed the corporate roll-out in the UK, Switzerland, Austria and Germany.
- Explored the US market in preparation for the later merger with Vitaminic to form Buongiorno Vitaminic (USA).
Project Manager Custody & Reconciliation/Treasury
Raiffeisen Service Center
- Developed and implemented a fast, accurate, software-based automated method for reconciling securities accounts.
- Improved efficiency and accuracy in the custody and reconciliation area of the treasury.
Project Manager; Trade Fair Coordinator
Wiener Messen & Kongresszentrum
- Conceptualization, planning, and execution of a multi-day music fair that, despite a limited advertising budget and tight deadlines, attracted 26,000 paying visitors.
- Repositioning and reactivation of the heavily affected, competition-threatened IFABO, then Austria's largest IT trade fair.
Project Manager; Smart Grid Process Manager
One / Hutchison
- Comprehensive analysis of internal processes focusing on network optimization and integrative migration as well as the consolidation of decentralized legacy data into a central database.
- Digitizing and preparing all planning data from legacy systems to map the network architecture and topography for all of Austria using Microsoft Visio.
- Designing a smart grid that meets regional regulatory requirements by optimizing base transceiver station positioning and the required transmission power.
- Supporting the first experimental proto-UMTS tests in Austria (laboratory/indoor) as a decision basis for license acquisition and grid upgrades.
Marketing Manager / IoT
Evtacon Limited
- Solely responsible for analyzing, planning, developing, and implementing the market communication strategy for the EU and US markets to drive sales of a modular microprocessor (Universal Emulator) as a forerunner to an IoT solution.
- Programming the company's first website and establishing Evtacon as one of the first microelectronics companies with an online presence.
- Creating a unified corporate identity and design, including consistent application across print materials, the website, press releases, giveaways, and trade show booths.
Jr Project Manager / Telemarketing Coordinator
BP
- Introducing the Routex Billing & Fleet Management system to the Austrian B2B market.
- Expanding the telemarketing team by 250% to support the product launch.
- Reducing target costs to 33% by redefining and consolidating the target group (fleet and truck fleet operators, transport & logistics, later SMEs via industry associations).
Industry Experience
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Experienced in Professional Services, Information Technology, Banking and Finance, Manufacturing, Energy, and Transportation.
Business Area Experience
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Experienced in Strategy, Information Technology, Product Development, Project Management, Marketing, and Operations.
Summary
Thomas Pacal is an experienced Change Manager specialized in digital transformation, strategic change management, innovation management, and crisis prevention, intervention, and business restabilization. With over 20 years of relevant expertise in this field, he founded EMBRACE in 2014 – a small, effective, highly flexible, global consultancy that focuses on change management. Core business areas: business transformation, innovation think tanks, and transfer of business. VIDEO INTRO: youtube.com/watch?v=roCSEs-cZxk
Skills
Erp, Bpm/bpre, Pm, Bi, Dwh, Iot
- Epicor Iscala
- Sap Business Objects / Crystal Reports
- Microstrategy Analytics
- Ibm Cognos, Infosphere, Websphere
- Planview Enterprise One, Innotas, Projectplace, Leankit
- Microsoft Project, Crm, Sharepoint, Power Bi
- Atlassian Jira, Confluence
- Workday
- Aris
- Adonis
- Agile Methodologies: Scrum, Kanban, Devops, Dad (Disciplined Agile Delivery)
Financial
- Reuters
- Bloomberg
- Swift Alliance Server, Workstation, Web Platform Se
- Geos
- Internext
- Svenson
- Aml / Kyc / Crm Applications
Productivity
- Ms Office 365 (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook)
- Openoffice (Writer, Impress, Calc, Base, Etc.)
- Adobe Cc (Photoshop, Premiere, Indesign, After Effects, Audition)
- Conferencing: Cisco Webex, Zoom Video Communications, Google Meet, Ms Teams, Skype
- At&t Mobile Network Ops Suite
- Autocad
Coding / Languages
- Html5
- Xml
- Json
- Xhtml (Shtml/mhtml/dhtml Etc.)
- Wml
- Asp
- Css
- Cl For Ibm As/400
- Sql
- Sgml
Systems & Cloud Services
- Microsoft Windows 11, Microsoft Azure
- Apple Macos
- Unix, Linux, Aix, Solaris, Hp-ux
- Google Android, Google Cloud Platform
- Ibm Os/400
Languages
Education
Hult Business School
MBA
Open University Business School
BSc, major in Change Management
Certifications & licenses
ICF-accredited diploma in Systemic Coaching
ISO/IEC 17024 certification
Harvard University
ISO/PRF 20700 certification
Statistics
Experience
Global Experience
Expertise
Qualifications
Profile
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