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, serving as the core of a broad restructuring of business-critical areas, with end-to-end control of the change process and long-term embedding and securing the future readiness of sales.
- Initiation and end-to-end steering of the sales transformation program, including in-depth analysis to identify, assess, and strategically involve all relevant stakeholders, making tactical use of their specific business interests and influence.
- Conducting advanced, detailed change impact analyses to predict the organizational effects of the transformation, deriving a tailored change strategy, and developing a change roadmap and a change story as the core narrative of the campaign.
- Designing and implementing an integrated communication and action plan to ensure maximum transparency, effectively manage unspoken expectations, and actively guide a change process that is clear and understandable for all stakeholders.
- Active management of all transformation phases, including the setup of robust monitoring mechanisms for continuous progress analysis and forecasting based on recommended and jointly defined KPIs.
- Establishing an agile analysis and adjustment cycle to continuously assess the effectiveness of implemented measures, identify challenges early, and fine-tune the change strategy in time.
- Conducting precise gap analyses to identify skill gaps in the sales team in the context of the new strategic direction, and deriving and developing targeted qualification measures (e.g. coaching, training).
- Comprehensive reduction of resistance to change by turning opposing stakeholder mindsets into proactive change-driving change ambassadors.
- Deep and sustainable realignment of sales structures and processes in full alignment with the company’s overall goals.
- Qualitative and quantitative improvement of sales efficiency and performance as a direct result of the implemented transformation initiatives and capability-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) and at the same time agile transformation of IT (pilot area: global IT), including shaping new ways of working and strengthening leadership skills.
- Strategic steering of 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.
- Identification and analysis of all key stakeholders in IT and interface areas; development of a tailored change roadmap to guide the change process in a structured way.
- Continuous support of the implementation through progress monitoring and the establishment of a robust two-way feedback system using pulse-check surveys and 1:1 stakeholder meetings for ongoing evaluation and adaptation.
- Iterative identification of critical leadership skill gaps (e.g. prioritization, ownership, psychological safety, decision-making reluctance) through analyses in one-on-one talks, executive jour fixes, and town halls.
- Design and facilitation of leadership off-sites (workshops) to strengthen (re-)prioritization skills, build an ownership mindset, and clarify responsibilities.
- Delivery of executive leadership coaching sessions to foster psychological safety and trust-building at the top two leadership levels.
- Ensuring continuous communication and real alignment throughout the process to promote transparency, acceptance, and maintain change momentum.
- Increase in leadership effectiveness by 68% through improved prioritization skills and the establishment of a clear accountability culture in global IT.
- Qualitative improvement of the organizational climate by 39% and increased psychological safety at leadership level, with top-down role-model effect and a more open communication and feedback culture.
- Successful embedding of the transformation effects in global IT as a group-wide blueprint.
Change Manager / Digital Transformation
Mann+Hummel
- Organizational Change Management for a strategic flagship digitalization initiative to transform the group-wide PLM system end to end, including the creation of a digital twin of all processes with multi-scenario forecasting capabilities (design-to-cost approach with VR/AR support for product developers).
- Comprehensive stakeholder management at executive level with the gradual build-up of a dedicated change agent network to create maximum leadership commitment.
- Planning and execution of change communication campaigning and strategic internal communication management to ensure high acceptance before, during, and after go-live; measuring change acceptance and holding regular interactive presentations to the Executive Board.
- Agile change management support for the parallel agile transformation of the entire company, including manufacturing plants worldwide that were initially particularly resistant to transformation.
- Development of the change strategy and creation of the change story as the core of the cross-functional communication strategy.
- Design, preparation, and facilitation of leadership change workshops in the form of a change roadshow to explain the digitalization program, the changes, and the new ways of working at leadership and operational level in all affected plants.
- Implementation of broad training, communication, and engagement measures with a focus on operational execution and KPI-based success measurement.
- Achieving a 100% acceptance rate through numerous individualized 1-on-1 stakeholder engagement meetings.
- Sustainable establishment of the new target operating model while improving internal communication and overcoming existing silos, especially in the plants.
- Building an agile mindset and a community-oriented, cross-silo working climate to prevent new silos from forming.
Change Manager / Digital Transformation & Scale-Up
RTBE
- Agile transformation of business units distributed worldwide, while digitally transforming the core business model to scale smoothly across three continents and establish a new target operating model during ongoing operations.
- Complete digitalization of the core business model by building a digital twin of the entire process landscape, buildings, and building systems, including the design, setup, and use of IoT for sensor data generation as a PoC for an MVP that became the flagship product (AR headset support for early corrective actions and predictive scenarios).
- Preparation of global expansion (EU → US → APAC) with rapid scaling to around 700% of company size; ensuring controlled, healthy growth despite pandemic-related staffing shortages and resistance to change, including securing strategic, administrative, regulatory, and operational aspects.
- Agile transformation of all business units based on DevOps to harmonize different development processes and bridge existing silos and cultural boundaries, especially between physicists, engineers, and software engineers.
- Sustainable establishment of the new target operating model with significantly improved internal communication after overcoming clear silos.
- Significant increase in EBITDA despite the early scaling phase and high expansion costs.
- Creation of an agile, efficiency-driven sense of community and mindset as a success-critical factor.
Change Manager / Digital Transformation
WRW
- Operational setup of a Digital Office as the central control platform for all digitalization projects of the group, as well as consolidation of continental market leadership through the introduction of a Digital Innovation Hub based on Scrum.
- Definition of a comprehensive, clear, and unambiguous digital governance model with impact on decision-making powers, processes, and procurement transparency (e.g. in PPPs), based on analyses of the level of digitalization, overlaps in competencies, process delays, and digital bottlenecks at interfaces with municipal network partners.
- Setup of the Digital Office on a personnel, physical, educational, and organizational level, including recruiting, team composition, role allocation, infrastructure, workshops on change, innovation, Scrum, crisis communication, and de-escalation, as well as integration at executive level and creation of a digital roadmap.
- Introduction of a Digital Innovation Hub to generate, execute, and steer disruptive innovation measures, for example by strongly reducing scheduling and administrative effort through automated interaction with nearshoring partners via a Digital Contractor Platform.
- Integration of critical legacy systems together with Group IT, including revision of non-functional components and planning and steering of suitable interfaces to support a market designed for private-sector conditions.
- Design and implementation of 27 projects and subprojects as preparation for turnkey handover to the CDO, while ensuring up to nine months of leaderless self-sustaining operation of the Digital Office to minimize PR risks.
- Massive reduction of project turnaround times to a fraction of the original values, with corresponding savings at municipal level.
- Establishment of the Digital Office and especially the Innovation Hub as the central driver of innovation and contact point for digitalization topics.
- Fail-safe setup of the Digital Office through buffer design without immediate leadership requirements in case of a possible CDO failure.
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 key 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 landscape, market regulation, industry-specific 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 for more efficient use of onshore resources.
- Built a strategic competitive advantage by introducing disruptive innovations, especially a radical reduction of effort through efficient use of the global offshore contractor network across all time zones.
- Conducted a comprehensive 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, back-up systems, external data storage, cloud storage connection, audio and video calling systems, mobile devices) while keeping operations running.
- Clear reduction of internal process complexity and shorter go-to-market intervals.
- Reduced qualitative and organizational inconsistency to avoid further critical HR situations.
- Reduced project lead times by around 80 %.
Founder; Change Manager
Embrace
- Built a small, effective, highly flexible, and globally operating management consultancy specializing in change management.
- Focus on digital transformation, strategic change management, innovation management, as well as crisis prevention, intervention, and business restabilization.
- Developed and delivered projects in the core business areas of business transformation, innovation think tanks, and transfer of business.
Change Manager; Senior Project- & Program Manager
Global Blue
- Crisis intervention, restabilization, and coordination of a large, intercontinental expert team, as well as project and program management, system integration, and upgrade of core business-relevant big data applications and technology platforms (Tax-Free Shopping Processing & Real-Time Currency Conversion).
- Immediate triage and intervention in a repeatedly failed, historically grown project closely tied to the core business, involving many on-, near-, and offshore teams with an average of 2,000 experts.
- Restabilization of massive turnover effects caused by leadership weaknesses and psychological attachment issues, and bringing fragmented teams together to restore fast, efficient decision-making processes.
- Integration of legacy systems and DWH-ready preparation of data from end-of-life-cycle systems, as well as substitution and harmonization of diverging technology stacks (e.g. Microsoft .NET and IBM BPM).
- Definition of an approach for seamless embedding of the newly created IBM BPM-based processes into the organization and continuous progress reporting at board level.
- Program management in a highly dynamic, hybrid development environment (Scrum, Kanban, Waterfall) with constantly changing business requirements and as a bridge between business and IT.
- Mediation between team leads, elimination of toxic behavior patterns, reduction of bullying structures, and reduction of silo thinking with the restoration of interdisciplinary collaboration vertically, horizontally, and intercontinentally.
- Overall responsibility for the design and sustainable implementation of a change management program in line with cost, time, and quality targets.
Senior Consultant
IBM
- Project management, business analysis, pre-sales, and use case design in the big data area with a focus on data warehousing, business intelligence, content analytics, and business process re-engineering.
- Multi-project management for an average of 17 clients from industries such as 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 and IT.
- Leading a ten-person development team, coaching and mentoring a junior project manager, and managing external implementation partners.
- Worked as Senior Business Analyst and domain 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, as well as designing a Master Test Plan for all banking areas.
- Delivered a digital transformation project for a leading European machine manufacturer (automotive, robotics) with the introduction of real-time streaming sensor data analysis via a big data-capable DWH and predictive analytics for machine failure forecasting and plant monitoring, including AR-based mobile monitoring.
- Analysis, planning, and implementation of management dashboards/cockpits in IBM Cognos to simplify the presentation of complex relationships, trends, and patterns in heterogeneous information architectures.
- PreSales support through use case design, including analysis of existing business processes of potential clients and presentation of concrete BI solutions on site at the customer.
- Additional BI specialization in customer insight, market analytics, supply chain, and human resources.
Change Manager; Council Consultant
Gerson Lehrman Group
- Delivered numerous consulting projects in the areas of contactless/wireless/mobile payments, mobile banking, AML, KYC, and CRM with, for, and on behalf of companies from the strategy, packaging, and investment banking sectors.
- Advised strategy firms such as Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, and Ernst & Young.
- Supported packaging companies such as MeadWestvaco.
- Advised investment banks and financial institutions such as 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 of the entire Treasury BackOffice, including the securities settlement, international payments, and domestic payments departments.
- Planning and execution of treasury-trading-specific tests, usability assessments, and specialist reviews as the final step before the full migration from the AS/400-based core banking system to a modern Windows-based system.
- Self-initiated analysis, concept development, planning, and execution of the integration of separately running banking applications (SWIFT, SEPA, Reuters, Bloomberg, Svenson, etc.) into the core banking system.
- Creation of a multi-part, fully illustrated manual for the setup and operation of Treasury and Treasury BackOffice, including special cases, worst-case scenarios, and troubleshooting, made specifically for fast onboarding of people switching into the role from other fields.
Strategic Consultant
Petroleum, Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa
- Introduction of a risk management system for the company.
- Delivery of intensive, multi-stage training for all employees in the Trading department as well as the Supply & Logistics department on the new risk management approach.
- Creation of a manual on how it works, use cases, special variants, and special cases in commodity trading and Supply & Logistics, including troubleshooting.
Strategic Consultant
HPCL - Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
- Introduction of a risk management system for the company.
- Delivery of intensive, multi-stage training for all employees in the Trading department and the Refineries department.
- Creation of a manual on how it works, special variants, and special cases of commodity trading in a refinery environment, including troubleshooting.
Strategic Consultant
Essar Oil Ltd, Hutchison Group
- Co-introduction of a risk management system for oil and gas activities.
- Broad and in-depth training of the risk management team on hedging strategies against physical cargo or freight loss on large oil tankers and stationary oil and gas platforms in offshore areas of the Indian Ocean.
- Creation of a manual on how it works, options, special variants, and special cases of risk management, including troubleshooting.
Change Manager
Galenika Fitofarmacija Serbia
- Introduction of broad organizational development measures after evaluating all business areas with greenfield and blue-ocean approaches to transform the company into an international player without internal friction.
- Company-wide setup of innovation teams (internal micro think tanks), including support for the process with selected internal experts, mid-managers, and plant staff; goal: rebranding as an innovation driver in the SEE region instead of low-cost differentiation.
- Restructuring, rebuilding, coaching, mentoring, and training of the Sales Executive Team, including the General Director Sales and 14 regional Sales Directors, to improve negotiation results with international, especially Western European, business partners.
- Design, planning, and delivery of a multi-part intercultural training for the entire management team to secure competitive market advantages over international competitors.
- Introduction of an open, less restrictive and less patriarchal communication culture to promote internal knowledge transfer based on a partnership-driven, mutual trust-building approach in top management (based on Nash equilibrium).
Online & Wireless Marketing Manager
Universal Communication Platform Group
- Transformation of the entire market communications setup into a permission marketing-based communication landscape, including the introduction of multiple opt-in for electronic newsletters and mobile counterparts.
- Building a highly granular customer master data segmentation that enabled new targeted direct marketing activities based on customer preference instead of mass communication.
- Achieving high click-through rates and exceptionally strong ROIs for customers through the targeted use of improved existing data after cleansing communication measures.
Project Manager Digital Transformation
Zurich Insurance Group
- Sole responsibility for the primary digitalization of all internal and external forms across the entire group.
- Complete elimination of the previously cost-intensive manual data entry.
- Enabling the automated transfer of form data into internal ERP systems.
Senior Product Marketing Manager
Goldbach Media Group
- Introduction of permission marketing in an environment where spam was still seen as a common way to increase reach.
- Preparation of the merger with Goldbach Media, including marketing strategy and product-related groundwork.
Co-Founder; Head of Sales & Media Planning
Buongiorno Digital
- Co-founding of the first company branch outside Italy.
- Strategic planning and preparation of the expansion into further European countries with a high affinity for newsletter marketing.
- Execution of the corporate roll-out in the UK, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.
- Exploration of the US market in preparation for the later merger with Vitaminic to form Buongiorno Vitaminic (USA).
Project Manager Custody & Reconciliation/Treasury
Raiffeisen Service Center
- Development and implementation of a fast, accurate, software-supported automated method for reconciling securities accounts.
- Improving efficiency and accuracy in the custody and reconciliation area of treasury.
Project Manager; Trade Fair Coordinator
Wiener Messen & Kongresszentrum
- Concept, planning, and delivery of a multi-day music fair that reached 26,000 paying visitors despite a small ad budget and tight deadlines.
- Repositioning and reactivation of the badly weakened IFABO, which was under pressure from competitors and was then Austria's largest IT trade fair.
Project Manager; Process Manager Smart Grid
One / Hutchison
- Thorough analysis of internal processes with a focus on network optimization and the integrated migration and harmonization of decentralized legacy data into a central database.
- Digitization and qualitative preparation of all planning data from legacy systems to map the network architecture and topology for all of Austria using Microsoft Visio.
- Concept development for a smart grid taking regional regulatory requirements into account by optimizing base transceiver station positioning and the required transmission power.
- Support during the first experimental proto-UMTS tests in Austria (lab/indoor) as a basis for decisions on license acquisition and grid upgrade.
Marketing Manager / IoT
Evtacon Limited
- Sole responsibility for the analysis, planning, development, and execution of the market communication strategy for the EU and US markets to support sales of a modular microprocessor (Universal Emulator) as a precursor to an IoT solution.
- Programming of the company's first website and thus establishing Evtacon as one of the first microelectronics companies with a web presence.
- Creation of a consistent corporate identity and corporate design, including their consistent use across print materials, website, press releases, giveaways, and trade fair booths.
Jr Project Manager / Telemarketing Coordinator
BP
- Introduction of the Routex Billing & Fleet Management System in the Austrian B2B market.
- Expansion of the telemarketing team by 250% to support the market launch.
- Reduction of target costs to 33% by redefining and bundling the target group (fleet and truck fleet operators, transport & logistics, later SMEs through 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 specializing in digital transformation, strategic change management, innovation management, and crisis prevention, intervention, and business stabilization. With more than 20 years of relevant professional experience in this field, he founded EMBRACE in 2014 - a small, effective, highly flexible, globally operating consultancy focused 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
Harvard University
Masterclass in Change Management · Change Management · Cambridge, United States
Hult International Business School
Change Management · Boston, United States
Open University Business School
Change Management · Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
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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