Head of Transformation

In-house consulting provider and driver of transformation within the group, multi-stakeholder environment and C-level.

Realignment and stabilization of a cross-functional transformation and scaling program within the group. Sharpening the target picture, priorities, and set of measures, as well as building reliable governance, planning, and steering structures. Structuring roles, responsibilities, and strategic initiatives while including AI and IT automation ideas.

• Designed program realignment and project portfolio management

• Developed strategy model and target picture for IT projects

• Structured portfolio, roadmap, and priorities

• Established governance and regular meetings

• Worked out operating model for flagship projects

• Assessed AI and automation ideas

• Clarified roles and responsibilities

• Implemented change measures

• Developed, moderated, and evaluated workshops

• Transformed 17 initiatives into a steering model

• Increased transparency and decision-making ability

• Strengthened commitment in steering

• Sharpened the operating model structurally

• Integrated three top-5 institutes

• Involved over 80% of stakeholders

• Governance

• Portfolio steering (PPM)

• Change management

• Artificial intelligence

• Workflow automation

• AI use case assessment

• Confluence

• Jira

• Stakeholder management

• Electronics – Surface Solutions | Carve-out of IT, data and system landscape*

• Separation of a full business division's IT, data and system landscape following divestment; centrally governed investment envelope in the three-digit m€ range

• Laboratory notebook and laboratory analytics platform stream: Palantir Foundry, Snowflake, Signals Notebook, Power BI and connected laboratory instrumentation; site transition completed without interruption to laboratory operations

• Decision authority and escalation point for business, IT infrastructure, IT security and vendors; separation executed across globally distributed users and systems, handed over on schedule

• After several S/4 go-lives, structure, role clarity, and decision clarity were missing in Finance and IT; governance mechanisms, prioritization logic, and responsibilities were not defined well enough.

• Unclear interfaces, high coordination effort, and inconsistent ways of working led to organizational instability and limited leadership and steering capability.

• The existing operating model between Finance, Controlling, and IT was not working, which affected transparency, collaboration, and decision paths.

• Designed the transformation and organization architecture for Finance and clarified roles, decision paths, and priorities.

• Diagnosed and structured the Finance and IT organizations (DE/UK/PL), including collaboration, responsibilities, and interfaces.

• Redesigned the Finance–IT operating model with a focus on governance, steering routines, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Enabled leaders and teams, especially Global Process Owners, Key Users, and Finance Leads (systemic organizational development / leadership).

• Steered the transformation portfolio, including clarity on risks, dependencies, and cross-functional decision processes.

• Restored structural steering capability by clearly defining roles, decision paths, and priorities and anchoring them across the organization.

• Strengthened governance and cross-functional collaboration in a systemic way - Finance, Controlling, and IT worked again in consistent, aligned structures; friction losses dropped measurably.

• Harmonized working and communication logic, making coordination faster, more transparent, and less conflict-heavy.

• Enabled the organization in a sustainable way, including the build-up of a strong Key User / Process Owner community and clearly defined steering routines.

• Made the transformation structurally manageable - prioritized initiatives, clear risk and progress logic, and consistent decision formats increased execution speed.

• Led the global transformation of Talent Operations by inhousing recruitment technologies, processes, and teams, reducing over 20 external partners to 2, defining the strategy to hire hundreds of internal talent specialists, and redesigning organisational structures and processes worldwide.
• Drove gap analyses and impact assessments and led the global rollout of Beamery, HireVue, and Paradox, covering solution design, pilot markets, global deployment, and hypercare, ensuring smooth market transitions and standardised operations.
• Developed and maintained detailed project plans, timelines, milestones, RAID logs, and governance routines, leveraging SharePoint as the central platform for programme documentation, rollout artefacts, approvals, and decision tracking.
• Coordinated cross-functional stakeholders including HR, IT, regional teams, and external vendors, using SharePoint-based documentation and governance frameworks to align requirements, manage dependencies, and resolve delivery issues.
• Conducted gap analyses and impact assessments across Paradox, Beamery, and Workday to ensure pilot readiness and global launch success, with outputs captured and governed through SharePoint.
• Built and executed comprehensive change management plans using ADKAR methodology, covering stakeholder mapping, communications, training, and adoption activities, supported by SharePoint-hosted enablement materials and rollout documentation.
• Broke down silos across regions and functions to drive adoption of new systems, processes, and ways of working.
• Tracked adoption metrics and user feedback post-deployment, driving continuous improvement in user experience and operational performance.

• Selected as SME for a government executive authority in Dubai, benchmarking four PPM platforms against technical fit and delivery risk and developing the target operating model and strategic benchmarks.
• Led an operational optimization project for a performance-based road maintenance contract, directing two consultants and delivering a 10% improvement against contract KPIs.
• Managed delivery of a smart city implementation as the consulting firm's project manager, coordinating the specialist solution consultant and the site's asset owner, and owning project governance and reporting.

• Designed and implemented comprehensive business processes, leading cross-functional teams to increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs
• Provided training and ensured benefits realization through end-to-end workflow development
• Contributed to the “Generate Insights from Hidden Knowledge” initiative by developing and deploying AI-driven workflow automation solutions using Large Language Models (LLMs) and low-code/no-code platforms
• Designed multi-agentic workflows integrating OpenAI, LangChain, Haystack, and n8n to automate document review, data extraction, and knowledge summarization processes
• Led the orchestration of AI and automation frameworks to enhance medical and business review processes, ensuring compliance, explainability, and transparency
• Collaborated cross-functionally to translate complex business requirements into AI-enabled automation prototypes aligned with enterprise compliance and data privacy standards
• Applied Power Automate, UiPath, Nintex, and ServiceNow to deliver rapid, scalable, and secure automation solutions within validated operational environments
• Leveraged Lean Six Sigma, Agile/SAFe, and ITIL principles to structure AI development pipelines ensuring measurable impact, auditability, and sustainable governance
• Managed cross-departmental collaboration to standardize workflows, reducing errors and enhancing task management. Established governance frameworks to ensure the sustainability of automation solutions

Context: P&L Recovery and operational transformation post-restructuring (PSE). Scope: France (€150M revenue) + Benelux Cluster (~€1.2Bn revenue).

• O2C & SAP diagnostic [France]: identified a misconfigured SAP setup generating €70K/year in paper invoice costs — full Order-to-Invoice audit, launched No-Touch Processing digitalization program (target: 65% of orders processed without manual intervention).
• P&L Recovery & RGM [France then Cluster]: redesigned pricing and promotional policy to prioritize EBITDA over volume; simplified promotional program to enable SAP automation; rolled out RGM practices across the 4-country Cluster.
• Contract compliance & risk management [France]: audited full distributor contract portfolio — identified and corrected structural errors on wholesale contracts; migrated to Adobe Sign; designed and deployed a 3-module SDS (Selective Distribution) training program for the sales force.
• Harmonization & governance [Cluster]: standardized commercial practices, procedures and KPIs across 4 countries; implemented a shared performance management framework.
• Network segmentation [France]: analyzed and rationalized the ERT point-of-sale portfolio — recommended exit of below-threshold accounts to refocus commercial resources on value-generating partners. Key Results €70K savings identified in 2 weeks · O2C program launched as Cluster priority · Contract base remediated · RGM practices and KPI harmonized across 4 countries · Country profitability secured

Diversified holding with operations across 5 European markets. Finance lead across FP&A, accounting, tax, and group governance.

• Designed and executed a 100-day finance buildout: unified reporting framework, KPI dashboards, intercompany governance across 4+ entities, and M&A readiness playbook.
• Achieved breakeven in 2 out of 3 geographies within 8 months by optimizing pricing, cost structures, and unit economics.
• Created the group holding structure, consolidating 4+ operating entities under a unified governance and reporting framework, resulting in more efficient intercompany funding flows and improved tax and administrative efficiency.
• Partnered with the tech team to automate billing and revenue recognition across marketplaces, cutting billing errors by 40%.
• Led the refinancing and optimization of the group's capital structure, strengthening liquidity, extending maturities, and improving financial flexibility to support long-term growth.

• Leading procurement transformation activities as part of a strategic carve-out program at a global life sciences company
• Responsibility for business separation, IT and operational technology contract management, supplier migration, and Day-1 readiness
• Close collaboration with Legal, IT, HR, PMO, Finance, and business functions to manage contractual risks, ensure business continuity, and successfully deliver the transformation.

Scope: Lead Lean Management System and CI roadmap across 4 factories, 12 farms, and 25 warehouses; operational scale ~50,000 tons/month. Manage 9-person team (direct reports: 9) across 2 functions.

• Led Lean transformation portfolio delivering $150,000 total savings "$150k verified savings (finance-validated)"
• Increased OEE from 65 to 80 by deploying daily management, visual performance control, and structured problem solving.
• Reduced scrap rate from 1.0% to 0.3% through root cause elimination, quality-at-source practices, and standard work.
• Reduced end-to-end lead time from 22 days to 13 days by streamlining flows and removing process/queue bottlenecks.
• Increased capacity from 28 t/h to 38 t/h via constraint management, layout/process improvements, and cycle time stabilization.
• Established governance for Lean Management System: KPI trees, tier meetings, action tracking, and sustainability audits.
• Coached leaders and frontline teams on A3/5Why, standard work, and continuous improvement routines.

• Migration of financial data from Microsoft Dynamics to SAP ECC for eleven companies, as well as from SAP S/4HANA to SAP ECC for one additional company. At the same time, an interface from an operational leasing tool to SAP S/4HANA had to be tested from a business perspective and aligned in an audit-proof way.

• Lead and plan the migration work packages, create the migration concept for accounts payable and accounts receivable with active customer-vendor integration, set up the reconciliation and QA method, test management, cutover planning, and audit-proof project documentation.

SAP/business focus: SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, FI, Business Partner/CVI, Finance Data Migration, Reconciliation, Test Management, Cutover

• Traceable and audit-proof migration of multiple companies with clear reconciliation logic, strong QA evidence, and controlled cutover.

Training wave for education of first transformation agents. Training of candidates in: Lean management, Six Sigma & data analysis, change management, rationalization meetings, conflict & crisis management, stakeholder management international, project management, cultural development, AI for OpEx. Strong response to training & certification concept.

Media monitoring company spun off from a Kantar Media division (acquired by STG – US Private Equity, 2022) · Media intelligence sector · International

• Migration of press review activities from a Managed Services business model to a SaaS model. Automation of production by 70% through the deployment of cloud, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI/ML) solutions — large-scale business process optimization.
• Development and deployment of a new media monitoring platform; migration of more than 10,000 customer contracts; full restructuring of the content operations department across 4 countries (France, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany)
• Leading change management and regular reporting to the COMEX and shareholders. Supporting HR in the development of restructuring plans.

• Responsible for driving digital transformation and aligning country organizations with the Rhenus platform model

• Initiated the digital transformation roadmap for five countries, ensuring alignment with global group strategy

• Built and led a high-performing digital transformation consulting team, expanding delivery capacity from one to three value streams and thereby fast tracking the roadmap from 3 to 2 years

• Acted as strategic advocate for 5 country organizations, ensuring group-wide cross-functional alignment

• Redefined business analysis into an agile approach, reducing time-to-value for platform harmonization by 50%