Georg W.
PRINCIPAL PARTNER
Experience
Jun 2024 - Oct 2025
1 year 5 monthsGermany
Interim CFO
Global SaaS Group
- Project for a market-leading SaaS company in the squeeze-out process by a global corporation; >1000 employees and €200 million in revenue.
- Multiple parallel challenges: cost pressure (to implement an excellence program), necessary adjustment of the organization to achieved growth and a globally standardized setup, shift to cloud business/SaaS.
- Additionally managing the complexity of stakeholder relations with the new 100% owner during and after the squeeze-out, including the transitional phase on the supervisory board and outstanding integration issues with the new group.
- Successful stakeholder management during the squeeze-out, transformation, and 'soft integration' phases.
- Launched, negotiated, and closed two M&A projects within 6 months (1 buy-side >€10 million, 1 sell-side >€10 million) at the top end of the target range.
- Achieved transparency, higher forecast accuracy, a new KPI set, and supervisory board approval for two consecutive planning cycles.
- Overall, revenue grew by 27.8% within two years while doubling the EBIT margin (through a cost program and reorganizing the organization).
Nov 2023 - Apr 2024
6 monthsBerlin, Germany
Interim PMI Project Manager
Scaling Health-Tech Company
- Assignment for the Health-Tech company with approx. €30 million in revenue and nearly 400 employees: gradual acquisition and subsequent integration of a competitor twice its size coming out of insolvency.
- Preparation, negotiation, and execution of the deal including stakeholder management with the insolvency administrator, bankruptcy court, lawyers, advisory board, and international investor team.
- Preparation, coordination, fine-tuning, and implementation of the insolvency plan.
- Set up and management of integration teams handling over 300 tasks across 14 integration streams over 14 weeks.
- Successful legal acquisition of the competitor as well as smooth organizational and cultural integration of the various teams.
- Achieved high-frequency and multi-channel communication as well as accelerated digitalization.
- Established coordinated KPIs, realized synergies under a profitable business plan, and built structures and conditions for further scaling expansions and acquisitions.
Jul 2023 - Nov 2023
5 monthsGermany
Interim Finance Director DACH
Pharma GmbH
- The company, with 90 employees and over €100 million in revenue, had to absorb a significant drop in profitability following unexpected price drops for its 'rare disease' blockbuster.
- Other products in the range were highly complex and low-margin, with varied sales and marketing setups.
- As a result, both sales and overhead structures were oversized and needed adjustment.
- Successful carve-out of the 'other drugs' business unit (18 employees and €15 million in revenue) into a newly established joint venture (under 51% control of the external partner): implementation of contractual and organizational foundations, as well as regulations for HR, IT, sales/marketing, and accounting.
- Established service level agreements for ongoing and billable services.
- In parallel, adjusted the organization for the remaining blockbuster business by restructuring 15 positions (including coordinating communication plans and prior negotiation with the works council).
Nov 2021 - May 2023
1 year 7 monthsInterim CFO
Rapidly growing public global market leader in e-commerce/IT hardware
- The public company, with over €100 million in revenue and more than 100 employees, is a hidden champion in e-commerce for specialized IT hardware and grew very rapidly during the COVID crisis.
- This led to significant gaps in the organization, systems, processes, and governance that needed to be addressed and professionalized.
- Sharpened strategic profile and strong push for digitalization and process efficiency.
- Professionalized and broadened the leadership team; intensified and expanded (KPIs) transparent communication with investors, banks, and the supervisory board.
- Provided ongoing sparring for the CEO (founder and majority shareholder), led the ERP selection and implementation integrated with an updated e-commerce shop.
- Consolidated growth while improving the EBIT margin by 5 percentage points.
Dec 2020 - May 2021
6 monthsSole General Authorized Officer
Hospital GmbH including Medical Care Center
At the time of acquisition, the two local GmbHs (hospital and medical care center) were insolvent, and the previous two managing directors were immediately relieved of their duties.
In the previous three months, neither salaries nor social contributions had been paid, and more than 20 ongoing court cases had piled up, including disputes with the landlord and key suppliers.
Within a short period, both the continuation of operations and the maintenance of the hospital license had to be ensured.
Approach as General Authorized Officer and trusted representative on behalf of the private equity firm on site, 3 weeks before the acquisition closing.
Ensured continuation of hospital operations, including surgeries, efficient liquidity management, and simultaneous restructuring, e.g., through negotiations with creditors, handling ongoing legal proceedings, and organizational realignment.
Successful financial restructuring of the companies within 5 months (adequate liquidity funding and planning, settlement of all outstanding social security and tax liabilities, negotiation and execution of 58 settlements with creditors totaling €1.6 million (average reduction of 42%)).
Organizational realignment after completing 14 termination agreements and 7 labor court cases, including recruiting new employees and attending physicians.
Developed a 2021-2022 business plan that confirmed the business potential, turnaround, and break-even point.
Aug 2020 - Nov 2020
4 monthsTransfer Pricing Specialist
Automotive Supplier (Tier 1)
- In-depth analysis of cross-border goods and services chains, including functions and risks, compared to margins and markups, based on a detailed list of questions to prepare for the closing negotiations of an ongoing tax audit.
- Clear analysis of value creation in the context of tax regulations and the internal transfer pricing policy, including benchmarking and abstraction.
- Extensive responses to the questionnaire and effective preparation and drafting of arguments with documentation and references for the final negotiations to minimize the risk of additional payments of several million euros.
Dec 2019 - Jul 2021
1 year 8 monthsMediator
Large German legal protection insurance company
- Prioritized mediation for suitable everyday cases in legal protection insurance (business, trade, neighborhood, tenancy, complaints) instead of immediately going to court.
- Collected the parties' perspectives using targeted questioning.
- Drove effective, solution-focused communication between the parties via phone shuttle, with final documentation of a joint solution.
- Achieved extremely high customer satisfaction (>99%); in most cases, written and implemented "win-win" solutions without significant time or financial effort.
Nov 2017 - Sep 2018
11 monthsHead of Europe
LivaNova
- Designed and implemented a new indirect procurement organization for LivaNova.
- Set up the organization, including a team of 4 employees, processes, project definitions, a procurement database, and KPIs for performance management.
- Established the planned organization quickly and efficiently within 4 months.
- Recruited, onboarded, and coached 4 employees in Italy and Germany: 3 buyers with relevant experience and 1 data architect for databases, performance measurement, and AI.
- Defined, launched, and negotiated core projects in coordination with relevant stakeholders.
- Focused on negotiating and implementing global partnerships (e.g., corporate travel agency, insurance broker, company car leasing), digitalizing and standardizing processes, and achieving cost reductions of 15-30%.
Oct 2017 - Jun 2018
9 monthsGermany
Head of the CRM Business Unit in Germany
- Carve-out and restructuring of the CRM sales division (Cardiac Rhythm Management).
- Prepared and executed the spin-off of the entire Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) business unit as decided by the group, involving 34 employees and €8 million in revenue in Germany.
- Key milestones included due diligence, organizational and staffing restructuring, legal and tax separation, and support for the buyer during the integration phase through shared services and documentation.
- Completed the carve-out by July 31, 2018, with a smooth transition to two separate organizations, accounting systems, and IT systems.
- Efficiently reorganized, rescaled, and refocused the remaining support teams.
- Prevented staff turnover and client losses, and avoided delays and additional claims from the buyer.
Jan 2017 - Jun 2018
1 year 6 monthsLead Project Manager Controlling/Accounting
- Implemented a global paperless travel expense system.
- Standardized software and processes according to the Global Travel Policy.
- Rolled out globally, considering languages and local regulations, especially in the USA and Europe.
- Handled travel expenses paperlessly and archived them digitally in line with local accounting and tax rules.
- Introduced a flexible and fast digital approval process.
- Formed a project team from controlling, accounting, and IT (Europe + USA).
- Led the tender process and selected the software "CONCUR".
- Negotiated and drafted the software license agreements.
- Reflected the Travel Policy and global requirements in the system.
- Considered local specifics.
- Mapped to the standard chart of accounts.
- Coordinated and finalized the digital archiving of all receipts.
- Resolved special cases and set up escalation routes.
- Managed the project rollout with regional testing.
- Oversaw the global rollout with support and guidance during the first 6-month phase.
- The project was successfully established as the group's first global software with a paperless process.
- Reduced the process time from submission to payment approval of travel expenses from an average of 16 days to 4 days.
- Eliminated physical (paper) archiving of travel receipts.
- Significantly increased compliance with the Travel Policy through process standardization and transparency.
Jul 2016 - Dec 2016
6 monthsGermany
Responsible for Sorin Group Germany GmbH
LivaNova
- SOX implementation.
- As part of LivaNova's listing on NASDAQ, SOX compliance is required and reviewed.
- For this, all internal controls relevant to the company had to be identified, added, fully documented, trained, and tested in the existing processes before the Internal Audit team could perform its first complete on-site audit.
- Following the year-end, the critical SOX audit by the auditors follows.
- Implementation and documentation accomplished within just 4 months.
- Subsequently passed the internal and external SOX audits "with flying colors", without any rework or significant adjustments.
Aug 2015 - Apr 2016
9 monthsGermany
Commercial lead for establishing the sales structure
LIVANOVA
- Establishing sales in the German market for the Neuromodulation Business Unit.
- During the merger of Sorin Group and Cyberonics into LivaNova in October 2015, the Neuromodulation Business Unit needed to set up a German sales organization as a specialization and evolution of the previous European office in Brussels.
- This required transferring or largely rebuilding complex organizational, personnel, tax, and legal structures and processes.
- Successful seamless transition of the business within a 3-month lead time.
- Achieved growth of the Business Unit in Germany from 4 to 9 employees and from €1.3m to €5.1m in revenue within the first 18 months.
Dec 2013 - Oct 2014
11 monthsOverall responsible for the tax audit
SORIN Group Deutschland GmbH
- From the internal group merger of ELA Medical GmbH into Sorin Group Deutschland GmbH, tax loss carryforwards and risks from transfer pricing structures were taken on, which had to withstand a detailed tax audit.
- Through consistent documentation as well as plausible analogies and comparisons, the key tax benefits were confirmed in three lengthy negotiation rounds, avoiding an initially proposed tax payment of over €5m.
Feb 2013 - Jun 2013
5 monthsSão Paulo, Brazil
Interim CFO
ALCARD-SORIN GROUP
- In February 2013, Sorin Group acquired the Brazilian company ALCARD INDUSTRIA MECANICA Ltda. in São Paulo. This company, with 34 employees, had local production and a distribution network in the Brazilian market.
- From the day of the notarial closing, the task of the on-site integration team was to continue operating the company and gradually integrate employees and the organization into the existing Sorin Group structures and rules.
- Successful short-term integration of the new unit in terms of key structures, rules, and processes.
- Cultural sensitization on both sides.
- Seamless and effective handover of local management responsibility to the newly appointed local successors.
Jun 2012 - Dec 2012
7 monthsLead Commercial Project Manager
- Implementation of the SAP MM module "Indirect Procurement".
- Expanded from the existing SAP FI and MM modules for direct procurement to include indirect materials and services.
- Based on a matrix created by the team detailing the scope and exact process flows, the following process improvements were achieved: clear, digital approval workflows based on value per cost center, including possible approvals via iPhone.
- Complete transparency of costs and associated approvals.
- A secure 3-way match for incoming invoice postings prevents surprises and incomplete documentation.
- The module was implemented within the planned timeframe for a volume of €80m p.a. across 9 European subsidiaries.
- The transparent and largely digital process created essential prerequisites for internal control systems and prepared the later introduction of SOX.
Feb 2009 - Dec 2009
11 monthsProject Manager
- Introduction of KPIs/Lean Production into series production for medical devices.
- Identification, definition and establishment of success-relevant and measurable metrics for the existing small-batch production of heart-lung machines (HLM) and autotransfusion devices (ATS) in connection with the introduction of Kanban, new material flow and takt times.
- Clear identification of key drivers and implementation into practical weekly KPI dashboards with significant improvements in the following quarters in the areas of order backlog (reducing variance by 20%), inventory turnover (increasing from 2x to 3x for electronic components), throughput time (reducing from 29 to 22 hours for ATS devices), scrap rate (first-pass yield from 93% to 98%), goods receipt acceptance (>97%), delivery time and reliability (fulfillment from 92% to 99%), rework, and backlog (to below 1%).
Oct 2007 - Apr 2009
1 year 7 monthsGermany
Primary contact for the auditors in Germany
SORIN
- An Italian consulting firm was hired for the parallel implementation of the SAP modules FI, CO, AA and SD (including master data) at 5 European SORIN sites.
- The team discussed and mapped out flowcharts and processes, but there were significant delays and complications in the rollout, leading to a go-live on 1 May 2008, although the interfaces to the legacy ERP system for production as well as the processes for the FI and CO modules were neither fully tested nor completed.
- By the closing date of 30 September 2008, the essential data had been captured consistently on a retrospective basis, but only in the German year-end audit by EY was the system classified as "unreliable" and not fully aligned with the interfaces, which would have prevented the auditors from issuing an unqualified audit opinion.
- By conducting extremely time-consuming plausibility and data checks, the reliability of the financial results under IFRS and HGB could be confirmed on a module-by-module basis.
- Additionally, extended sample tests and multiple query loops were carried out by the auditors until the final audit opinion was obtained within the accepted deadline.
May 2006 - Nov 2006
7 monthsGermany
Lead Project Manager
- Successful and sustainable sale of an injection molding production site in East Germany.
- The objective was to sell an injection molding production site in East Germany.
- Restrictive conditions included a highly specialized injection molding facility with its own tool shop, which until then had only served internal customers but had to be maintained in the medium term.
- Also, a tool shop division that was not covering its costs, and a workforce of nine employees with very long company tenure and low flexibility.
- Sale completed with book gains one month before the target date to a supplier who remained reliable thereafter.
- Ensured a complete, transparent, and sustainable transfer of all employees, business units, and risks.
Oct 2004 - May 2005
8 monthsGermany
Responsible for all German entities
SORIN GROUP
- Legal entity reduction.
- Complex corporate structure resulting from historical acquisitions that needed to be simplified and consolidated.
- Goal for Germany: reduce 4 legal entities across 5 locations to the greatest extent possible.
- Through structured and prudent planning and execution, the reduction to one entity at the Munich location was achieved while retaining key rights and brands, as well as essential resources and relevant employees.
Apr 2003 - Oct 2003
7 monthsMexico City, Mexico
Lead Project Manager, Commercial
FMC Mexico
- Complete SAP implementation at FMC Mexico.
- A complete SAP rollout was executed within 6 months for both the existing sales organization in Mexico City and the new plant in Guadalajara, including all support functions.
- The modules involved were FI, CO, AA, MM, SD, PP and Logistics.
- Based on rollouts at other FMC sites in Latin America, specific planning and local implementation were carried out with an experienced internal IT team.
- The implementation of all modules was completed within the 6-month timeframe.
- With the start of series production, the system was put directly into regular operation.
Jul 2001 - Dec 2003
2 years 6 monthsMexico
Senior Project Manager
- Built up a new pharmaceutical production facility in Mexico with a fixed market launch date.
- The goal was to enter the market with peritoneal dialysis solutions in Mexico within 2.5 years. The basic requirement was a production facility certified by the local health authorities – newly built "on a greenfield site".
- Selected and purchased land in Mexico with requirements for groundwater access, adequate infrastructure and logistics.
- Managed the tendering, awarding and execution of architects’ services and construction trades.
- Built the new site organization for production with all support departments, including purchasing, logistics, quality, HR and production controlling.
- Implemented SAP R/3 across all departments.
- Started production and obtained regulatory approval for the plant within the set timeline (to meet the once-a-year tender deadline).
- The project was successfully delivered within the planned time and budget, including expansions and changes, allowing us to participate successfully in the market entry tender.
Jul 1998 - Jul 2000
2 years 1 monthLead Commercial Project Manager
Fresenius Medical Care
- Achieved significant savings in global purchasing.
- Using a global purchasing database we built, we identified negotiation levers with materials and suppliers, leading to substantial material cost cuts by negotiating global framework contracts.
- This was achieved both through volume bundling and by selecting and concentrating suppliers.
- The project delivered over €12m p.a. (>14%) above the target material cost savings within the set timeframe. Half of this benefit, as profit from internal consulting services, could be offset against loss carryforwards for tax purposes.
Summary
As an EXECUTIVE INTERIM MANAGER, I take on leadership roles in projects focused on M&A, post-merger integration (including cultural alignment), restructuring and sustainable transformation – delivering fast and measurable results.
COMPETENCE AND EXPERIENCE PROFILE
Business Management
- Post-Merger-Integration, M&A, Due Diligence, Carve-out
- Organization build-up & optimization, digitization
- Operationalization of global strategies within organizations
- Analysis, evaluation, design and optimization of business processes
- Management and Controlling of regional and country organizations
- Compliance / Risk Management / Legal
- Member of the Executive Board (procurated officer/ppa.)
- Commercial Project Management / Senior Project Manager
Finance & Administration / Controlling
- Controlling & profit management, including margins, pricing, cash-flows
- Defining KPIs for actively measuring the performance of processes/projects
- Liquidity planning and assurance, cash management
- Budget planning, forecasts, reporting, focused presentations
- Accounting, Financial Planning & Reporting, IFRS, US-GAAP and HGB
- Using state-of-the-art instruments incl. Workday, SAP, LucaNet, COGNOS, PowerBI
- Financial Stakeholder Management
- Contact for auditors, tax consultants, banks, investors and other stakeholders
- Transfer Pricing / Tax Audits
Other
- Project- and Change- Management
- Project experience with different approaches, e.g. M&A-related, product development, software selection + implementation
- Global Strategic Purchasing - from Raw Materials to Financial Services
- Responsibility for IT, Purchasing, Facility Management as Director F&A
Leadership skills
- Intercultural competence (Europe, USA, Latin America)
- Matrix organization (leadership: direct, indirect, remote)
- Goal- and solution-oriented leadership / employee development
- Empathy with internal and external stakeholders
Professional Skills
- Entrepreneurial, strong leader, integrity
- Analysis / development of strategies and respective implementation
- Ability to respond to rapid changes/complex situations
- Fluent in English, German, Spanish; strong negotiator
Languages
German
NativeEnglish
AdvancedSpanish
AdvancedFrench
AdvancedItalian
Intermediate ...and 1 more
Education
Jan 1991 - Dec 1991
Thunderbird School of Global Management
International Business/Trade/Commerce · Glendale, United States
Jan 1990 - Dec 1990
EBS - European Business School Paris
International/Global Studies · Paris, France
Oct 1989 - Jun 1994
EBS University for Business and Law
Graduation as "Diplom-Kaufmann", International Business · International Business · Oestrich-Winkel, Germany
Certifications & licenses
Senior Project Manager Level B
IPMA
Mediator
M2 Academy · Munich, Germany
Quality Lead Assessor
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