Simon Schmidt
Founder / Co-CEO / Independent Consultant
Experience
Feb 2022 - Present
3 years 11 monthsSchwetzingen, Germany
Founder / Co-CEO / Independent Consultant
Virtwo GmbH
- Founded a boutique consultancy
- Coached the CEO of a film agency startup on company transformation and scaling the business model
- Interim Head of Controlling for a PE-backed telecommunications and fiber optic company
- Built and led a company-wide transformation program for a PE-backed telecommunications and fiber optic company
Oct 2021 - Jan 2022
4 monthsMannheim, Germany
Regional Chief Financial Officer
MBCC Group
- Interim leadership of the European finance, controlling, and IT functions with over 200 employees
- Stabilized the organization after a successful carve-out from BASF
Jan 2021 - Feb 2022
1 year 2 monthsMannheim, Germany
Group Senior Vice President Commercial Excellence / Managing Director
MBCC Group
- Led the concept phase of the transformation program
- Planned, implemented, and headed the global Commercial Excellence unit
- Global responsibility for: Sales Excellence/CRM (Salesforce), Pricing, Digitalization, and the In-house Academy
- Managed M&A projects including due diligence
Feb 2019 - Sep 2020
1 year 8 monthsMannheim, Germany
Carve-Out Program Lead
BASF Construction Solutions GmbH
- Full responsibility for the operational carve-out of BASF's European construction chemicals business (including TSAs and IT separation)
- Led the global standalone workstreams in the carve-out (including vision, mission, values; change management; functional TOMs; and new operating model)
- Led and implemented a project to realign corporate management control (completely new KPIs, dashboards, and target-setting processes)
Sep 2017 - Sep 2020
3 years 1 monthMannheim, Germany
Head of Controlling and Projects Europe
BASF Construction Solutions GmbH
- Reported to the Head of the European Business Unit (SVP) and was part of the European Executive Management Team
- Led 20+ operational controllers in Continental Europe and a central analysis and project management team
- Successfully transformed the controlling unit into an efficient business partner organization (including achieving significant cost savings)
- Implemented multiple improvement initiatives
- Improved EBITDA by over 50%
Mar 2015 - Aug 2017
2 years 6 monthsAustria
Head of Controlling and Projects Central Europe
BASF Österreich GmbH
- Implementation of the new regional strategy for Central and Eastern Europe
- Leading the European strategy workstream for commercial excellence and market development
- Leading the controlling department for Central and Eastern Europe (16 countries)
- Transforming the controlling department into a business partner organization including automated BI dashboards
- Restructuring the sub-regional customer service organization into an efficient shared-service unit including a new KPI set
Nov 2012 - Feb 2015
2 years 4 monthsWarsaw, Poland
Head of Project Management and Controlling
BASF Polska Sp. z o.o.
- Full commercial responsibility for a €150m greenfield investment project (automotive catalyst plant)
- Leading all functional workstreams to build a 400 FTE site organization
- Responsible for transforming existing local functions (including HR, finance, procurement, IT, etc.) to meet requirements after the new site's opening
- Leading the local controlling unit
Oct 2008 - Oct 2012
4 years 1 monthLudwigshafen, Germany
Various Marketing and Business Development Roles
BASF SE
- Developing a global business unit strategy (Home Care Chemicals)
- Leading projects to evaluate strategic options for divisions (invest/harvest/divest)
- Managing cross-functional synergy projects
- Scouting new business potentials
- Planning and leading industry initiatives (e.g., booth at the furniture fair)
- Organizing major customer projects (e.g., key account role for IKEA)
- Mentoring a junior staff member
- Supporting strategy projects
Summary
I am a highly versatile ex-top manager with hands-on experience from 15 years of career at German corporations and a variety of successfully executed projects.
My inner drive, passion for people and urge to optimize, combined with industry and private equity experience, make me a valuable asset to your project!
Skills
- Project/program Management
- Business Transformation
- Strategy
- Performance Steering / Kpi Development
- Controlling
Languages
German
NativeEnglish
AdvancedSpanish
AdvancedPolish
AdvancedFrench
ElementaryEducation
Oct 2005 - Sep 2008
Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University
Diploma in Business Informatics (BA) · Mannheim, Germany
Oct 2005 - Sep 2008
The Open University
Bachelor of Arts · Business Administration · London, United Kingdom
Certifications & licenses
Professional SCRUM Master I
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