Thomas Pacal - Change Manager / Sales Transformation

Recommended expert

Vienna, Austria

Experience

Jan 2024 - Dec 2025

2 years

Berlin, Germany

Change Manager / Sales Transformation

SEFE

Organizational change management as part of a global, supranational sales transformation, as the core of a comprehensive restructuring of mission-critical areas, overseeing the end-to-end change process, and ensuring sustainable embedding and future viability of the sales function.
Initiation and holistic management of the sales transformation program, including in-depth analysis to identify, assess, and strategically involve all relevant stakeholders, tactically leveraging their specific operational interests and influence.
Conducting comprehensive, detailed change impact analyses to forecast the organizational effects of the transformation, derive a tailored change strategy, and develop a change roadmap and change story as the core narrative for the campaign.
Designing and implementing an integrated communication and action plan to ensure maximum transparency, effectively manage implicit expectations, and steer a reactive change process that is understandable to all stakeholders.
Actively managing all phases of the transformation, including establishing robust monitoring mechanisms for continuous progress analytics and forecasting based on recommended and jointly defined KPIs.
Establishing an agile analysis and adjustment cycle for ongoing assessment of the effectiveness of measures, early identification of challenges, and timely fine-tuning of the change strategy.
Conducting precise gap analyses to identify skill gaps within the sales team in the context of the new strategic direction, and deriving and developing targeted qualification strategies (e.g., coaching, training).
Substantially reducing resistance to change by converting opposing stakeholder mindsets into proactive change ambassadors.
Deep and sustainable realignment of sales structures and processes in full alignment with overarching corporate goals.
Qualitative and quantitative improvement in sales efficiency and performance as a direct result of the implemented transformation initiatives and capability-building programs.

Jan 2023 - Dec 2024

2 years

Cologne, Germany

Change Manager / Product-Centric Transformation

Arlanxeo, Saudi Aramco Group

Organizational change management as part of a company-wide transformation initiative focused on restructuring into a product-centric organization (PCO) and simultaneously applying agile transformation in IT (pilot area: global IT), including designing new ways of working and strengthening leadership capabilities.
Strategic management of the transformation process toward a product-centric organization within global IT, creating a positive pull effect across the entire group, breaking down silos and cultural barriers.
Identifying and analyzing all key stakeholders in IT and interface areas; developing a tailored change roadmap for structured navigation through the change process.
Continuous support of implementation through progress monitoring and establishing a robust two-way feedback system using pulse check surveys and 1:1 stakeholder meetings for ongoing evaluation and adaptation.
Iterative identification of critical skill gaps at the leadership level (e.g., prioritization, ownership, psychological safety, decision inertia) through one-on-one interviews, executive regular meetings, and town halls.
Designing and facilitating leadership off-sites (workshops) to strengthen (re)prioritization skills, cultivate an ownership mindset, and clarify responsibilities.
Conducting executive leadership coaching sessions to promote psychological safety and build trust at the top two management levels.
Ensuring continuous communication and genuine alignment throughout the process to foster transparency, acceptance, and maintain change momentum.
Increasing leadership effectiveness by 68% through improved prioritization skills and establishment of a clear accountability culture in global IT.
Qualitative improvement of organizational climate by 39% and enhanced psychological safety at leadership level with top-down role modeling and a more open communication and feedback culture.
Successfully embedding transformation effects in global IT as a company-wide blueprint.

Jan 2022 - Dec 2022

1 year

Ludwigsburg, Germany

Change Manager / Digital Transformation

Mann+Hummel

Organizational change management for a strategic flagship digitization initiative to end-to-end transform the global PLM system, 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 creation of a dedicated change agent network to generate maximum leadership commitment.
Planning and executing change communication campaigning and strategic internal communications to ensure high acceptance before, during, and after go-live; measuring change adoption and regular interactive presentations to the executive board.
Agile change management support for the parallel agile transformation of the entire company, including initially highly change-resistant production plants worldwide.
Developing the change strategy and crafting the change story as the core of the cross-functional communication strategy.
Designing, preparing, and conducting leadership change workshops in the form of a change roadshow to educate about the digitization program, changes, and new ways of working at both management and operational levels in all affected plants.
Implementing comprehensive training, communication, and engagement measures focusing on operational execution and KPI-based success measurement.
Achieving a 100% adoption rate through numerous personalized 1-on-1 stakeholder engagement meetings.
Sustainable establishment of the new target operating model while simultaneously improving internal communication and overcoming existing silos, especially in the plants.
Fostering an agile mindset and a community-oriented, cross-silo work culture to prevent new silo formation.

Jan 2020 - Dec 2021

2 years

New York, United States

Change Manager / Digital Transformation & Scale-Up

RTBE

Agile transformation of globally distributed business units alongside the digital transformation of 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 systems, including designing, setting up, and deploying 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).
Preparing for global expansion (EU → US → APAC) with rapid scaling to about 700% of company size; ensuring controlled, healthy growth despite pandemic-related staffing shortages and change resistance, including securing 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.
Lasting establishment of the new target operating model with significantly improved internal communication after overcoming evident silos.
Significant increase in EBITDA despite early scaling phase and high expansion costs.
Creating an agile, efficiency-driven sense of community and mindset as a critical success factor.

Jan 2018 - Dec 2019

2 years

Vienna, Austria

Change Manager / Digital Transformation

WRW

Operational setup of a Digital Office as the central control platform for all group-wide digitization projects and consolidation of continental market leadership through the introduction of a Scrum-based Digital Innovation Hub.
Defining a comprehensive, clear, and unambiguous digital governance impacting decision authority, processes, and procurement transparency (e.g., in PPPs), based on analyses of digitization levels, skill overlaps, process flow delays, and digital bottlenecks at interfaces with municipal network partners.
Setting up the Digital Office at personnel, physical, educational, and organizational levels, including recruiting, team composition, role assignment, infrastructure, workshops on change, innovation, Scrum, crisis communication, and de-escalation, embedding at executive level, and creating a digital roadmap.
Introducing a Digital Innovation Hub to generate, execute, and manage disruptive innovation initiatives, such as significantly reducing planning and administrative effort via automated interaction with nearshoring partners through a Digital Contractor Platform.
Integrating critical legacy systems together with group IT, including reviewing non-functional components and planning and managing suitable interfaces to support a market designed for private-sector conditions.
Designing and implementing 27 projects and subprojects in preparation for turnkey handover to the CDO, ensuring up to nine months of leaderless self-sustainment of the Digital Office to minimize PR risks.
Massive reduction of project cycle times to a fraction of original values, with corresponding savings at the municipal level.
Establishing the Digital Office, especially the Innovation Hub, as the central driver of innovation and main point of contact for digitization matters.
Fail-safe setup of the Digital Office with buffer planning to avoid immediate leadership requirements in case of potential CDO absence.

Jan 2015 - Dec 2017

3 years

Vienna, Austria

Change Manager / Digital Transformation

Esperta

Strategic realignment to boost 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).
Comprehensive foundation analysis of 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 existing legacy systems.
Design and implementation of business process reengineering measures, including repositioning from a translation service provider to a full-service translation agency with a focus on project management for more efficient use of onshore resources.
Establishment of a strategic competitive advantage by introducing disruptive innovations, especially radical cost reduction through efficient use of the global offshore contractor network across all time zones.
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 internal ICT components (notebooks, servers, backup systems, external storage, cloud storage integration, audio and video telephony systems, mobile devices) while maintaining ongoing operations.
Significant reduction of internal process complexity and shortening of go-to-market intervals.
Reduction of qualitative and organizational heterogeneity to prevent further critical HR situations.
Reduction of project lead times by approximately 80%.

Jan 2014 - Present

12 years 1 month

Vienna, Austria

Founder; Change Manager

Embrace

Establishment of a small, effective, highly flexible, globally operating consulting firm specializing in change management.
Focus on digital transformation, strategic change management, innovation management, as well as crisis prevention, intervention, and corporate restabilization.
Development and execution of projects in the core areas of business transformation, innovation think tanks, and business transfer.

Jan 2014 - Dec 2015

2 years

Vienna, Austria

Change Manager; Senior Project- & Program Manager

Global Blue

Crisis intervention, stabilization, and coordination of a large, intercontinentally distributed expert team, along with project and program management, system integration, and upgrade of core business big data applications and technology platforms (Tax-Free Shopping Processing & Real-Time Currency Conversion).
Immediate triage and intervention in a repeatedly failed, historically grown, and closely business-linked project involving multiple onshore, nearshore, and offshore teams averaging 2,000 experts.
Stabilization of massive turnover effects caused by leadership weaknesses and psychological attachment issues, and unification of fragmented teams to restore fast, efficient decision-making processes.
Integration of legacy systems and data warehouse–ready preparation of data from end-of-life-cycle systems, as well as substitution and standardization of divergent 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 the board level.
Program management in a highly dynamic, hybrid development environment (Scrum, Kanban, Waterfall) with constantly changing business requirements and acting as a bridge between business units and IT.
Mediation between team leads, elimination of toxic behaviors, dismantling of bullying structures, and reduction of silo thinking, restoring interdisciplinary collaboration vertically, horizontally, and intercontinentally.
Full responsibility for the design and sustainable implementation of a change management program in compliance with cost, time, and quality requirements.

Jan 2012 - Dec 2014

3 years

Vienna, Austria

Senior Consultant

IBM

Project management, business analysis, presales, and use-case design in the big data area, specializing in data warehousing, business intelligence, content analytics, and business process reengineering.
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 units and IT.
Leadership of a ten-person development team, coaching and mentoring of a junior project manager, and management of external implementation partners.
Role as senior business analyst and technical DWH/BI solution architect for Raiffeisen Bank International, including analysis, reengineering, transformation, integration, and migration of the cDWH-based core banking system to an eDWH-based overall solution, as well as design of a master test plan for all banking divisions.
Execution of a digital transformation project for a leading European machinery manufacturer (automotive, robotics) with the introduction of real-time streaming sensor data analysis via a big data–enabled DWH and predictive analytics for machine failure forecasting and plant-wide monitoring, including AR-based mobile monitoring.
Analysis, planning, and implementation of management dashboards/cockpits in IBM Cognos for simplified visualization 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 on-site presentation of concrete BI solutions to customers.
Additional specialization in BI areas such as customer insight, market analytics, supply chain, and human resources.

Jan 2010 - Dec 2014

5 years

New York, United States

Change Manager; Council Consultant

Gerson Lehrman Group

Execution of numerous consulting projects in contactless, wireless, and mobile payments, mobile banking, AML, KYC, and CRM, working with, for, and on behalf of companies in strategy, packaging, and investment banking sectors.
Advisory support to strategy firms such as Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, and Ernst & Young.
Support for packaging companies such as MeadWestvaco.
Consulting services for investment banks and financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, MFC Global Investment Management, Fir Tree Partners, and La Financière de l'Echiquier.

Jan 2008 - Dec 2010

3 years

Vienna, Austria

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 conducting treasury-trading-specific tests, usability evaluations, and technical assessments 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, design, planning, and execution of integrating 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, specifically for fast onboarding of career changers.

Jan 2007 - Dec 2008

2 years

Cape Town, South Africa

Strategic Consultant

Petroleum, Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa

Introduction of a risk management system for the company.
Conducting intensive, multi-level training sessions for all employees in the trading department and the supply & logistics department on the new risk management approach.
Creation of a manual on the functions, use cases, variants, and special cases in commodity trading, supply & logistics, including troubleshooting.

Jan 2007 - Dec 2007

1 year

Mumbai, India

Strategic Consultant

HPCL - Hindustan Petroleum Corporation

Introduction of a risk management system for the company.
Conducting intensive, multi-level training sessions for all employees in the trading department and the refineries department.
Creation of a manual on the functions, variants, and special cases of commodity trading in the refinery environment, including troubleshooting.

Jan 2006 - Dec 2007

2 years

Mumbai, India

Strategic Consultant

Essar Oil Ltd, Hutchison Group

Co-implementation of a risk management system for oil and gas activities.
Extensive, in-depth training for the risk management team on hedging strategies against physical cargo or freight loss for large oil tankers and offshore oil and gas platforms in the upstream areas of the Indian Ocean.
Creation of a manual on the functions, possibilities, variants, and special cases of risk management, including troubleshooting.

Jan 2005 - Dec 2005

1 year

Belgrade, Serbia

Change Manager

Galenika Fitofarmacija Serbia

Implementation of comprehensive organizational development measures after evaluating all business areas with greenfield and blue ocean approaches to transform into an international player without internal friction.
Company-wide setup of innovation teams (internal micro think-tanks), guiding the process with selected internal experts, mid-managers, and plant staff; goal: rebranding as the innovation driver in the SEE region instead of low-cost differentiation.
Restructuring, formation, coaching, mentoring, and training of the sales executive team, including the Sales Director General and 14 regional sales directors, to improve negotiation outcomes with international, especially Western European, partners.
Design, planning, and delivery of a multi-part intercultural training program for top management to secure competitive market advantages over international competitors.
Introduction of an open, less restrictive patriarchal communication culture to promote internal knowledge transfer based on a partnership and reciprocal trust-building in top management (inspired by the Nash Equilibrium).

Jan 2003 - Dec 2004

2 years

Vienna, Austria

Online & Wireless Marketing Manager

Universal Communication Platform Group

Transformed the entire market communication into a permission marketing-based system, for example by introducing a multiple opt-in for email newsletters and mobile versions.
Established a highly detailed segmentation of customer master data that enabled targeted direct marketing based on customer preferences instead of mass communication.
Achieved high click-through rates and exceptional ROIs for clients by using enriched customer data after data-cleaning measures.

Jan 2002 - Dec 2002

1 year

Vienna, Austria

Project Manager Digital Transformation

Zurich Insurance Group

Led the initial digitization of all internal and external forms for the entire group.
Completely eliminated the previously costly manual data entry.
Enabled automated transfer of form data into internal ERP systems.

Jan 2001 - Dec 2002

2 years

Vienna, Austria

Senior Product Marketing Manager

Goldbach Media Group

Introduced permission marketing in an environment where spam was still a common way to increase reach.
Prepared for the merger with Goldbach Media, including marketing strategy and product-related groundwork.

Jan 2000 - Dec 2001

2 years

Parma, Italy

Co-Founder; Head of Sales & Media Planning

Buongiorno Digital

Co-founded the first international branch outside Italy.
Strategically planned and prepared expansion into other European countries with a strong interest in newsletter marketing.
Managed the corporate roll-out in the UK, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.
Explored the US market in preparation for the later merger with Vitaminic into Buongiorno Vitaminic (USA).

Jan 1999 - Dec 2000

2 years

Vienna, Austria

Project Manager Custody & Reconciliation/Treasury

Raiffeisen Service Center

Developed and implemented a fast, accurate software-based automated process for reconciling securities accounts.
Improved efficiency and accuracy in the custody and reconciliation area of the treasury.

Jan 1998 - Dec 1999

2 years

Vienna, Austria

Project Manager; Trade Fair Coordinator

Wiener Messen & Kongresszentrum

Designing, planning and executing a multi-day music fair that attracted 26,000 paying visitors despite a small marketing budget and tight deadlines.
Repositioning and reviving the struggling, competition-threatened IFABO, which was then Austria's largest IT trade fair.

Jan 1998 - Dec 1998

1 year

Vienna, Austria

Project Manager; Smart Grid Process Manager

One / Hutchison

Comprehensive analysis of internal processes with a focus on network optimization and integrated migration and homogenization of decentralized legacy data into a central database.
Digitization and qualitative processing of all planning data from legacy systems to illustrate the network architecture and topology for all of Austria using Microsoft Visio.
Designing a smart grid that considered regional regulatory requirements by optimizing base transceiver station positioning and necessary transmission power.
Support for Austria's first experimental proto-UMTS tests (lab/indoor) as a basis for license acquisition and grid upgrade.

Jan 1996 - Dec 1997

2 years

Lyme Regis, United Kingdom

Marketing Manager / IoT

Evtacon Limited

Solely responsible for analyzing, planning, developing, and implementing the market communication strategy for the EU and US markets to promote a modular microprocessor (Universal Emulator) as a precursor to an IoT solution.
Coding the first company website, establishing Evtacon as one of the first microelectronics companies with an online presence.
Creating a unified corporate identity and corporate design, including consistent application across print materials, website, press releases, giveaways, and trade show booths.

Jan 1994 - Dec 1995

2 years

Vienna, Austria

Jr Project Manager / Telemarketing Coordinator

BP

Launching the Routex Billing & Fleet Management System in the Austrian B2B market.
Expanding the telemarketing team by 250% to support the market launch.
Reducing target costs to 33% by redefining and consolidating the target group (fleet and truck operators, transport & logistics, later SMEs via industry associations).

Summary

Thomas Pacal is an experienced Change Manager specializing in digital transformation, strategic change management, innovation management, and crisis prevention, intervention, and business restabilization. With over 20 years of relevant professional experience in this field, he founded EMBRACE in 2014 – a small, effective, highly flexible, and globally operating consulting firm focused on change management. Core business areas: business transformation, innovation think-tanks, and business transfer.

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