Therwil, Basel-Country, Switzerland
I am a senior finance executive with 15+ years of leadership experience across Sandoz, GSK, Ascendis Health, and Avis Fleet Services, currently serving as Head Business Partner for Sandoz International Region in Basel. My background spans country, multi-country, and regional finance leadership roles across complex international environments, with responsibility for full P&L oversight, forecasting, cash flow, working capital, performance management, and commercial decision support. Over time, I have worked across business scopes ranging from $40m division level to $2.4bn regional oversight. What defines my approach is not finance in isolation, but finance as a practical business discipline. I have partnered closely with commercial and regional leadership teams on pricing, tenders, portfolio choices, resource allocation, restructuring, integration, and broader performance priorities. My focus has consistently been to improve visibility, sharpen decision-making, and translate business choices into clear financial consequences. I have also led and developed finance teams across diverse markets, supported complex organizational change, and worked in environments where sustainable growth, governance, and commercial discipline all needed to move together. My experience is strongest in life sciences and healthcare, particularly in roles requiring regional complexity, cross-functional influence, and commercially grounded finance leadership.
● Lead business partnering for Sandoz International Region, providing financial and strategic support across a broad multi-market footprint with $2.4bn in revenue responsibility. Scope includes Japan, Australia & New Zealand, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Turkey, Russia, South America, and Mexico. ● Manage 3 direct reports and support senior stakeholders including the President of International Region, Regional Leadership Team members, Market CFOs, and Market Business Partners. ● Provide strategic input into performance management, forecasting, resource allocation, portfolio reviews, and executive preparations across a broad and diverse regional footprint. ● Contribute to selected decision-making forums, bringing a commercially grounded finance perspective on growth, profitability, risk, and investment priorities. ● Support business development and divestment discussions through financial analysis, business-case review, and performance insight.
● Led the regional finance function across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa for a $600m business, leading 7 direct reports including country CFOs and overseeing full P&L from gross-to-net sales through operating profit. ● Drove performance management, cash generation, forecasting, working capital oversight, commercial reviews, and strategic financial support across the region. ● Improved regional profit by 6% points over 3 years, with profits growing faster than sales and EBIT ratios strengthening during the period. ● Co-led the reintegration of the Sub-Saharan Africa business into the AME region alongside the Commercial Lead, reshaping a $50m business operating at a significant loss across 50 distributor contracts in 27 countries. ● Streamlined countries, customer contracts, portfolio, and resources during the SSA reintegration, returning the business to profitability in the first year and improving margins over time to the high-20s. ● Reviewed and approved major government tenders, pricing decisions, business cases, restructurings, divestments, and business development initiatives across the region. ● Supported broader regional transformation, including exit of Algeria to a distributor model and setup of a new legal trading entity in Saudi Arabia. ● Reduced finance footprint by 30% over 2 years through process simplification, selective offshoring, process elimination, and tighter scope design.
● Oversaw the finance function across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Mauritius, with ownership of full P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, forecasting, controls, statutory compliance, tax, and working capital for a $110m business. ● Managed 6 direct reports and oversaw planning, performance management, audit readiness, commercial decision support, and resource allocation. ● Delivered 12% CAGR over 4 years, significantly ahead of market growth, while improving profit margin by 7% and exceeding profit and sales targets in four consecutive years. ● Oversaw annual spend of approximately $22m and improved financial discipline through stronger forecasting, profitability reviews, and operational visibility. ● Led pricing input on launches, price increases and decreases, customer terms, discounts, and portfolio decisions through financially grounded business cases. ● Played a key role in the successful sale of the factory and facilities to Imperial / Kiara Health and supported the divestment of product dossiers. ● Restructured and repurposed the finance team to improve accuracy, efficiency, and role clarity. ● Redesigned and embedded the transfer pricing model to strengthen financial and operating discipline.
● Held full finance leadership for the pharma division, including P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, compliance, tax, management reporting, forecasting, factory finances, IT, CAPEX, and working capital across a $40m business. ● Managed 3 direct reports and a broader finance team of 14, covering factory accounting, finance management, debtors, creditors, payroll, cash book, and factory finance. ● Improved commercial and financial decision-making through profitability reviews, audits, system reviews, and stronger planning discipline. ● Redesigned the product costing process to improve accuracy, transparency, and efficiency. ● Drove the working-capital reduction programme and partnered with treasury on funding requirements and reporting. ● Played an integral role in the sale of the factory and facilities to Mylan Pharmaceutical, supporting cash generation and strategic repositioning.
● Supported group finance leadership across a $500m business, with responsibility for management reporting, financial reporting, compliance, tax, forecasting, and shared services. ● Led 6 direct reports across tax, procurement, technical accounting, FP&A, and financial accounting, with exposure across South Africa, Spain, Cyprus, and Hungary. ● Improved management reporting to strengthen decision-making for the CEO, CFO, and Managing Director. ● Shortened published annual reporting timelines by 2 weeks versus the previous year. ● Prepared quarterly board packs and engaged with the CEO/CFO on financial statements, forecasts, and board-related preparation. ● Tracked cash flow performance across divisions and identified areas where working capital was not being released effectively. ● Supported the integration of multiple acquisitions, including international entities, aligning monthly reporting, management reporting, forecasting, KPI tracking, cash flow, and tax processes.
● Led the finance function for the South Africa Consumer business and finance shared services department, with responsibility for full local P&L, cash flow, balance sheet, tax computations, annual financial statements, and quarterly submissions. ● Managed 4 direct reports and a broader team of 14 across business partnering, payables, receivables, fleet, payroll, and tax. ● Supported a $150m local entity and contributed to 10% CAGR over 5 years and profit margin improvement of 6%. ● Integrated the Novartis Consumer business into GSK, adding $30m to an existing $120m business across warehouses, staffing, products, people structures, processes, customers, and supplier contracts. ● Supported the divestment of the Lucozade brand as part of the divestment team. ● Developed and implemented a customer investment model to improve commercial decision quality and resource allocation. ● Drove a working-capital reduction programme across Southern Africa, implementing best practices and improving delivery discipline.
● Partnered with business leaders on planning, forecasting, performance tracking, and commercial decision support in a multinational healthcare environment. ● Supported financial evaluation of business performance, translating commercial decisions into profitability, cash flow, and reporting impact. ● Contributed to business planning and cross-functional discussions on investment priorities, market evolution, and performance drivers.
● Progressed through increasingly broad finance and business leadership responsibilities across regional and group roles. ● Supported integration of acquisitions across Cyprus, Hungary, South Africa, and Spain. ● Developed and rolled out an incentive model linked to profit, revenue, and cash deliverables.