Germany
Managing Director and CFO with 19+ years of enterprise leadership across retail and industrial businesses in Germany, the USA, and Canada. I combine full P&L ownership with a strong CFO backbone, and I operate at my best in transformation, performance-improvement, and growth environments. Most recently, as one of two Managing Directors of one of Germany’s largest omnichannel retailers for e-bikes and bicycles (~1,300 employees, private-equity/family-office-backed), I co-led the company’s strategic development and repositioning for profitable growth. This included driving commercial transformation, building out governance, controlling, and PMO structures, bringing a new company-wide ERP system live ahead of the peak season, advancing the digital and AI agenda, and enhancing working-capital and treasury steering in a highly seasonal business. Earlier, I spent more than a decade in the metals-recycling sector in C-level finance roles across large multinational groups, leading global finance and IT organizations, closing and integrating acquisitions, restructuring operations and balance sheets, and partnering directly with CEOs, owners, lenders, and boards through ownership changes and turnarounds. Where I create value: • Strategic, operational, and financial leadership with full accountability for performance and results • Profitability restoration, turnaround, and value creation in demanding markets • Finance transformation, cash-flow and working-capital discipline, and lender and shareholder management • Technology- and AI-enabled transformation, ERP implementation, and data-driven steering • Cross-functional and international leadership across Europe and North America I am most passionate about repositioning and professionalizing businesses and unlocking their full performance potential. I enjoy continuously improving organizations and challenging the status quo, combining commercial judgment, financial rigor, and the ability to align organizations and stakeholders behind a clear direction.
One of two Managing Directors of a private-equity- and family-office-backed omnichannel retailer for e-bikes and bicycles (~1,300 employees, ~50 stores plus e-commerce), with full joint P&L responsibility for the group. Led ~115 employees across Finance, IT, Purchasing, Private Label, Logistics, Product Management, PMO, Internal Audit, and Internal Communications. Co-led the entire company as one of two equal Managing Directors, with full shared P&L responsibility for the group, driving its transformation and strategic repositioning for sustainable, profitable growth through customer focus, assortment discipline, and disciplined capital allocation. Drove commercial transformation through store-level assortment regionalization, dynamic pricing, and a customer-first operating logic, contributing to improved sales performance in optimized stores. Established a central PMO and built out governance and controlling structures, lifting execution speed, accountability, and transparency; accelerated the financial close and shifted controlling toward forward-looking business partnering. As executive sponsor, brought a new company-wide ERP system (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central) to go-live ahead of the peak season and into stabilization, enabling scalable multi-site operations and real-time financial and operational steering. Led the digital and AI agenda: built a central data warehouse and Jedox-based integrated planning, introduced Microsoft Copilot use cases, drove AI-enabled (agentic) finance automation, and migrated legacy systems to the cloud. Strengthened treasury and working-capital steering and managed key financing and credit-insurance relationships in a highly seasonal business. Strengthened organizational effectiveness and culture through cross-functional alignment, clear accountability, and open leadership-to-shop-floor communication.
Privately held, family-owned global metals-recycling and demolition group (>4,000 employees; operations across Canada, the USA, Mexico, Germany, and Belgium). Strategic finance partner to U.S. and European regional leadership in the group’s scrap-metal recycling operations and associated joint ventures (>600,000 MT, ~400 employees, 12+ yards across the U.S. East and West coasts, plus oversight of European operations in Belgium and Germany). Strengthened forecasting, working-capital management, and reporting rigor across yards, giving regional leadership the visibility to steer pricing, inventory, and yard-level performance with greater discipline. Designed and executed initiatives to lift commercial and operational performance across multi-site operations and joint ventures. Negotiated and closed a $40.0m cash-flow-based financing facility for a joint venture company.
Led the global Finance and IT organization (~270 employees), reporting directly to the CEO and operating-owner shareholders; strategic partner to senior management in shaping group-wide transformation and growth across all business units, entities, and joint ventures. Closed the $32.5m acquisition of a U.S. scrap-metal recycling group, including diligence, negotiation, and post-merger integration. Drove a comprehensive reorganization and realignment of the finance function with the business: set strategic goals, redefined roles, centralized key services, and embedded a high-performance, business-partnering culture. Partnered with the CIO to lead the enterprise-wide digital transformation, defining the IT roadmap, rolling out a new ERP, and rebuilding the supporting systems landscape across an international, multi-segment footprint.
Liberty Iron & Metal was the 100% U.S. subsidiary of Scholz. Scholz is of Europe’s largest steel and metals recyclers (~5,500 employees; operations across Europe, the USA, and Asia); family-owned through 2016, then 100% subsidiary of CHIHO Group (Hong Kong-listed). Strategic partner to ownership through the CHIHO Group acquisition and subsequent transition; co-led restructuring, capital-structure optimization, and portfolio decisions. Introduced new corporate governance and a simplified, scalable organization, establishing a $50m line of credit to unlock working-capital headroom for U.S. growth investments. Led performance improvement and the COVID-19 response: secured a PPP loan, negotiated lender concessions, protected liquidity, and realized $2.8m in cost savings. Executed multiple divestitures of the company’s East Coast assets, generating $17.7m in combined proceeds.
Developed group holding companies in Austria, the Balkans and the USA, providing hands-on guidance to improve operations, operating performance, and finances. Communicated regularly with senior executives and regional managers to improve operational efficiency and optimize the company's cost structures based on forecasts and budgets. Developed plans to improve performance and liquidity, including participation in merger and acquisition activities. Played a key role in the restructuring of the Group's U.S. region, resulting in the takeover of $16.6m of bank debt. As Divisional CFO, supported the buyout of former minority partners and assumed responsibility for gaining control of acquired businesses and all post-merger integration activities. Monitored and improved group level financial control systems, prepared consolidated financial budgets for over 100 legal entities and conducted budget reviews with regional management. Ensured financial transparency through ad hoc analysis, benchmarking and business valuations.
Designed and implemented cash, performance, and forecasting control systems for a tool-manufacturing group in distress; prepared management reports and mid-term budgets for 30+ group companies and tracked improvement actions. Worked on a restructuring report for an international engineering company, providing insights and recommendations for their turnaround strategy. Validated business plans and prepared quarterly reports for a credit-financed automotive supplier, contributing to its sustainable financial health and compliance.