Experience

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  Zanchin Automotive Group

  • 5585 Highway #7 West, Woodbridge, Ontario

  • Director of Finance - Zanchin Automotive Group - Nissan & Infiniti Operations

    • May 2016 - Present
    • 5585 Highway #7 West, Woodbridge, Ontario

    As Director of Finance for Alta Group - a Division of Zanchin Automotive Group, responsible for all aspects of financial and human resource management, taxation, internal controls, cash flow management and budget creation & control. Corporate liason with OEM, banks and external auditors. Reporting directly to the co-owners of Alta Group, main focus is to support the financial operations of Alta Group which owns and operates 5 Nissan, 3 Infiniti dealerships and several other automotive support entities. Zanchin Group is GTA's largest automotive group.

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  Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.

  • Markham, Ontario

  • National Finance Manager

    • Mar 2015 - May 2016
    • Markham, Ontario

    Reporting to the President of Hyundai Auto Canada, responsible for all aspects of financial management of the head office operations of Hyundai in Canada.

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  Class C Solutions Group

  • Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

  • Controller

    • Nov 2013 - Feb 2015
    • Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

    Responsible for all financial accounting, reporting and business planning for the operations of Class C Solutions Group - a business unit within the MSC Industrial Supply group of global companies. CCSG - MSC Industrial Supply are global leaders in the MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) and consumable inventory management field.

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  JPH Financial Services

  • Oakville, Ontario

  • Finance & Tax Professional - CPA, CGA

    • Jun 2012 - Nov 2013
    • Oakville, Ontario

    Core expertise in all areas of Accounting, Financial Reporting, Sarbanes-Oxley Planning and Implementation, Business Planning, Process Improvement, Change Management, Treasury / Cash Management, Transfer Pricing, Corporate / Personal Taxation

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  Nissan Canada Inc

  • Japan
  • Motor Vehicle Manufacturing
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Director of Tax

    • Jul 2010 - Jun 2012

    Responsible for the creation and development of a new tax team supporting all facets of Canadian taxes and cross border tax planning. Position reported to Nissan Americas Tax Director. • Led transfer pricing defense strategies for NCI with the objective of managing double taxation risk. This included the development of an Advanced Pricing Agreement initiative with CRA.• Managed the creation of accounting processes to support new business initiatives.• NCI leader of a corporate restructure to resolve a US interest income tax issue that is driving over $5 Million in incremental global taxes.• Financial Planning Controller for Parts and Service business. Successful in supporting the annual achievement of financial KPI’s.• Generated $300 Thousand annual saving through the reduction of outside tax advisor costs.• Responsible for performance management and development of a team of 5 professionals.

  • Director of Finance

    • May 2008 - Jul 2010

    Responsible for the ongoing improvement in tax, financial planning and accounting processes. Position reported to the VP Finance & Administration, NCI.• Canadian leader for the development, validation and implementation of the NCI – NNA Finance Synergy project. Significant cross functional effort was required to manage the transition while keeping negatively affected employees fully engaged in the project. Savings from the initiative was over $1 Million annually.• Led the transformation of accounting and reporting processes to ensure controls were in compliance with Japanese SOX. Processes were subject to rigid internal and external audits. Audits were concluded successfully which contributed to Nissan maintaining a listing on global stock exchange.• Responsible for the performance management and development of up to 16 staff.

  • Director of Finance / CFO

    • May 2002 - May 2008

    Promoted to this position with responsibility for all A&F functions for both S&M and Consumer Finance divisions. Reported to both NNA VP Finance and NCI President.• Reorganized Financial Planning team to provide an improved operational focus while providing value-added and ROI driven business direction to operations. Created techniques to facilitate the tracking of progress against annual KPI’s including rapid identification of risks, opportunities and countermeasures. • Led NCI Cost Management cross functional team. Mandate was to challenge operational managers’ spending initiatives in order to generate cost efficiencies. This was accomplished by challenging the spend need or by structuring the initiative to obtain a better cost vs. benefit result. • Provided strategic direction and leadership over the consolidation of AR & AP with NNA. Project evolved into complete off-shoring of AR/AP and other accounting processes.• Implemented new reporting systems designed to identify and report on actual and projected end of lease term gains/losses for NCF’s leased vehicles. Major benefit was to enhance accuracy of financial results and provide insight into vehicle lease performance to improve residual value decision making.• Implemented cross border initiatives designed to reduce Nissan global income taxes. Projects involved interactions with numerous internal and external professionals and cross regional collaboration.• Led the Treasury and cash management operations. Financing transactions involved numerous Asset Backed Securitizations (“ABS”) with average size of over $300 Million affected through either a public special purpose entity or multi-seller conduits. These structures yielded Capital Tax savings of over $40 Million.• Responsible for the performance management and development of up to 26 staff.

  • Director of Accounting

    • May 1998 - Apr 2002

    Promoted to this position during implementation of NCI’s financial systems replacement project. As project owner, responsibilities included overseeing all activities relating to the replacement of an inefficient and non-“Y2K” compliant mainframe financial accounting system with a robust ERP system (SAP). • Led the redesign of NCI’s financial planning and reporting processes to meet expanded requirements under the “Nissan Revival Plan”. Monthly financial reporting of actual results to NCI President and parent company was reduced almost 50%.• Initiated and led various income tax planning projects including a corporate reorganization intended to utilize tax losses within the Nissan Canada corporate group. Trapped tax losses of over $40 Million within Consumer Finance entity were captured by NCI Parent with tax savings of over $12 Million.• Initiated the creation of annual transfer pricing documentation and analysis to meet CRA “contemporaneous documentation” rules. Also successfully concluded an appeal to Competent Authority for double taxation relief of $4 Million arising from a Canadian transfer pricing tax assessment.

  • Assistant Controller -> Controller

    • Nov 1989 - Apr 1998

    Controller 1992 to 1998Promoted to this position at a time of severe financial distress for NCI. Major accomplishments included improvement of financial reporting timeline from 10 to 6 days. Also responsible for improvements to financial planning and analysis processes resulting in more rapid identification of negative financial trends. Improvements in cost center financial accounting reporting processes led to greater accountability for operational areas in expenditure reductions and controls. Other accomplishments included improved management of balance sheet items such as inventories, accruals and warranty reserves.Assistant Controller 1989 to 1992Major accomplishment included the implementation of all financial processes needed to support the replacement of the Federal Sales Tax with GST.

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  NCR Corporation

  • Mississauga, Ontario

  • Financial Services Manager

    • Nov 1981 - Nov 1989
    • Mississauga, Ontario

    Financial Services Manager, Head Office 1986 to 1989Positions included Financial Services Manager with responsibility for all financial reporting activities including maintaining accuracy of various GL accounts and processes and supporting both internal and external audits for the NCR consolidated group of operating divisions.Also held several managerial positions including Financial Manager, Systemedia Group (Manufacturing Operations) and gained experience in areas such as Manufacturing Accounting & Controls, Financial Planning & Analysis and Treasury / Cash Management.

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  Thorne Riddell, Chartered Accountants

  • Toronto, Ontario

  • Audit Senior

    • Sep 1977 - Nov 1981
    • Toronto, Ontario

    Prior to NCR Canada Ltd., learned the fundamentals of people management, accounting, financial reporting, taxes and audit through numerous experiences with the predecessor to KPMG – Thorne Riddell, CA’s.