Melissa Salas
Costa Rica Finance Manager at Telefonica- Claim this Profile
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English Full professional proficiency
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Spanish Native or bilingual proficiency
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Portuguese Elementary proficiency
Topline Score
Bio
Credentials
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RPA: Automation Anywhere
LinkedInApr, 2022- Oct, 2024 -
Accounting Foundations: Leases
LinkedInMay, 2021- Oct, 2024 -
Lean Six Sigma: Analyze, Improve, and Control Tools
LinkedInDec, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Data Ethics: Making Data-Driven Decisions
LinkedInNov, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Lean Six Sigma Foundations
LinkedInNov, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Operational Excellence Foundations
LinkedInNov, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Accounting Foundations: Managerial Accounting
LinkedInOct, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Design Thinking: Implementar el proceso
LinkedInOct, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Plan de viabilidad económico financiero para emprendedores
LinkedInOct, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Strategic Agility
LinkedInOct, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Bill George on Self-Awareness, Authenticity, and Leadership
LinkedInSep, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Leadership Foundations: Leadership Styles and Models
LinkedInSep, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Learning Data Analytics
LinkedInSep, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Corporate Finance Foundations
LinkedInAug, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
DevOps Foundations: Lean and Agile
LinkedInAug, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Negotiating Your Job Offer
LinkedInAug, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Strategic Thinking
LinkedInAug, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Transitioning from Waterfall to Agile Project Management
LinkedInAug, 2020- Oct, 2024 -
Certified Management Accountant
IMA | Institute of Management AccountantsDec, 2013- Oct, 2024 -
Certified Financial Manager
IMA | Institute of Management AccountantsJun, 2004- Oct, 2024 -
Certified Internal Audit (CIA)
The Institute of Internal Auditors Inc.
Experience
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Telefónica
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Spain
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Telecommunications
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700 & Above Employee
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Costa Rica Finance Manager
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Nov 2020 - Present
Responsible for all Financial, Accounting and Risk Management Operation for Movistar Costa Rica, including Forecasting & Planning, Billing & Collections, Taxes & Cash Management among others. Responsible for all Financial, Accounting and Risk Management Operation for Movistar Costa Rica, including Forecasting & Planning, Billing & Collections, Taxes & Cash Management among others.
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Bayer
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Chemical Manufacturing
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700 & Above Employee
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Regional Risk Management Head for Centroamerica & Caribe
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Jun 2017 - Jul 2020
Set up the vision, startup and proper deployment of the Risk Management concept and structure across the regional organization. Identify, provide visibility and ensure mitigation of major risk areas. Serve as consultant for high impact projects in the region such as Commercial policies implementation and a major company integration. Policies owner for right implementation and consultancy• I identified crucial existing risks, created awareness of these risks in relation to the EBIT of the business, ensured the commitment of the upper management and implemented guidelines and procedures to minimize them. As a result, risks totaling 30 Mio Euros were identified and mitigated, representing aprox 60% of the total regional EBIT.• I systemized and restructured the monitoring of risks by leading a risk-self-assessment at relevant departments of the company, fixing broken processes, and supporting the region in optimizing risk awareness. A risk alert dashboard designed by my department consolidated all requirements and enabled the stakeholders to easily access and control critical areas.• Took ownership ahead of the global schedule, for the design, implementation and testing of the Business Continuity Plan from scratch for the region (17 different departments), covering critical and complex areas such as Plants, Commercial Operations, Supply and IT including the challenge of creating the awareness of the importance within the organization, which has paid off as it anticipated for several borders closure in Central America and the Covid19 pandemics.
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Regional Finance & Tax Head - Centroamérica y Caribe
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Sep 2017 - Dec 2018
Steward the cash, tax and banking activities for the region through an accurate and efficient forecast, anticipating and resolving needs and risks in these areas and managing a 15 people remote team responsible for running the operational activities. Manage relationships with major Banks for the region. Company adquisitions tax strategy owner.• I managed two critical investment projects in Costa Rica and Guatemala worth 40 Mio USD which had no clear glidepath to properly reach regional financial goals. I analyzed and restructured the cash-flow situation together with the transfer price management of both countries ensuring compliance with IFR and funding without additional support from HQ. In addition, income tax within the region was reduced by 2 Mio USD per year.• I engaged a multifunctional team including Headquarters support, defined and implemented a plan to stop the historical grow of a $40MM VAT in Guatemala and started the recovery process by securing the funding to hire an expert Tax manager, redesigned the Guatemala operational model, created clear roles and responsibilities and set up an electronic archiving solution to ensure consistent and timely reports to tax authorities. • Shortly after being assigned as the manager of a regional organization that had no standardization and was running in silos, I delivered 30% productivity improvements proven through data analytics by centralizing and creating centers of expertise, technical improvements, automating and simplifying. In parallel I ensured deputies were in place for such a critical organization which lack coverage in several areas.
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Procter & Gamble
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United States
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Manufacturing
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700 & Above Employee
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Americas Internal Audit Director, focus on Product Supply
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Jul 2012 - Mar 2017
Manage yearly Audit Strategy based on critical risks and major impact to maximize resources in the area of Product Supply focus on North America and Brazil, including leading a 7 people team to execute the audits. Responsible for leading a global strategy to work on emerging risks. • Partnered with non-financial areas of the company to develop and roll out a global validation plan for several Emerging Risks within Regulatory, Quality and R&D, where significant financial and reputational risks were raising. Upper management engagement was secured and aprox 50% of strategic areas were covered improving projects investments pay out and synergies among the operations among others.
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NA Freight Payments Director
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May 2009 - Jun 2012
Lead the transition of a 40 people and ~100M freight invoices/month operation worth $140 Mio, from the P&G Headquarters into the San Jose shared services and manage the ongoing operation, including managing key indicators and service level agreements. Responsible for Governance relationships with third parties and suppliers. • Project was recognized up to VPs in headquarters leading the way for new major operations to be transitioned to San Jose. Results included 25% reduction of past dues and 15% of productivity within the first year, and a 20 days reduction in payment terms delivering a onetime $50MM cash flow benefit.
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Plant Finance Manager
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Jul 2007 - May 2009
Finance Manager for one of P&G's largest manufacturing plants globally. Financial Statements analysis, multicategory planning, forecasting and decision making in the areas of COGS, capital investment, etc. Partner with a multidisciplinary Lead Team to action on savings and productivity projects through Lean manufacturing, global benchmarking, organizational decisions, etc. • I engaged myself as the only non-Supply Manager to lead one Six Sigma Pillar as the plant was working towards achieving the next level. In the process I got certified, ensembled my own multidisciplinary team and ran several workshops, covering more than half of the support departments and delivering 4 improvement projects targeted to reach process efficiencies and people productivity.
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Finance
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Nov 1999 - Jun 2007
Several positions in Cost Accounting and General Accounting; responsible for month end and consolidations. Working closely with our Headquarters and external auditors. Led monthly review of Financial Statements with local Stewards, including swing analysis and risk assessment.Developed expertize in business and technical changes, SAP, adquisiciones, divestitures, global projects and transitions.
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Education
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1995 - 2003
Universidad de Costa Rica
Major in Business Administration, Finance, General -
2017 - 2021
Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología
Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Operations Management and Supervision
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