Simon Rühe

Lead the European finance team, comprised of 30+ professionals and managers across seven countries, for the largest region within West worldwide with $565M sales and 2,300 employees at 12 locations. Manage monthly, quarterly, and year-end closing and consolidation processes, including balance sheet reviews, P&L, and KPIs for manufacturer and global market leader in pharmaceutical packaging components and drug delivery systems. Lead annual budget and monthly forecasting processes.

Served as acting CFO and member of the German management team overseeing operations of two manufacturing facilities with $350M sales and 1,100 employees. Led development and implementation of improvement plans to meet the ongoing challenge of improving operational efficiency and increasing profitability. Managed monthly, quarterly, and year-end financial closing processes, annual budgets, and monthly forecasts.

Directed all aspects of financial management, including reporting, internal controls, and improvement initiatives for driving efficiency, reducing costs, and maximizing productivity for global manufacturer of refractory metal powders. Managed shared services for seven legal entities and group-wide internal audit. Led and directed finance team of 16.

Selected to lead financial excellence project, which involved a six-month relocation to Newton, MA. Optimized value streams, reporting, and SAP master data of three US sites, in addition to significantly improving finance process and policy adherence.

Managed financial planning, analysis, and reporting, with a global team of four, for a global business unit with nine manufacturing sites across the US, Europe, and Asia, which had 750 employees and multimillion-dollar sales. Held dotted-line responsibility for the International Finance Group with 30+ individuals.

Prepared and analyzed monthly income statement for German headquarters, with multimillion-dollar sales and 1,600 employees. Performed monthly costing of inventory under IFRS standards. Managed the community of central finance functions and business unit controllers.