Strategic Partner | Financial Planning & Analysis| M&A Support| Building the Finance Team| Stakeholder Visibility| Storyteller | Ex Amex | Ex EY
Ashish is an accomplished finance executive with a career spanning top-tier companies (American Express, EY, AIG) and private equity-backed organizations. In his leadership roles, he has consistently driven growth, process optimization, and business/ finance transformation, and implemented strategic initiatives across finance, operations, and shared services. With a proven track record of delivering results, Ashish has leveraged data-driven insights to drive operational efficiency. His people-focused leadership skills have resulted in developing high-performing teams across multiple continents. He has been recognized as an effective business partner. His expertise on budgeting and forecasting has been featured on CFO.com.
Bottom Line: Establishing forecasting best practices will not only yield greater partnership in a forecast’s creation, but will lead to a forecasting process that’s more aligned to business strategy.
Experience
Jul 2021 — Jan 2024
Saltoun Franchise Holdings
CFO/Interim CFO/ Sr. Consultant
- Oversaw the finance organization including treasury, tax, pricing, shared services, and strategy for one of the largest franchise consolidators for Massage Envy.
- Led the team to drive expansion/ M&A into an adjacent brand in Q1’22.
- Enhanced the capabilities of the finance organization– focusing on people, processes, and technology to support growth. Developed and executed a road map for a shared services model across finance and HR.
- Key process improvements – developed financial and operation KPI’s, reduced monthly reporting cycle time by 5 days; Implemented a forecasting process, leveraged data & insights to drive decisions.
- Responsible for vendor management and driving efficiencies/synergies for all indirect spend
CFO/Interim CFO/ Sr. Consultant
May 2019 — Jun 2021
Jackson Hewitt Tax Services
VP Finance/ Head of FP&A
- Led strategic initiatives to drive shareholder value including scenario planning for the impact of COVID-19 on the overall financial health of the company, staffing of tax professionals, revising incentive structure for tax professionals, and developing data data-driven approach for the store selection process.
- Enhanced franchise working capital loan program in an extraordinary business environment (COVID)
- Work closely with leaders to analyze business performance, identify trends/deviations from the plan, assess root causes, and recommend corrective action.
- Built a culture of leveraging data and operational insights to drive key decisions
VP Finance/ Head of FP&A
Dec 2016 — Dec 2018
Accordion Partners
Director
As Engagement leader executed value-creation initiatives for Office of the CFO for PE-backed portfolio companies. Assignments included finance transformation, process enhancements and performance improvement, M&A carveouts, stakeholder visibility. Clients spread across multiple sectors- financial services, technology/SaaS, consumer/retail, business services and manufacturing.
As Engagement leader executed value-creation initiatives for Office of the CFO for PE-backed portfolio companies
May 2015 — Jun 2016
AIG
Director Finance
-Global Head of financial planning, analysis, and reporting, including support for quarterly earnings.
-Responsible for review and valuation of strategic initiatives across AIG (run rate impact of over $400M)
-Led a cross-functional team focused on cost reduction initiatives across key operating expenses- T&E, professional services, technology, real estate (run rate savings +$250M)
-Led business transformation process to develop offshore capabilities. Provided strategic insights and execution support including operating model, planning, and managing transitions to shared services.
Director Finance
Apr 2003 — Apr 2015
American Express
Director/ multiple roles across US & India
-Role expansion with CFO responsibility for $500M business across Europe, LATAM, and Asia
-Instrumental in driving a business turnaround from a decline to a 5% revenue growth rate by enhancing investment discipline and streamlining market focus.
-Created a framework to prioritize, optimize, and manage an investment pool (+$40M) across a global business with multiple products & channels to drive long term sustainable growth.
-Led the business valuation and negotiation support on portfolio sale. Thought leadership and execution support to develop a one-stop shop for deal protocols with global external partners (50+ deals)
-Led cross-functional teams in a challenging environment. Developed a change management strategy
Director Finance/ Multiple roles across US & India
Jan 2000 — Mar 2003
EY
Assistant Manager and Senior Associate
Transaction advisory: Advisor to the Government of India for the disinvestment of a $250M enterprise ▪ Due diligence, business valuations and implementing stock option plans: Assignments across multiple industries- tech/SaaS, telecom, manufacturing, and i
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