Customer Service Supply Chain

Paula LaCour

Houston, TX

Cell: 281-***-****

Email: ************@*****.***

SUMMARY

With over two decades of experience in the Oil and Gas industry, logistics, supply chain management, and customer service, I am a professional who is highly motivated and results-driven. Throughout my career, I have successfully optimized inventory, streamlined processes, and executed seamless trade within the gas and energy sector. I am proficient in using SAP, Endur, and Solarc for efficient data management and analysis, which enables me to make informed decisions. With my skills and experience, I am confident that I can excel in any role within the industry.

Skills:

Process Improvement: Demonstrated success in analyzing and streamlining accounting and logistic processes to enhance efficiency and achieve business goals. Commodity Settlements. Treasury functions.

Inventory Management: Expertise in inventory control, ensuring stock accuracy and minimizing stockouts.

Customer Service: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills are essential to exceptional customer service in a fast-paced environment. System Implementation/Testing. Training, Reconciliation, Customer service.

Technical Skills: I am proficient in SAP, Endur, MS Office, Right Angle/SOLARC, and Oracle systems.

Problem-solving: I possess strong analytical and problem-solving skills that enable me to identify and effectively resolve challenges.

Teamwork: I am a collaborative team player with a positive attitude, and I strive to contribute effectively to the success of the team.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Commodities - AVP Commodity Settlement/Financial Analyst - Nov 2007 - Current

Perform daily and monthly settlements for Physical and Financial Crude, Power Physical & Financial Power, ISO, NGL, COAL, Physical & Financial Gas and Wind using various systems like SOLARC, OPENLINK/ENDUR, CWS, JCash & JDE, Econnect and Cash Manager system.

Analyze counterparty activity and creditworthiness, collaborating with traders, schedulers, treasury, and accounting to resolve discrepancies and ensure timely settlements.

Ensure daily settlement files are posted to the Customer Portal, assist the Portal Team in resolving customer issues, and continue work with the Portal Team on settlement requirements for the new customer portal.

Manage BA Maintenance vendor setup, onboard new counterparties, and establish wire transfer configurations.

Research and record prior period adjustments, explain general ledger adjustments, perform balance sheet reconciliations and analyses, and monitor AR/AP aging. Actuals vs. estimates entries.

Verify prices, resolve disputes, and monitor transactions to ensure proper processing and posting within the correct accounting period.

Validate the accuracy of settlement activity and validate and approve wire payments for financial and physical transactions in Endur. Responsible for approving millions of payments to clients daily.

Responsible for reconciling bilateral commodity products for power, natural gas, crude, and refined products while working independently handling trade activities throughout the month.

Interact with counterparties, schedulers, and traders to resolve trade discrepancies and determine appropriate settlements strategies.

Responsible for analyzing and reconciling trade details while processing settlements timely and tracking ARAP’s breaks. Engage daily with treasury and finance groups to clear cash breaks.

Responsible for handling physical and financial power trade settlements including in-depth analysis of wind power deals and Crude, NGL contracts. Provide support to our Front Office, traders, and confirmation teams to resolve trade discrepancies facing 3rd parties while working with our trade control team ensuring appropriate ledger entries are accurate for all settlements.

Engage with Front Office, Middle Office, Market Data Base Engineers & Technology System Support teams to monitor all trades booking and trade validation ensuring data quality in the system is accurate and up-to-date. Responsible for the analysis and resolution of a wide variety of products that may require special handling while assisting and implementing personal strategic reconciliation tracking.

Provide support to Finance groups helping resolve ledger issues for assigned accounts and accounting systems such as Quartz and Finman. Provide feedback on balance sheet discrepancies and present evidence on transactions coming from multiple trade source systems.

Experience with Global Commodity Breaks reporting which occurs daily providing senior management comments on trade discrepancies with resolution updates. Provide support to teammates who handle FERC regulatory reporting.

Research and record prior period adjustments and explain general ledger adjustments to Front Office and Finance groups.

Engage with various power industry Independent System Operators (ISO) such as ERCOT and MISO. Perform reconciliations daily, weekly, and monthly on invoices while keeping a detail inventory on adjustments keeping our trade desk informed on trade discrepancies. Provide support to our trading desk with information on trade limits, exposure, and credit allocation amounts availability for each ISO. Assist with posting collateral transactions needed to participate in various trading auctions. Provide support to our Front Office Local Security Administrator (LSA) to help grant department users digital certificates to access ISO portals necessary to conduct business activities while keeping a journal on permissions.

Responsible for submitting policies, procedures, annual audited MLCI financial statements and control documentation for Risk Management surrounding Financial Transmission Right (FTR) markets to all the ISOs making sure MLCI stays in compliance. Work with Legal and Front Office to complete annual member recertification forms required by each ISO to comply with operating agreements.

Responsible with handling power clients that are flagged with various Credit Alert levels making sure we continue to stay in compliance with trading activity and settlement term agreements. Engage with multiple Credit Officers and Underwriters seeking approvals to reactivate clients when needed. Work with Product Sales Officers to monitor client activity and create special handling procedures.

Implement several test cases in multiple source system such as Open Link Endur & eConnect helping improve/streamline a better system process.

Experience with reconciling NGLs, crude, and refined products inventory back to pipeline statements. Ensure pipeline movements associated with pipeline tariffs are calculated correctly. Involved with the settlement process and confirmations on barges and international vessel movements with traders and schedulers ensuring the proper documentation (i.e. LOI, BOL, SGS, and Inspection Reports) are accurate.

Knowledge with the settlement process prepayment invoices and work closely with credit analyst to ensure counterparty creditworthiness.

Monitor and ensure colonial tariff rates are updated and reflect correctly in Open Link Endur.

BP Energy - SAP Administrator/Operation Analyst - April 2007 –Nov 2007 Consultant

Researched and reconciled inventory discrepancies across NGL products for various BP plants, third-party facilities, pipelines, and storage units during the North and South SAP stabilization project.

Reviewed contracts, system pricing, purchase orders, sales orders, stock transfers, nominations, and operator statements to identify inconsistencies and recommend corrective actions. Performed balance sheet account reconciliations and clean-up tasks.

Ensured accurate data capture and entry by researching inter-company transaction data from BP's old system to SAP. Resolved and balanced exchanges, accounting, and inventory issues.

Analyzed Excel spreadsheets to troubleshoot and resolve discrepancies. Performed data validation between the old and new systems. Reviewed invoices and prices.

System Implementation/Testing

Exxon Mobil Chemical- Replenishment Scheduler - Jan. 2003 – April 2007

Managed material supply from production plants to customer lease tracks, storage locations, terminals, and warehouses utilizing SAP R/3, BW, APO, and GATP.

Served as the primary liaison between the parent company, third-party tolling facilities, customer service, sales, plant, accounting, and management. Collaborated with demand planners and plants to adjust monthly production based on demand forecasts and safety stock requirements, ensuring the company’s operations ran smoothly and efficiently.

Purchased package and railcar supplies, monitored delivery, reviewed and approved invoices, and managed contract pricing within the system.

Created daily shipments, delivery due lists, production plans, and replenishment schedules for tolling to meet forecast demand.

Managed and prepared T-lanes, monitored planning boards, and ensured safety stock and forecast validation.

Williams Energy Market & Trading - Crude Oil & Power Analyst – Feb. 2001 - Dec. 2002

Established and implemented efficient accounting practices for the newly opened Houston office, ensuring a smooth transition from the Tulsa office.

Identified and improved business processes within the accounting department, fostering collaboration between accounting, traders, schedulers, and vendors.

Managed the monthly crude settlement process, including coordination, processing, and net-out settlements.

Ensured accurate bookkeeping and transaction posting to the general ledger, applying proper coding and assigning expenses to the correct profit centers.

Analyzed and reconciled inventory discrepancies with third-party statements and accounting documents.

Enron Corporation – Logistic/Reconciliation Analyst - Jan. 1998 – Jan. 2001

Managed the physical movement logistics for Enron Global Markets, handling NGL, Methanol, Toluene, and Styrene products.

Successfully implemented and executed billing, invoicing, and inventory reconciliation processes for a newly acquired refined products terminal in Puerto Rico.

Established efficient daily tie-out processes using Excel to ensure accurate information flow between Puerto Rican operations and accountants, facilitating a successful complex deal.

Resolved accounting entry issues, performed month-end close tasks, and verified and posted purchase invoices within the system.

Invoiced customers, collected receivables, and communicated to forecast net-out settlements accurately.

Reconciled inventory levels across various storage locations and terminals, ensuring accuracy and data integrity.

Reviewed Bills of Lading (BOLs) from different plants to verify delivered volumes and entered data into the system.

Compiled and analyzed quarterly purge proposal reports for management, providing insights for inventory optimization.

Interacted with plant and terminal personnel to verify load receipt and inventory recording.

Managed assigned special projects from management, including data filing, information gathering, and compilation in Excel spreadsheets.

Conducted research on "NF" loads and transcribed common carrier data into the computer system. Processed customer invoices, bills of lading, and freight payments into the system for inventory tracking and payment processing.

EDUCATION

Oxford School - Houston, TX -Training/Certification - Crude Oil Certification

M&M Technical College Institute - Houston, TX - Certification - Business Management

Northwestern State University Natchitoches, LA –Major- Business Administration

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