Niecole Stepherson

The ideal candidate who is a proven team builder and leader who is adept at solving complex business problems, is comfortable with ambiguity and has a bias for action as well as experience in rapidly growing, complex global companies. Jacksonville, FL 32254

adw9qj@r.postjobfree.com

904-***-****

• Problem solver. Self-motivated person who is adept at structuring ways to break down complex business and financial problems into digestible components and who can work well under pressure and tight deadlines. A data-driven decision-maker.

• Comfortable with uncertainty. Ability to operate successfully and drive forward in a rapidly evolving environment with limited precedence or strict guidance.

• Bias to action. Someone who is not averse to rolling up my sleeves and becoming involved in the details of the business when needed. Accustomed to working in an open, results-oriented culture.

• Strong collaboration and influencing qualities. Ability to quickly gain the respect of various stakeholders including the Board, executive management, colleagues, customers, team members, and external stakeholders.

• Strong self-awareness. The ability to understand how my actions affect the world around them.

• Complete integrity and high ethical standards demonstrated by my approach to business, adherence to corporate and regulatory governance and impeccable reputation for honesty. Authorized to work in the US for any employer

Work Experience

VP of Finance

Scratchpad - Remote

December 2012 to February 2023

• Lead the company’s core financial processes including long-range and annual operating plans, periodic forecast updates and ongoing financial and key operating metric performance reporting for monthly executive Business Reviews and quarterly Board Meetings.

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with key business and functional leaders across the Company to ensure awareness of key business activities and performance trends as well as emerging opportunities and risks.

• Partner with CFO to develop and own driver-based strategic planning model to facilitate decision making for key company initiatives, striking the right balance between model accuracy, flexibility and comprehensiveness.

• Lead a high performing team with a focus on attracting, developing, and retaining top finance talent that can scale with company growth.

• Ensure practical communication of complex financial concepts to various stakeholders across the Company to improve financial literacy and business decision making processes.

• Responsible for enhancing and scaling the systems, processes, and internal controls to ensure financial discipline and the integrity of data.

• Provide modeling and analytical support for ad-hoc strategic projects

• Strong communication skills to present fact-based analysis, reasoned insights, and actionable recommendations.

• Demonstrated success in building and leading high-performance teams.

• Experience in scaling and optimizing financial processes, controls and financial systems.

• Background in identifying, assessing, and modeling complex contract structures, joint ventures, and acquisitions.

• Exposure to international operations, various business models and global complexity, ideally including experience entering new markets.

• Expert level knowledge of Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, NetSuite and Adaptive planning.

• Experience operating in high-growth entrepreneurial environments. Head of Finance

IonQ - Remote

July 2008 to December 2012

• Interpret financial data to determine and understand the trends of the business and root causes driving expense and margin results

• Establish, interpret, and analyze financial data including monthly financial results, recommendations or preparing statements for business partners/stakeholders

• Anticipate process obstacles and decides next steps

• Utilizes multiple systems to bring data together and provided analysis on operational activities

• Detailed knowledge of business they support and how their role impacts the

• Provide professional advice, guidance, and service to internal clients

• Financial and analytical support to organization

• Responsible for major elements of the close process including journal entry evaluation, results variance explanation, reporting, communicating, and explaining results to clients and Business Unit leadership

• Budgeting and forecasting using drivers

• Partner with internal clients to provide financial data, consultation and make recommendations regarding completion of objectives, and improving operational effectiveness

• Gather and organize data used to prepare financial/business reports

• Perform financial data analysis to support the business in analyzing corporate financial targets and operational objectives

• Generate special ad hoc reports and perform analysis as requested by supervisor, business partners/ clients, and other stakeholders

• Improve partnerships with key internal clients by identifying changing business needs, service expectations, quality and format of data provided, and identify opportunities to improve service levels

• Leads multiple, complex, and financial/business analysis projects Financial Planning and Analysis Manager

PEOPLEASE - Remote

June 2007 to July 2008

• Lead the annual budget and quarterly rolling forecast processes.

• Lead the team to consolidate, analyze and interpret financial and operational data. Accountable for generating management reporting while providing improvements to drive consistency in reporting across all business units.

• Take data, understand it, process it, extract value from it, and communicate it visually / verbally to team members and management across the organization. This may include analyzing large volumes of data from various databases.

• End-to-end analysis including requirements specification, data gathering, processing, analysis, ongoing deliverables, and presentations.

• Translate data analytics into clear visualizations and concise presentations.

• Complete ad hoc requests for reports, dashboards, or analysis from all levels of the organization including senior leadership.

• Support users across the organization answering questions, making recommendations and providing a transparent view of priorities and progress.

• Develop and track ROI models for strategic investments.

• Perform variance analysis and work with stakeholders to identify drivers of key variances.

• Challenge stakeholders on variances in financial performance and KPI’s in periodic business unit/ departmental reviews.

• Continuously look for ways to automate tasks, allowing the function to scale as the business grows. Financial Planning and Analysis Analyst

PEOPLEASE - Remote

March 2005 to June 2007

• Support the decision-making process by delivering accurate and timely data, analysis, and recommendations through profitable pricing for growth strategies

• Assists FP&A Manager with business budget & forecast preparation & analysis, managing reporting needs as directed

• Support Manager to compile and communicate variance drivers at a high level of competency to regional leadership for client financials & growth through additional business and auxiliary service pricing

• Collaborate with Accounting on the month-end close process and related analysis

• Assist with ad hoc projects, responsibilities, and duties assigned while maintaining the security and confidentiality of pertinent information

• Compile price change information, summarize and provide insight on recommendations for client re- pricing actions

• Assist with data analysis and evaluation to provide feedback to sales colleagues/ management on target pricing as needed

• Assist in Proactively identifying and resolving data discrepancies, p direction, and assist colleagues with resolving discrepancies and variances

Education

Master's degree in Finance and Accounting

Bethune-Cookman University - Daytona Beach, FL

Skills

• Workday Accounting Software (10+ years)

• Tableau (10+ years)

• NetSuite (10+ years)

• Power BI (10+ years)

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