B. KENT SOUTHERN

Mt. Pleasant, NC *****

704-***-**** adx4wz@r.postjobfree.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentsouthern/

FINANCE MANAGER or FINANCIAL ANALYST

Motivated business leader with career expertise in financial planning and analysis, management reporting, business strategy and analysis, and risk mitigation. Foster relationships with business partners and other constituents to analyze financial information, plan, and develop strategies to guide decision making. Lead teams and collaborate with stakeholders to institute and maintain a strong control environment that maximizes performance, mitigates financial risk, establishes best practices, and achieves strategic objectives in a changing environment. Core competencies include:

• Adaptable • Analytical Thinker • Customer-Focused • Detail Oriented • Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) • Financial Consulting • Financial Forecasting • Financial Management Reporting • Organized • Partnership Development • Problem Solver • Risk Management • Collaboration • Internal Controls • Process Improvement • Compliance and Regulations • Team Leadership • Proficient in MS Office • Hyperion (Essbase)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Wells Fargo Corporation, Charlotte, NC 05/2019 – 06/2023

Lead Control Management Officer, Corporate & Investment Banking – Commercial Real Estate (CRE)

Provided front-line control support to the Commercial Mortgage Servicing business by creating or modifying existing controls to effectively mitigate operational risks in the business.

Successfully built a small, high performing team of three to provide business control support to Commercial Mortgage Servicing.

Created a more robust reporting protocol to track the numerous issues and corrective actions applicable to the business with weekly reporting to the senior leader of CMS. This report showed the total number of issues in the portfolio aligned by the respective sub line of business and categorized by active issues being remediated, those issues in the sustainability period, and those in pending validation status.

Guided the line of business in tracking, monitoring, and completing various issues and corrective actions that required remediation and validation. Over 95% of issues were validated successfully and on time.

Partnered with Internal Audit, Independent Testing & Validation, Compliance, and other constituents on targeted audits and internal reviews of business processes initiated by these oversight groups.

Prepared Issue Summary Memos which were required as part of the validation process. This document was typically 15-25 pages and was a detailed analysis of how the issue was successfully remediated.

Managed multiple competing priorities by prioritizing effectively and adhering to all internal deadlines.

Wells Fargo Corporation, Charlotte, NC 03/2014 – 04/2019

Finance Manager/Senior Consultant, Wholesale – Commercial Real Estate

Primary finance responsibility supporting two businesses within Structured Real Estate (Commercial Mortgage Servicing and Multi-Family Capital). Led planning and forecasting efforts for these businesses, month-end reporting, and variance analysis, and contributed Comprehensive Capital Analysis Review (CCAR) data for stress testing.

Executed month-end closing activities such as accruals, reclasses, variance analysis, management reporting and ad-hoc analyses.

Created a summarized financial report and presented monthly results to key leaders of the business highlighting both revenue and expense drivers along with variance analysis and insights on future forecasts.

Analyzed balance sheet activity which included loans held for sale in addition to deposits by considering forecasted loan and deposit volumes as well as market rate movement and internal cost of funds estimates.

Created an Excel template to help the Cash Management Relationship Managers assess the profitability of new and existing clients which contemplated expected deposit volume as well as internal funds transfer rates.

Took on a stretch assignment as the Wholesale Finance lead for the Business Process Risk Management (BPRM) initiative to identify and document all processes within Wholesale Finance. The goal was to determine where there was overlap and/or duplication and to ensure processes effectively mitigated risk. (2017)

Collaborated with the Center of Excellence teams and line of business partners to produce timely forecasts and reporting that aligned with business goals.

Wells Fargo Corporation (Wachovia), Charlotte, NC 10/2007 – 02/2014

Finance Manager, Wholesale – Insurance Brokerage & Consulting

Managed up to six Financial Consultants to provide financial support to three separate regions which included budgeting, forecasting, reporting, variance analysis, preparing executive presentations, and calculating quarterly producer commissions.

Provided financial leadership as a member of the regional senior leadership team.

Executed month-end closing responsibilities such as accruals, variance analysis, and other general ledger entries that were required.

Met regularly with producers to ensure both agency bill and direct bill income was accurate and reflected properly in the system of record.

ADDITIONAL RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

Wachovia (formerly First Union) - Evergreen Asset Management, Charlotte, NC

Finance Manager

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA), Accounting

University of North Carolina-Pembroke

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