Finance Operations Senior Director

*************@*****.*** 336-***-**** https://www.linkedin.com/in/latonya-montford

FINANCIAL EXECUTIVE

Accomplished professional with rigorous audit, finance operations, and business transformation background. Natural leader with a collaborative mindset, offering more than 15 years of leadership experience. Thrives in high-stakes environments, leveraging sharp analytical skills and entrepreneurial spirit to identify opportunities and mitigate risks. Passion for excellence and commitment to delivering measurable results leading to building trusted partnerships in driving organizational success. Leadership success record spans business process optimization, business integration, strategic planning and program management. Serves as strategic advisor to organizational leaders. Builds top-performing teams and develops high-potential talent. Demonstrated expertise in mergers & acquisitions (post-acquisition integration, valuation, divestiture, due diligence, and system integration); scaled financial operations to support hyper-growth; and rearchitected processes to maximize profitability.

Expertise

FINANCIAL & LEADERSHIP

Post-acquisition Integration

SEC Reporting

Compliance & Audit

Process Improvement

Post-Acquisition Accounting

TECHNICAL

Accounting Systems Implementations

- SAP FICO (S/4 HANNA, ECC)

- Hyperion Planning/ Reporting

- Oracle 11i Financials

-Sage

- MS DynamicS

Staff Leadership & Development

Budget and Cost Optimization

AP, AR & Payroll Management

Six Sigma Project Management

SOX Compliance

ADP

MS SQL, Visual Basic

Six Sigma - Black Belt (In-Progress)

Excel Advanced, PowerPoint

Microsoft Project, VISIO

Financial Statements & Board Reporting

Financial Analysis

ERP Implementation & Management

Internal Controls

Revenue Recognition / GAAP ASC 606

Tableau

Sales Force

Power BI

Docusign

Smartsheet

Proven Playbook

Led finance operations and compliance across complex publicly traded enterprises with dozens of subsidiaries

Built new accounting, payroll, reporting, and compliance functions, and coached teams to higher performance levels

Managed integration of acquired businesses across all aspects of accounting, including systems, controls, and procedures

Implemented new systems and processes to drive operational and fiscal efficiencies

Created rigorous, restructured budgets and forecasting processes to deliver increased transparency

Professional Experience

SYNEOS HEALTH, Morrisville, NC 2020 – present

CFO, General Medicine & Senior Director/Executive Director of Business Finance:

Recruited to management team as Senior Director and promoted to Executive Director in one year for a NASDAQ listed multinational contract research organization; acquired by Private Equity firm in 2023. Drives financial strategy, makes financial decisions for business and ensures delivery of analytics and advice to support growth and business objectives for 2,000-person, $500 million business. Leads all aspects of financial management including revenue recognition processes, financial operations management, forecasting, planning, budgeting, GAAP compliance and risk mitigation in SAP ECC and SAP S/4 HANAA ERP. Retains strong focus on continuous improvement while liaising with other business leaders on project profitability, pricing strategies and deal terms.

Led finance operations team to create playbook for financial management and related processes to support scaling the business.

Audited and prioritized 175-project portfolio to support business strategy, ensure transparency and strengthen financial performance.

Implemented processes and policies to improve DSO by 30 days in Accounts Receivables in SAP S/4 HANA.

Restructured team of 28 finance, accounting and analytics professionals; built strong, nimble and engaged unit.

Designed and implemented financial framework, business model and processes to ensure positive cashflow and gross profit margin throughout Covid-19; enabled business to support clients accelerated clinical trials in response to pandemic.

Audited and prioritized 175-project portfolio to support business strategy, ensure transparency and strengthen financial performance.

Architected new processes to provide operations team increasing flexibility.

Optimized project profitability and increased margins through detailed project cost analysis; streamlined process for managing hourly consultants; enabled greater than $10 million reduction in annual overburn.

BIODELIVERY SCIENCES INTERNATIONAL, Raleigh, NC 2018 – 2020

Director – Budgets and Finance Operations

Joined publicly traded, fast growth 300-person $110 million specialty pharmaceutical company as Financial Director to establish and realize financial and operational goals including targets, metrics and plans for process improvement. Provided oversight for budget and finance operations including supply chain and operations management with reporting, forecasting, and inventory management as well as implementation of Oracle 11i ERP system.. Supported treasury, cash forecasting, financial review and Board reporting. Led internal and external SOX compliance efforts. Oversaw and reported gross-to-net accounting accruals and assumptions, ensuring compliance with GAAP/ASC 606.

Established a new and rigorous budget and forecasting process with executive support and rapid adoption across organization.

Designed and implemented company-wide paperless purchase order process utilizing DocuSign. Streamlined process to support more than 4,500 documents annually valued at $8 million.

Developed ITGC control framework to increase efficiency and decrease cost of external audit.

Truncated month-end close schedule from two months to five days within three months of joining business.

Developed process and procedures for handling customer credit limits and returns with third-party logistics vendor.

Decreased accruals by $500,000; revised model, methodology, and assumptions around gross-to-net “sales returns” reporting.

DYCOM INDUSTRIES LLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 2008 – 2018

Senior Director – Finance Operations/Process Improvement 2014-2018

Originally recruited as Sr. Internal Auditor to liaise directly with Board of Directors on financial systems improvements and rapidly promoted to serve as Sr. Director for Specialty Telecommunications and Infrastructure Contracting that encompassed 52 subsidiaries. Managed team of CPAs, system specialists, project managers, internal audit and compliance (SOX), subsidiary executive management and subsidiary process subject-matter experts. Provided oversight for and led all post-acquisition initiatives related to business development and business integration of Oracle Financials for acquired private equity entities. Provided oversight for and collaborated with subsidiary operational and financial executives regarding organizational optimization including process optimization and alignment of technology.

Identified opportunity and saved $17 million in operational costs by transferring weekly billing activities to providers.

Designed and implemented company-wide baseline and target performance metrics around production, receivables, inventory, and payable cycles to increase visibility around receivables.

Devised and led team of accounting and IT personnel who implemented the Global Chart of Accounts and standard system roles with (SOD) considerations in Oracle Financials and Hyperion Planning & Reporting.

Integrated more than 15 acquired companies as subsidiaries in Oracle 11 Financial system..

Established landmark corporate finance-operation processes and system migration “Playbook” for integration of new acquisitions.

Designed and implemented the organization's “centralized month-end process.”

Founded quarterly leadership summit “Leading Women’s Luncheon,” around talent development and diversity.

Built and led team of nine acquisition integration professionals and CPAs.

Led Dycom’s top priority initiative to upgrade operational and financial capabilities across entire enterprise.

Launched project in 2015 consolidating all subsidiaries to single system of record to support significant future growth and scale.

Dycom Subsidiary: Lambert’s Cable Splicing LLC 2010–2014

Vice President of Finance/ Controller/Assistant Controller

Promoted to Vice President of Finance from Controller after the successful completion of a significant Verizon project. Managed profit and loss contracts, forecasting, and budgeting for $500 million business along with 35 direct reports from Finance Operations, Accounting, and IT. Provided financial supervision, daily accounting, company annual goals development, executive meeting facilitation, and budget and cost management while reporting financial results and forecasts to corporate executive team. Served as on-site president for new businesses with accountability for revenue and staff of 250. Additionally, oversaw taskforce of Six Sigma project leaders/consultants.

Appointed to redevelop the organization’s hierarchy and reporting structure; minimized cost of earned revenue and G&A expenses while maximizing efficiency, transparency, and accuracy of financial reporting.

Reduced days sales outstanding (DSO) and enhanced accounts receivable (AR) and work in progress (WIP) turnover through introduction of weekly billing cycles; brought company to double-digit profitability within 90 days.

Decreased month-end closing rate from five days to three days through improved process strategies.

Introduced tablets with field crews; initiated auto-billing to decrease company headcount and expenses boosting cash flow.

Optimized profit margins by 5% to 6% through new systems and business process improvements; reduced overhead costs.

Improved employee communications and culture through new company-wide intranet based on MyHub.

Sr. Internal Auditor 2008-2010

Assessed audit scope and established procedures to enhance efficiency of revenue testing without losing the integrity of audited work and to minimize control listing from 50 to 20

Designed and executed internal audit analysis to determine potential liabilities and unmitigated risks in acquired subsidiaries

Performed initial walk through to document processes and controls, developed test plan and scope, prepared narratives, tested controls, and remediation of deficiencies for all financial cycles.

Earlier Career

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Atlanta, GA (2005-2007) Assurance Associate

M&A: Part of a team responsible for due diligence, valuation, compliance reviews, and integration relevant to $7B Cisco buyout of Scientific Atlanta in Oracle 10 Financials.

Performed several responsibilities:

oAttestation services for key telecommunication and IT service corporations including Bellsouth, Dell, and Cisco

oDue diligence for mergers and acquisition clients, which saved over $3M in selling price

oLead SEC Spin-Off project for major television broadcast client

oAs liaison restored trust between client, internal, audit management and audit management, which subsequently led to contract acquisition

Education and Certifications

Master of Business Administration, Global OneMBA Program

University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School, Chapel Hill, NC

Bachelor of Science in Accounting

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, NC

Certified Public Accountant, State of Georgia Certified Public Accountant, State of North Carolina

Chartered Global Management Accountant

Professional Development

Six Sigma Black Belt (in progress)

Certified Scrum Product Owner Member, Scrum Alliance

Memberships and Community Leadership

MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS

COMPETITIVE EVENTS

NC Tobacco Road Marathon Finisher

Ironman Chattanooga Finisher x2

Qualified for 2024 and 2025 USA Triathlon National Championships

CFO Leadership Council – Raleigh Chapter

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)

Iota Phi Lambda - Zeta Mu Chapter (1st Women’s Business Sorority)

COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

Curves: Women’s Fitness Gym – Former Franchise Owner

Tri It for Life 501 (c) (3): Former National President / Raleigh Chapter President

Team Flow Cycling 501 (c) (3): Treasurer

Amazons and Angels Women’s Triathlon Team: Founder & President

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