Meet
Our Founder
Shaun Smith is an accomplished Global Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) Professional with an extensive knowledge of operating effectively within Fortune 500 environments, serving across a variety of finance roles in the Automotive & Information Technology industries for over 18 years beginning in 2005. Over this period, Mr. Smith has consistently harnessed a combination of high-level budget planning, forecasting, profit analysis, and cost management abilities to advance strategic objectives of the organization in concert with key stakeholders worldwide.
In the early part of his career, Mr. Smith began employing his finance acumen in tandem with Six Sigma methodologies to champion efforts for continuous improvement, primarily focused on strengthening the financial controls and risk management functions of Corporate Business Groups. He also regularly provided contributions to long-term business and budget plans while collaborating with cross-functional partners. Shaun later began employment as a Senior Financial Analyst with a Multinational Information Technology Corporation where he served as a finance lead for the Applications and Networks business, comprising forecasting and analysis, operational performance reporting, and financial modeling to inform decision-making.
In 2010, Mr. Smith continued his career as a Product Development Finance Analyst at one of Detroit’s “Big Three” automotive manufacturers. He quickly made a major impact by leading a “Y Strategy” program analysis that delivered a margin improvement of $75M. From there, Mr. Smith operated in roles of increasing scope, complexity, and leadership as a critical finance leader and partner to manufacturing operations as a Manufacturing Launch Analyst, Senior Financial Analyst, and Regional Manufacturing Finance Supervisor from 2013 to 2021.
In this time, Mr. Smith realized a series of major accomplishment by utilizing his abilities spanning capacity and labor planning, strategy design, forecasting, and modeling to achieve major cost efficiencies and resource optimization. While overseeing financial performance, forecasts, and budgets of some of the largest plants and programs, Shaun was successfully able develop a business case which helped deliver $292M in cost avoidance; lead a $30.6M profit improvement effort; capture $85.5M in costs based on timing changes; and conduct a capacity analysis that provided $500M+ in additional contribution margin.
Serving as a Global Corporate FP&A lead, where he managed relationships and teams spanning North America, South America, Europe, China, and International Market Groups, his scope involved the annual global revenue consolidation of ~$140B, ~$10B in special item adjustments, and joint venture profits of ~$400M. Beyond his contributions to bottom-line business results, Mr. Smith is also a dedicated culture builder and employee advocate, serving on five different committees with focuses including talent development, finance thought leadership, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Mr. Smith holds distinction with a Master of Business Administration from the University of Detroit Mercy and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wayne State University where he studied Corporate Finance, Financial Markets, and Investments. He hopes to continue not only impacting the business industry as a finance leader and resource to small businesses and entrepreneurs, but also an active member of the community.