LONNIE STOUT

299 Alice Harris Road

Prosperity, SC 29127

(803)-364-0548-home phone
Email:ys61a5e6@
westpost.net
(803)-374-1140- cell

FINANCIAL SHARED SERVICE PROFESSIONAL

Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Claims & Customer Compliance,

Highly qualified professional executive experienced in operations and finance wi

thin the home furnishings industry. Results oriented leader with a proven track
record in process engineering and driving cost reductions by improving operatio
nal efficiencies. Experience includes relocating a shared service center from U
S to Brazil, responsible for managing the US and foreign office.
* Accounts Receivable and Payable, Supply Chain Compliance, Claims and Collecti
ons(including complete project implementation of shared services organization in
Brazil)
* Design and Execution of Customer Compliance Programs
* Accounting Systems Design and Implementation
* Production Scheduling/Demand Planning/Customer Service Management
* Manufacturing Operations Management

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Springs Global US, Inc.
VP FINANCIAL SHARED SERVICES 1998-2010
* Directed a team of 40 people (35 located in Brazil office and 5 located in US)
. Responsibility included overseeing accounts receivable, accounts payable, c
laims, collections and customer compliance for the leading supplier of home furn
ishings to the retail trade with revenues approximately $1billion. Included com
plete end to end project implementation and management of 35 people in Brazil sh
ared services organization. Yearly savings of over $1 million in labor costs.
* Increased retail claims collections from $8 million to $39 million one year af
ter acquiring that responsibility. Continued to maintain and improve that coll
ection rate as a percent to sales for the eight years that function remained und
er my responsibility (12 years).
* Spearheaded the planning and implementation of business processes designed to
shorten the order to cash cycle, producing a 4 year operational claims reduction
of more than $2 million while sales increased by 14%.
* Eliminated $1 million labor costs by capturing synergies and merging divisiona
l claims/customer service departments into one corporate entity. Then eliminated
another $1 million in labor costs by transitioning the shared services function
s to headquarters in Brazil. Further reduced labor cost by another 60%, after i
mplantation was complete.
* Extensive contact with customers, engaging in negotiating claims settlements a
nd understanding supply chain requirements with top tier customers such as Wal-M
art, JC Penney, Target, Kmart and Linens N Things, Home Depot as well as institu
tional and wholesale divisions.
* Collaborated with business units both external and internal to the organizatio
n in order to achieve process improvements and system enhancements targeted towa
rds perfect service initiatives and cost reductions. Business units included IT,
sales, customer service, planning, and manufacturing.
* Championed a ground-up Lotus Notes claims database that provides department le
vel accountability for claims and provides root cause analysis for cost of failu
re at the transaction level. Implemented JDE Finance module for accounts receiv
able and developed electronic data applications that resulted in $500k annual la
bor savings.
CUSTOMER SERVICE/SCHEDULING MANAGER 1996-1998
* Managed 15 person demand planning and customer service group for the Bath Prod
ucts division operating at 4 sites.
* Engineered systems and processes from the ground up to establish program level
safety stocks, replenishment demand, seasonal events and item specific life cyc
les
* Reduced distressed inventory by $4 million over a 2 year period.
* Surpassed personal goals for order cycle times by 22% by partnering with top c
ustomers' forecasting, production planning, sales and vendor relations managers.
Improved on-time shipments to top tier customers from 78% to 92%.
* Established best practices for measuring order accuracy, lead times and fulfil
lment percentages.
MANUFACTURING DEPARTMENT MANAGER 1984-19
96
* Managed budgets, productivity analysis, maintenance, and training for up to 15
0 associates
* Restructured operations to improve productivity and reduce overhead in 1988, r
esulting in labor cost savings of more than $100,000 annually.
* Consistently beat annual labor, productivity, safety and off-quality productio
ns goals.
* Piloted 'One Springs' initiative to implement ERP systems and reinvent product
ion processes to closely match production runs to actual order demand.
* Managed labor relations in unionized plants.

EDUCATION
Master of Science in Industrial Psychology
Radford University- Radford, VA

B.S. Psychology with Concentration in Human Resource Management

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University- Blacksburg, VA