Edward Houlihan

https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-houlihan | (609) 658-7841 | ehoulih21@gmail.com | Greater New York City Area

CFO | COO | VP of Finance

People, Partnerships, & Performance
Senior Finance and Operations Executive with extensive experience in the Consumer Goods Industry. Strong in Corporate Finance,
Manufacturing Operations, Distribution Operations, Accounting, HR, Inventory Management, and Supply Chain Management. Forwardthinking, pioneering executive with broad experience in managing multiple business operations with proven ability to maximize profits
and cash flow from reengineering, integration, and restructuring initiatives, transforming the organization culture to a more fluid
collaborative one, empowering employees to operate at their full potential.
Led operations and grew a global cosmetic production company from producing 1,000 SKUs to over 6,000 SKUs from servicing 1
brand to 4 brands, and with revenue growth from $45MM to over $225MM.
Managed integration and achieved the turnaround of an acquisition (Contract Manufacturer) from losses of over $1.5MM to
profitability within 1 year.
Negotiated with the local union to secure existing union jobs, improve employee benefits while maintaining the companys cost
competitiveness. This yielded over $2.2MM in annual savings.
Established Lean Manufacturing principles which over several years amounted to over $2.2MM in sustainable savings.
Achieved the turnaround of our Ohio American Distribution Center in less than 1 year with annual savings of over $3MM and with
improved customer ratings.

Executive Leadership for Sustainability:

Controllership Duties
Accurate and Timely
Historical Financial
Information

Treasury Duties
Present Financial Condition /
Capital Structure

Economic Strategy
Economic Forecasting /
Modeling

Supply Chain Strategy

Cost / Margin / Leadership
Development / Culture
Transformation

Professional Experience
Regional Senior VP of Supply Chain Finance
Shiseido Americas Corp. - Rutherford, NJ

2015 to July 2016

During a period of significant change and restructuring, I became more regionally focused providing guidance to service business partners in Supply
Chain and Operations to make optimal business choices including driving significant cost savings while improving customer satisfaction.

Strategized with Regional EVP/CFO and leadership team to identify opportunities in the Supply Chain, Plant, Contract Manufacturers, and
Distribution Center for improving overall financial performance including optimizing working capital and improving profit margins.

Facilitated the Regions Supply Chain cost reduction initiatives STAR by leading, partnering, tracking, validating, and ensuring direct

linking of cost reduction initiatives to forecasts and actuals reconciliation. These initiatives yielded over $13MM in sustainable savings.

President / Chief Operating Officer

Shiseido America Inc / Davlyn Ind. - Plant, East Windsor, NJ,

2011 to 2015

Promoted by the Americas CEO to direct all aspects of the organizations policies, objectives, and initiatives in order to support HQs strategy.
Managed a workforce of over 700 employees plus over 650 agency temps. Mentored, provided guidance and empowered employees to build
confidence and motivation to foster a Culture Transformation. In charge of production and distribution of 5 owned brands (Shiseido, Cle de peau,
NARS, BPI & Bare Escentuals) and 3rd party brands (OEM).
Introduced Lean Manufacturing principles, 5S and 6 Sigma methodologies for improved quality and cost savings. These improvements in
manufacturing processes, methods and practices yielded savings of over $2.2MM annually
Spearheaded a cross-functional team including Sales & Marketing, R&D (U.S.) and Production to produce a new top-rated Shiseido
product Ultimate Sun Protection Spray. This was the 1st time a Shiseido brand product was developed in the United States for
commercial use generating retail sales of over $3MM.
Successfully negotiated with the local union saving over $2MM annually.

 Turned around a failed distribution merger with escalating costs and poor customer ratings to reducing costs by $3MM and improving
customer ratings.

Senior Vice President / CFO

Shiseido America Inc / Davlyn Ind. - Plant, East Windsor, NJ,

2002 to 2011

Promoted by President / COO with additional responsibilities in strategic thinking in the financial function and additional responsibilities in overseeing
Distribution, NPD, Purchasing, Planning, Customer Service, and OEM business.

Expedited the financial close (P&L) from 8 days to 5 days or less.

Spearheaded several CSR projects to install Solar technology with capacity to generate over 70% of the Plants electrical needs and
savings including SRECs of over $900K annually.

Created a Project Management Team and partnered with cross-functional leaders to deliver growth on new product development, from
formula, package design, cost and execution. New products amounted to over 25% of annual revenue.

Slashed manufacturing overhead and material expenses by $1.8MM and reduced inventory 22%.
Senior Vice President of Finance
Vice President of Finance
Controller

1997 to 2002
1991 to 1997
1988 to 1991

Shiseido America Inc. / Davlyn Ind. - East Windsor, NJ

Hired by EVP of Global Production and Supply Chain (Japan) to play an integral role in the startup of a Global Cosmetic Production Company in
New Jersey and integrated a new acquisition of a contract manufacturer (Davlyn Ind.).
Attained the successful integration of Davlyn Ind.
Created a standard cost system, variance analysis, and reporting. The standard cost methodology was also critical in calculating product
pricing.
Successfully implemented a warehouse management system (IBM-BOSS), improving inventory accuracy, customer service and savings of
over $1MM annually.
Grew OEM business from $4MM in revenues to over $10MM in revenues.
Achieved the restructuring of the company by moving the production operations from Oakland, NJ to East Windsor, NJ, reducing overhead,
improving productivity, and creating annual savings in excess of $1.7MM.

Awards & Achievements

Received the NJ Governors Environmental Excellence Award for sustainability and for pioneering Solar technology which generates over
70% of the Plants electrical needs.
Vision 2020 President Award for overcoming the distribution startup problems and for the improvements in the KPIs.
Vision 2020 President Award in support of the NARS brand.
Recognized in the Shiseido Corporate August / September 2012 edition of Tsubaki no Tomo magazine for activities supporting Corporate
Social Responsibilities.
Presented the Most Valuable Staff Award in Japan for long-time contribution in the Shiseido group.

Education & Specialty Training

IMD Business School - Lausanne, Switzerland
Global Leadership Program
Pace University - Pleasantville, NY
Bachelor of Business Administration
SixSigma. US - Austin, TX
Executive Overview on Lean & Six Sigma

IBM Distribution Executive Forum - Palisades, NY

Wholesale Distribution
Dale Carnegie - West Caldwell, NJ
Employee Engagement