Marijn Nivelle

Colruyt Group is a family-owned business that has evolved over three generations into a leading retail group, employing over 33,000 people, and offering a diverse portfolio of food and non-food formats across Belgium and internationally. The group’s core activity remains Colruyt Laagste Prijs (CLP), the supermarket chain known for its "Lowest Prices" promise, which has been central to its success for more than 50 years. Despite substantial diversification, retail continues to account for four-fifths of the Group’s total revenue, with an annual turnover exceeding €7 billion.

In this role, I was entrusted to lead the financial budget cycle preparation and ensure the continuity of financial reporting operations, particularly following the departure of the Lead Controller and several key members of the finance team, to establish a functional and effective finance team while enhancing its impact on the organization.

Key responsibilities included:

• Ensured timely and accurate financial reporting to senior management and the Board of Directors.
• Prepared and presented monthly operational performance reports to the Board, providing strategic insights, and actionable recommendations.
• Supported long-term business reporting, and developed KPI monitoring to drive operational performance and guide strategic discussions.
• Enhanced the i-Plateau internal market intelligence platform, improving data accessibility and decision-making reliability.
• Delivered actionable insights into market trends and operational performance, enabling management to adapt strategies and align with future goals.
• Addressed the need for actionable intelligence to respond to declining market share and revenue, identifying corrective actions to stabilize performance.
• Facilitated cross-functional collaboration, fostering alignment, and uncovering synergies to implement effective solutions for strategic and operational challenges.

• Create platform for independent activities and future opportunities including but not limited to finance

• Bridge to firm freelance assignment as Finance Director
• Lead a team of 14 finance professionals responsible for financial planning, analysis, reporting, accounts receivables, account payables and treasury.
• Oversee budget and forecasting processes, ensuring alignment with company goals, priorities and objectives.
• Restructure monthly reporting packages and monthly performance review meetings with local managers and their respective departments (>20) monitoring the overall performance.
• Financial modeling and scenario analysis to support strategic decision-making and mitigation of Risk and opportunities.
• Manage relationships with external auditors, tax authorities, financial institutions and reporting to the Work Council.
• Develop and implement agile KPI reports detailing financial depot metrics to ensure mutual understanding on both actual and anticipated performance within a dynamic, highly competitive market.
• Provide insightful financial analysis to the executive team and board of directors.

Bridge to firm - Senior Finance Manager, CFO transfer - Bone Therapeutics, Pre-clinical leading biotechnology company listed on EURONEXT addressing high unmet medical needs in the field of orthopaedics and bone diseases.

• Support Leadership team on working capital initiatives and capital raise requirements,
• Lead financial planning, performance analysis for the company including budgeting, forecasting, long range planning and financial business analysis,
• Act as an OPEX finance business partner for all departments,
• Lead scenario planning on structural Organization redesign, identify cost cutting measures to improve cash runway,
• Report and monitor operational cash runway and related R&O's,
• Assess equity funding and coordinate the follow-up: Recoverable Cash advances SRIW, SFPI, CPH, convertible bonds, Novallia, etc.
• Prepare Executive Presentations reporting into the CFO/CEO (quarterly review, quarterly audit committees and Board packages)
• Design and maintain financial tracking and reporting including annual report, half-year report and listing prospectus,
• Prepare IFRS reporting reconciliations and manage relations with the external audit team,
• Provide Financial support on drafting of the Annual Accounts and mid year reporting requirements,
• Manage going concern discussions with auditors in view of article 7:228 and article 7:199 of the Belgian Code on Companies and Associations and the measures proposed by the board of directors therein,

• Ad Hoc Assignments (2018/2019) - Support the EMEA Regional Management; data gathering, drive country alignments, consolidate, review and prepare Regional presentations for EMEA Management
• Drive and promote EMEA i2e patient Model Forecasting tools and encourage internal usage throughout EU Region.
• Lead BELUX Financial Revenue planning Cycles for multiple TA's
• Lead Commercial Operating expense forecasting, reporting and consolidation process.

• Lead and present performance tracking for various new product launches
• Daily support of Business unit directors and the therapeutic Area teams, monitoring monthly financial performance, align strategies and participate in Brand Plan development.
• Developed insightful patient trackers and revenue models to ensure team alignment on underlying key drivers and market dynamics: Wholesaler order patterns, patient stocking, warehousing impacts, hospital demand, Parallel trade analysis, price/volume analysis, Price distortions (VAT reclaims, Pharma-tax, Art81. Clawbacks,...)
• Lead forecast and budget cycles for 3 different TA's.
• Lead demand planning cycles, parallel trade analysis and market performance discussions.
• Lead monthly and quarterly business reporting for Regional Senior Management.
• Promoted to Associate Director in November 2017.
  

• Designed local FP&A business support function and lead revenue planning and forecasting cycles for multiple therapeutic areas
• Ensured a 3-year catch up on the statutory accounts filing process
• Successfully coordinated the local Oracle implementation, securing both system testing and accounting set-up (US GAAP/BE GAAP)
• Implemented internal SOP's from an end-to-end user perspective
• Ensured local tax compliance and global HCP transparency regulations (Sunshine Act)
• Implemented direct distribution model (iso 3th party warehouse)
• Implemented a rolling Opex forecast model (Approx. 9Mio)
• Remotely managed Financial Services Centre (OTC, RTR and PTP)
• Lead for Tax, Transfer pricing, annual accounts, VAT, Intrastat, internal controls, implementation of global policies, corporate housekeeping, credit risk management, past due reporting and PTP Metrics
• Promoted to Senior Finance Manager in October 2014.

• Led a finance team (5 FTE) reporting into Controllership EU Director
• Led our BNL month end close processes securing both P&L and BS
• Managed annual statutory close process and the tax planning
• Coordinated the overhead budget and -forecasting process: BNL markets, CEE Management and Area office management (8 Mio USD)
• Secured revenue recognition and sales deflators BNL (16.5Mio USD)
• Review and tracking of promotional S&M activities (6.5 Mio USD)
• Led Transfer pricing, CIT, Benefit in Kind reporting, VAT, Intrastat, internal controls, implementation of global policies, recycling authorities reporting, credit and past due management,
• Managed a local restructuring project (> 1.4Mio USD)
• Actively involved in EU project teams (LEAN, VAT and Working Capital)
• Coordinate Internal and External audits
• Acted as VAT representative of the Energizer EU Bonded Warehouse on behalf of our Swiss Parent company in Belgium

• Managed local Merger integration of Control processes and procedures (Wilkinson Sword/Energizer)
• Gradual expansion of responsibilities (BE, NL & LUX / Energizer, Wilkinson & Hawaiian tropic)
• Manage Month end close, forecast -and budget cycles and control sales incentive schemes
• Supported creation of measurable Key Account Plan and incentive schemes
• Designed customer and product sales performance trackers
• Promoted to Controlling Manager Benelux in October 2007

• Supporting start-up of leasing companies in Belgium and Luxembourg
• Managing the set-up of the accounting structure and core finance processes of an operational leasing company from start-up (developing statistic cost control programs with IT)
• Lead the financial -and month end reporting, annual accounts, budget -and forecast process

Started as junior auditor in various audit-assignments covering AP, AR, P&L and balance sheet reconciliations, Cash –and Banks, Stock appraisal –and rotation, physical inventory, market value appraisal tests, review of internal procedures, annual accounts review and tax accruals.