Alessandro Cozzi
Verified Expert in Finance
Management Consulting Expert
Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Toptal member since October 21, 2022
Alessandro is a financial expert who delivered over $6 billion in growth for startups and Fortune 500 corporations. He identified, pursued, negotiated, and integrated several M&A deals and demonstrated a high level of operations, sales, finance, IT, HR, legal, and cultural understanding to manage national and international growth projects. Alessandro has a background in economics, holds an executive MBA in corporate finance, and is certified in disruptive strategy by Harvard University.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
Expertise
- Business Development
- Business Operations
- Finance
- Financial Modeling
- Market Assessment
- Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
- Post-merger Integration
- Strategy
Work Experience
Mentor
Newchip
- Helped startups with fundraising pitch decks to secure Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds.
- Introduced strategies to boost growth and scale businesses.
- Provided consultation on potential exit strategies and valuations.
Corporate Development | Strategic Director
MX
- Defined the MX's long-term strategy alongside the executive team and the client, product, sales, and marketing divisions. Evaluated and proposed alternative strategies and potential outputs.
- Analyzed and prioritized market expansion regarding products, verticals, and geography, aligned with the company's strategic direction.
- Scouted and executed five strategic partnerships, investments, and M&A that led to the: (i) acceleration of the company's product strategy, (ii) access to new data points that led to sales growth, (iii) opening of new verticals, (iv) tech innovation.
Group Director of Acquisitions and Integration
AKKA Benelux
- Championed the integration of PDS Tech, leading global M&A stakeholders—internal and external—through all transactions and post-merger integration activities and overseeing SPA negotiations.
- Tripled the US company's year-over-year EBITDA by focusing on KPIs, increased performance transparency, budgets, and targets at the business and branch levels, and improved talent acquisition, IT simplification, and workforce restructuring.
- Surpassed revenue targets, increasing year-over-year by 15% against a 10% goal, partly through reorganization of commission structures, integration of AKKA and PDS offers, and optimization of technologies for requisition assignment.
- Acted as a temporary chief operating officer (COO) for PDS Tech.
M&A Leader
AKKA Benelux
- Scouted, negotiated, and executed several deals ranging from $2 million to $350 million, leading AKKA Technologies from $1 billion in revenue to $2 billion in three years.
- Boosted the group's digital presence in IoT, automation, autonomous driving, AI, virtual reality and augmented reality, big data, and cybersecurity through acquisitions and alliances in Europe.
- Developed standard models, pitching, and execution materials like teasers, valuation models, CIM, and data packs.
M&A Director | Board of Directors
LKQ | Rhiag Group
- Directed the deal flow from the start and created Rhiag's growth strategy.
- Chaired the divestment of Rhiag Group, $1 billion in revenue, to LKQ Corporation, a $10 billion US-based business. Subsequently became part of a more established global M&A practice and spent the last eight months of my tenure driving acquisitions.
- Expanded the aftermarket's branded automotive spare parts portfolio into two new sectors.
Manager | Corporate Transaction Services
Deloitte
- Provided senior counsel on more than $5 billion in transactions, redacting sales memorandum and leading 30+ due diligence processes.
- Worked on the buy and sell side of M&A transactions, fairness opinion, IPO, carve-outs, and restructuring for domestic and foreign entities.
- Performed financial analysis for private equity and corporate structures, including merger modeling, pro forma impact and profitability analysis, cash flow generation, working capital management, EBITDA, and net debt normalization.
- Helped private equities and strategic buyers and sellers achieve their goals.
Supervisor | Senior Audit
Deloitte
- Oversaw day-to-day operations of complex audit engagements.
- Audited firms across diverse industries such as automotive, construction, engineering, manufacturing, media, nonprofit, pharmaceutical, publishing, and telecommunications, including clients like Vodafone, Cairo Group, and Rhiag.
- Increased client satisfaction on the overall audit engagement.
Education
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Corporate Finance
Istituto di Studi Bancari (ISB) - Lucca, Italy
Master's Degree in Economics
Catholic University of the Sacred Heart - Milan, Italy
Certifications
Disruptive Strategy
Harvard Business School
Skills
Finance
Accounting, Financial Modeling, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Budgeting, Due Diligence, M&A (Buy-side), M&A (Sell-side), Private Equity, Big 4 Accounting, Cash Flow, Profit & Loss (P&L), Data Analysis, Forecasting, DCF Valuation, Working Capital Management, Market Opportunity Analysis, Cash Flow Modeling, Cost Reduction & Optimization (Cost-down), Profitability Analysis, Cross-border M&A, Profitability Optimization, P&L Forecasting, Market Research, Valuation, Corporate Finance, Finance Strategy, Finance Structures, Finance Process Improvement, Fundraising, M&A Modeling, Investment Thesis, Value Creation, Risk, Blockchain
Geographic Expertise
EMEA, North America, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Latin America (LATAM)
Industry Expertise
Financial Services, Early-stage Startups, Technology, Industrials
Other
M&A Strategy, Financing, Negotiation, Economics, Finance, Strategy, Investments, Expansion, Internationalization, Post-merger Integration, Deal Flow Origination, Business Operations, Market Assessment, Project Management, Process Improvement, Business Evaluation, Business Planning, Startups, Expansion Strategy, International Expansion, Sell-side, Buy-side, Audits, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Pitch Decks, Business Development, Business Analysis, Business Models, Business Plan Consulting, Exit Strategy, Financial Analysis, Growth Strategy, Market Research & Analysis, Market Sizing, Pitch Deck Consultant, Business Process Optimization, Cash Flow Analysis, Industry Analysis, PMI, Market Fit, Business Process Analysis, Corporate Development, Cash Flow Management, Pitch Presentations, Transaction Advisory, Corporate Transactions, Opportunity Identification, Business Validation, M&A Due Diligence (Financial), Partnerships, Sales Growth, Go-to-market Strategy, Initial Public Offerings, Carve-out Analysis, Carve-out Planning, SOX, Fintech, Startup Growth Strategy Development, Chief Operations Officer (COO), New Business Development, Fintech Consultant, Business Partnerships, B2B Partnerships, Interim CFO, Corporate Governance, Private Equity Consultant, Startup Consulting, Product-market Fit, Card Payments, Investor Presentations, Financials, Modeling, System Integration, Culture Development, Communication, Profit Optimization, Process Optimization, Business Technology, Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), P&L Analysis, P&L Management, Resource Management, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Autonomous Navigation, Big Data, Cybersecurity, Digital Health, Internet of Things (IoT), Mortgages, SaaS, Analytics, Idea Validation, Marketplaces, Operations
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