Vinaya Jain
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Gurugram, Haryana, India
Toptal member since March 15, 2021
An MBA from Duke University and a CFA, Vinaya has led M&A projects in the US, India, and Africa, managed debt and equity raises in large companies and startups, hedged FX and commodities using derivatives, and supported one of the largest IPOs. He has worked as a CFO at Bent Pixels LLC (US), GM India, Bira91 (Sequoia-funded), and Hindustan Zinc Limited. Vinaya enjoys working as a part-time CFO and on diverse and challenging projects in M&A, fundraising, financial strategy, and treasury.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
Expertise
Work Experience
CFO
Bira 91
- Streamlined the internal controls environment in the company by introducing and operationalizing policies for procure-to-pay, trade spending, credit management, and delegation of authority.
- Managed financial performance through a focus on company margins and cost controls.
- Developed new processes for tracking inventory and bringing management focus on aging products to mitigate losses in the expiry-prone industry.
Interim CFO
Bent Pixels
- Set up finance processes from scratch as interim CFO for Bent Pixels, including monthly accounting close, financials reporting and variance analysis, company forecasts (three statements), and direct cash forecast to evaluate short-term liquidity.
- Acted as interim CFO for Bent Pixels, initiating and managing the company's first audit. Developed framework for compensation structure linked to individual KPIs to help transition to a culture of "pay for performance."
- Managed debt funding activity with the founder and received two term sheets from venture debt funds for Bent Pixels as interim CFO. Developed IRR models to evaluate and compare complex loan structures.
Senior VP and Head of Finance
Hindustan Zinc Limited
- Oversaw team of 100+ finance professionals across multiple sites managing responsibilities spanning operational finance (business partnering), treasury, investor relations, corp accounting, tax, company secretarial services, FP&A, project management, and IT.
- Managed a buy-side M&A transaction opportunity including all valuation and diligence activities.
- Streamlined compliances through process enhancements and automation.
Senior VP, Finance (CFO)
Bira 91
- Instituted processes and established process discipline to streamline customer credit, collect past dues, reduce market overstocking and warehouse inventory, and improve the quality of information shared with investors and financial institutions.
- Partnered on several new initiatives: initiating business in the UK and Vietnam, setting up two new breweries, expanding sales in new territories within India, launching a mass-market beer (boom), and simplifying the international entity structure.
- Raised approximately $30 million in bridge equity from existing and new investors and roughly $10 million in debt, including bank loans, vendor financing, and venture debt.
- Led the Series B growth equity funding with the company founder and successfully managed both the sell-side and the buy-side finance/tax due diligence conducted by Big Four firms. The company subsequently closed a $30 million funding from a strategic investor.
CFO
General Motors
- Managed all finance functions related to manufacturing, exports, aftersales, and engineering services for a business worth $700+ million. Also was in charge of the country budget, financial reporting, and finance strategy. Served as a member of the Indian Executive Committee.
- Revitalized parts business and doubled profit margins by focusing on high profitability product lines, reducing warehousing and distribution footprint, and filtering out unprofitable customers.
- Developed strategy and managed India's restructuring efforts for commercial operations after the announcement to exit India's domestic vehicle business. Also managed the restructuring phase involving GM's complete exit from India.
Director of Finance
General Motors
- Managed new product program business cases, vehicle pricing and incentives, marketing expenses, structural costs, product costing, and transfer pricing.
- Completed a 4-month assignment in Nairobi to manage approx. $100 million divestiture of GM Kenya. Drove improvement in financials through streamlined AR collection, reduced inventory lead time, minimized fixed costs, and improved aftersales focus.
- Managed relationships with public sector and global banks, rating agencies, and insurance companies. Raised and managed about $200 million working capital and term loan from banks; saved costs by negotiating a reduced prepayment penalty.
- Helped launch a retail insurance program—conducted numerous interviews with insurance brokers, led negotiations on scope and cost, prepared financial analysis, and successfully concluded transactions.
Treasury Manager
General Motors
- Developed GM's 5-year capital priorities schedule in the strategic project required by the Global CFO. To do so, I analyzed current and future desired capital structures and forecasted GM's multi-year free cash flow generation potential.
- Analyzed GM’s working capital and cash flow volatility driven by vehicle sales fluctuations. Recommendations on working capital optimization and Corp’s minimum cash requirements presented to GM CFO.
- Supported GM IPO by developing pro forma financial models and socializing projections with Big 3 rating agencies.
- Managed all stages of two major divestiture transactions including GM's business case, business carve-out financials, information memorandum, management presentations, definitive agreement, buyer due diligence, and transition plan.
- Managed GM’s $39 billion corporate debt and $7 billion interest rate derivative portfolio. Used derivatives to hedge a $2.5 billion precious metal and FX portfolio.
- Created interest rate/cross-currency swap valuation model to meet SEC reporting requirements (which mandated fair value measurement of assets and liabilities), using credit default swaps and market data.
- Researched and developed fundamental supply-demand analysis for three precious metal commodities and created trading strategies that yielded over $9 million in savings.
- Initiated a hedging program for Rhodium, an illiquid commodity with $570 million annual exposure; analyzed market fundamentals, liquidity, and participants; developed models to assess hedging alternatives and worked with banks to initiate trading.
- Helped redesign GM’s commodity and FX hedging program ($7 billion annual exposure) in light of deteriorating credit situation—the program was approved by CFO, saving an estimated $10 million per year in trading costs.
Project Manager
Infosys
- Created proposals and project budgets, collected business requirements, estimated the project timeline, developed resource plans and implementation schedules, and trained new entrants.
- Led an offshore technology project for an insurance broker firm. The business application involved customer data collection, invoicing, accounting, and financial reporting processes. Productivity improvements saved clients over $5 million annually.
- Won the Best Project Award among 100 competing projects. Created a project tracking and analysis model that enabled better planning. Reduced the project cost by 25% through enhanced productivity and resource utilization.
Education
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance
The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University - Durham, NC, USA
Bachelor of Technology Degree in Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology - Varanasi, India
Certifications
Emerging Leaders Program
Harvard Business School
Dale Carnegie Public Speaking Course
Dale Carnegie
CFA
CFA institute
Skills
Finance
Corporate Finance, Valuations, FP&A, Corporate Treasury, Financial Modeling, Interim CFOs, Forecasting, Three-statement Modeling, Budgeting Consulting, Revenue & Expense Projections, Valuation Modeling, DCF Valuation, Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC), P&L Forecasting, Data Analysis, Controller, Private Company Valuation, Cash Flow, Financial Reporting, Financial Managers, Cash Management, M&A Modeling, Profitability Analysis, Cash Flow Modeling, Fundraising, Commercial Finance, Hedging, M&A, Due Diligence, Finance Strategy, Cash Flow Forecasting, Working Capital Management, Capital Raising, Private Equity, Series B, Series A, Market Research Analyst, Pricing, Project Finance Consulting, Equity Research, Equity Research Analysis, Credit Analysis, Startup Funding, Finance Process Improvement, Accounting, Operational Finance, International Finance, Investment Portfolio Management, M&A (Sell-side), Equity Capital, M&A (Buy-side), Taxation, Financial Consolidation
Data & Analysis Software
Financial Data, Quickbooks
Industry Expertise
Automotive, Debt Capital Markets, Technology, Venture Capital, Early-stage Startups, Asset Management, Software Development, Food & Beverage, Real Estate
Geographic Expertise
United States, India, United Kingdom, Kenya
Output Software
Excel Development, Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel Development
Other
Emerging Markets, Design Strategy, Part-time CFO, Business Modeling, Treasury, Treasury & Liquidity Management, Interim CFOs, Policies & Procedures Compliance, Treasury Management, Fractional CFOs, Finance, Reporting, Excel, Business Strategy, Revenue Projections, Internal Control, FPA, Investments, Fundraising, Data Science, Financial Data Analytics, Analytics Development, Manufacturing, Cash Flow Management, Financial Controls & Processes, Controllership/Accounting, Accounts Receivable, Billing, Modeling, Accounts Payable, Waterfall Modeling, Dashboard, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Media, Business Plan Consulting, Presentations, DCF Modeling, Microsoft 365, Investor Relations, Divestitures, Financial Analysis, Business Analysis Consulting, Public Speaking, Communication Coaching, Interpersonal Skills, Financial Forecasting, Startup Development, Presentation Design, Foreign Exchange, Foreign Currency, International Payments, Excel 365, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Research, Financing, Growth Strategy, Pitch Deck Consulting, ERP Development, Monthly Close Process, Reports, Investor Reporting, US GAAP Accounting, Term Sheets, Program Management, PMO Project Management, Virtual CFO, Coaching, GAAP, Leadership, Process Mapping, M&A Valuation (DCF), Corporate Restructuring, Derivatives Consulting, Fixed Income, Entrepreneurship, Capital Planning, Software Development, Virtual Coaching, Client Management, Investment Analysis, Business Planning, Business Cases, Term Sheet Negotiations, Legal Structuring, Investor Presentations, Dataroom Management, Debt Financing, Business Agility, Customer Support, Teams, Leading Transformation, Process Automation, Administration, Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), Enterprise Software, Initial Public Offerings, Energy Utilities, Renewables, Early-stage Venture Capital, Management, Supply Chain
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