‍About the Client 

Transforming the World of Transportation 

This rapidly growing transportation logistics company is on a mission. It wants to enable faster and more efficient delivery, in light of the e-commerce boom, to empower businesses to scale their operations. This transportation logistics company is doing so by changing the way it provides high-performance, reliable service to the evolving middle market. 

The Situation

Key Finance Expertise Gap to Power Business Consolidation Initiative 

The transportation logistics company was undergoing a business transformation, consolidating different businesses to offer solutions that leverage technology to increase network density and coverage, drive efficiencies, lower costs, and improve service. 

But to ensure it was tracking well against its goals, it would need the advice and guidance of a Director of Finance and M&A to bring the company into its next growth phase. Because they lacked this expertise in-house and given how quickly the business wanted to move, it realized that it would not only need to engage an outside resource, but the company would need to explore an alternative solution to onboarding an employee full-time.

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The Solution

Onboarding an Experienced Director of Finance and M&A 

After learning about the benefits of onboarding an independent expert, the company set out to find a subject matter expert with prior experience in strategic finance and financial planning and analysis (FP&A). It also preferred that the selected candidate come from an investment banking or management consulting background. 

Having come across Graphite's on-demand talent acquisition model, the company reached out due to its strong network of finance professionals. It also liked that it could onboard, manage, and pay the expert on the platform — reducing the number of touchpoints and software onboarding for an external consultant. 

Within 24 hours of posting the project on Graphite, the client's dedicated Account Executive (AE) returned to them with a hand-selected group of eight independent experts.

The company communicated with each expert using Graphite's in-app messaging and video conferencing feature. Having communicated with each candidate, the company decided to move forward with an experienced strategic finance and M&A consultant with past experience at PNC Financial Services.

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The Results

New Growth Leads to Transformation 

Once onboarded, the independent expert immediately drove critical decision-making for the business related to FP&A, consolidation, working capital, and strategic growth. They owned all financial aspects of strategic planning, annual operating plans, forecasting, and consolidation. 

The expert demonstrated strong leadership skills, communicating efficiently with various C-Level stakeholders, including the board of directors, private equity owners, and senior leadership.

Acting as the face of the finance department, the expert ensured the department enabled the business to achieve its next level of growth. Because the company onboarded an independent expert versus a full-time employee, the company was able to complete this mission-critical project in three months. 

Had the company relied on onboarding a full-time employee for this initiative, it would have taken twice as long if you factor in finding, vetting, onboarding, and training them. Since the independent Director of Finance and M&A is an expert in their domain, they were able to provide value to the client on day one. 

But outside of being able to deliver the project faster, the company was also able to realize cost savings as a result — about 30-50% by onboarding an independent expert compared to traditional consulting spend.

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Pleased with its experience, the logistics company has gone on to complete one additional project and post four additional ones that are currently underway. 

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