Nichole Diorio

Serve as a trusted advisor to CEOs, CFOs, and commercial leadership, providing financial insights and recommendations to support strategic decision-making. Evaluate the financial viability of new business opportunities and strategic partnerships, and continue to develop pricing strategies, provide financial support for contract negotiations, and develop mitigation strategies to protect the agency's profitability. Develop and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to track commercial performance and collaborate with teams to develop and implement pricing strategies that optimize revenue and profitability. Led the development of budget targets and financial reporting management, which includes forecasts and long-term financial plans for the commercial organization. Prepare and present financial results to senior leadership, highlighting key trends, insights, risks, and providing recommendations to improve financial outcomes for the organization. Maintain sophisticated financial models that utilize AI to assess the profitability of different deal structures, considering factors like scope of work, staffing levels, pricing, and potential risks, and return on investment (ROI) analysis. Provide financial support for contract negotiations with key customers and partners. Lead and develop a team of 10+ commercial finance professionals, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement. Ensure compliance with all applicable accounting standards, regulations, and internal policies.

In my role as Executive Director of Commercial Finance at GroupM, I serve as a trusted advisor to top executives, providing financial insights to drive strategic decision-making. I developed pricing strategies, supported contract negotiations, and monitored key performance indicators to optimize revenue and profitability. Leading a team of professionals, I fostered a culture of collaboration and innovation, ensuring compliance with all accounting standards and regulations.

In my role as Chief Financial Operations Officer/ Commercial Finance Group Director at Mindshare, I led pricing strategies, evaluated new business opportunities, and provided financial support for contract negotiations. I led financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting to identify key trends and provide actionable recommendations. Additionally, I developed and implemented efficient operational processes, effective resource management, and risk mitigation strategies across all clients and media channels.

Developing and delivering presentations at all levels internally and to the Client. The core responsibility of this role is to ensure the accuracy of client media spend throughout the media ecosystems. This involves collaborating with several teams, including planning, investment, operations, finance, and reconciliation, to execute the end-to-end financial management process. The process includes budget authorization, client billing, supplier invoice reconciliation and payment, and compliance with internal and external audit requirements. The role also requires taking the lead in project management initiatives and partnering with the Finance and Procurement teams to deliver financial reporting and tracking. This includes monthly analysis of planned vs. actual spend, delivery reporting, and other related tasks. In addition, the role involves managing the tools, systems, and processes that enable sound financial operations, including planning/investment team support and training. The role also requires building strong relationships with internal stakeholders and groups, facilitating synergy between the planning and activation functions that manage day-to-day client business. Furthermore, the role requires working closely with HR and Talent Acquisition to ensure sound staffing processes and operations across the account. Lastly, the role involves leading and mentoring a team.

Developed pricing strategies, evaluated new business opportunities, provided financial support for contract negotiations, and developed mitigation strategies to protect the agency's profitability. Built and maintained sophisticated financial models that utilizes AI to assess the profitability of different deal structures, considering factors like scope of work, staffing levels, pricing, and potential risks. This provided a data-driven foundation for client negotiations. Led financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting, identifying key trends, and providing actionable recommendations. Collaborated with client leadership and agency teams to define a clear and realistic scope of work that aligns with the client's objectives and the agency's capabilities to prevent scope creep and ensured accurate pricing. Develop and implement efficient operational processes, effective resource management, and mitigation of financial and operational risks across all clients and media channels across 30+ media client teams. Accountable for agency financial management process, including agency financial forecasts, financial reporting, internal & external, client budgeting, client billing, A/R reconciliation, and publisher reconciliation. Led and developed a high-performing finance and operations team of 25+ employees, ensuring financial stewardship and compliance with all applicable standards and regulations. Develop and execute comprehensive transition plans, outlining key milestones, timelines, resource requirements, and communication strategies for incoming and departing clients. Managed client-led initiatives, tests, and ad-hoc requests across multiple agency teams, including client audits, competitive data reporting & analysis requests, and MMM/ Adhoc data requests. Collaborate with the Global agency team on various client/agency-wide projects.

Collaborate with executive leadership to define and execute the agency's strategic vision, focusing on operational scalability and innovation. Developed and implemented best-in-class operational processes, workflows, and technologies to streamline operations, identifying agency inefficiencies, reducing costs, and improving efficiency across all departments within a multi-agency team of 400+ employees. Responsible for defining and standardizing efficient processes, educating & training agency staff, and ensuring process compliance for 5 client teams. Partner with commercial finance and client leadership to develop remuneration proposals, staffing, and fee models, manage MSA and scope of work development, and ensure adherence/oversight. Accountable for agency financial forecasts & reporting, identifying and mitigating operational risks by developing and implementing robust risk management strategies and contingency plans, including contractual media savings obligations, the savings process (goal setting, parameters, validation, tracking, and reporting). Oversee the allocation and management of resources, including personnel, technology, and budget, to ensure optimal utilization and alignment with strategic and financial priorities. Managed client-led initiatives, tests, and ad-hoc requests across multiple agency teams, including client audits, competitive data reporting & analysis requests, and MMM/ Adhoc data requests. Collaborate with the Global agency team on various client/agency-wide projects.

In my role as Director of Business Operations at MetaVision Media, I acted as a liaison between clients, planning, and buying functions within a multi-agency team. I was responsible for identifying agency inefficiencies, standardizing processes, and managing financial forecasts and reporting. Additionally, I led internal and external audits, developed remuneration proposals, and organized client executive meetings.

Manage corporate financial productivity reporting for PepsiCo’s global media investments of over $1.5B in 44 countries through detailed reporting with data from six different media agencies. Extract data, processes key information to draw conclusions, using robust modeling & reporting summarize and present results which were used to facilitate executive- level decisions for the organization. Developed an understanding of media strategy & investment which enabled the ability to build business processes, enhance productivity reporting both internally/externally, develop and enhance technological tools (ex: Decideware, Powersteering, and Pitcher). Identified and improve non-value added practices taking systematic approach to evaluate alternatives, makes fact-based decisions, evaluates the consequences of decisions. Review, evaluate and prioritize tasks/project assignments, identify key issues and clearly communicated them to management/senior leadership and agencies where necessary.

Managed corporate financial productivity process & reporting for PepsiCo’s global media investments of over $1.5B in 44 countries through detailed reporting with data from six media agencies. Extract data and process critical information to draw conclusions, using robust modeling and reporting to summarize and present results to facilitate executive-level decisions for the organization. Developed an understanding of media strategy & investment, which enabled the ability to build business processes, enhance productivity reporting both internally/externally, and develop and enhance technological tools (ex: Decideware, Powersteering, and Pitcher). Identified and improved non-value-added practices by systematically evaluating alternatives, making fact-based decisions, and assessing the business impact of decisions. Review, evaluate, and prioritize tasks/project assignments, identify key issues, and clearly communicate them to management/senior leadership and agencies where necessary.

Responsible for managing and developing seven direct reports, overseeing input of over 13,000 promotional events, reviewed and analyzed customer plans for over 74 customers in the NE, ensuring customer contracts are in compliance with Quaker Trade & SOX policies. Reviewed and analyzed departmental trackers, built and improved processes, prioritized analyst workloads, and assisted in resolving open discrepancies. Developed and released process improvements and controls, communication protocols, useful forms for approval processes, performed quality assurance checks to ensure system accuracy, developed and provided guidance in AOP planning process, and ensure input accuracy of forecast. Performed quarterly SOX audits, provide feedback based on the audit scores to each direct report as needed. Provide continuous training to direct reports, as well as to other groups and departments on QTG systems, business, compliance standards, and trade processes.

Responsible for managing and developing seven direct reports, overseeing input of over 13,000 promotional events, reviewing and analyzing customer plans for over 74 customers in the NE, and ensuring customer contracts comply with Quaker Trade & SOX policies. Reviewed and analyzed departmental trackers, built and improved processes, prioritized analyst workloads, and assisted in resolving open discrepancies. Developed and released process improvements and controls, communication protocols, and proper forms for approval processes. Performed quality assurance checks to ensure system accuracy, developed and guided the AOP planning process, and ensured input accuracy of the forecast. Performed quarterly SOX audits and provided feedback based on the audit scores to each direct report as needed. Provide continuous training to direct reports and other groups and departments on QTG systems, business, compliance standards, and trade processes.