Stefan Martin Meyer

CEO at PhytoFlow GmbH | Bridging the Gap Between Medical Cannabis and Innovation | MBA

I was born in Kenya, raised in Switzerland, lived in Spain for 11 years, and have worked in South America for 4 years. Phytocannabinoids and medicinal plants enthusiast with 20 years of experience in research and development. 

In 2008, I co-founded Phytoplant Research SL, which in 2012 received the first research license for medical cannabis in Spain. I joined Plena Global Holdings Inc (Canada) in 2019 as Chief Strategy Officer, where I have been managing a project licensed to grow medicinal cannabis in Colombia. In 2020, I founded PhytoFlow GmbH in the Italian part of Switzerland. We offer business consulting and project management services to our clients. 

I consult for companies specializing in phytotherapy, herbal medicine, nutraceuticals, and cosmetics. The focus of my work is to help companies define solid product development pipelines, optimize their operations, identify opportunities for sustainable growth, and build long-term relationships. 

Over the past few years, I have become passionate about web3, NFTs, and their potential applications within the industry.

#CBD #medicalcannabis #cannabinoid #compliance #GACP #GMP #endocannabinoidsystem #ECS #phytotherapy #psychedelics #marketing #branding #strategy #qualitymanagement #businessdevelopment #B2B #networking #NFT #web3

Chief Executive Officer

Independiente

Supported Start-ups in the financial modelling of their business plan, providing financial advice to improve business performance.
- Developed a financial model for a Colombian Biotech company to evaluate the company and support a Serie A investment round to raise USD$5M.
- Performed a complete financial assessment to an Animal Feed company to determine its business model viability and advised its management on how to improve their financial performance.
- Performed a profitability analysis for a transportation company to determine customers, routes and other factors to be prioritized.
- Created custom made financial models for two Alcohol Beverage companies to run long term and mid-term Financial Budgets and assess business decisions (One company based in USA and other in Colombia)

Business Finance Consultant

Diageo

Lead annual and monthly financial planning cycles for the second largest market in LAC (annual net sales £480M). 
•	Chaired the financial planning cycles for Mexico during the COVID crisis and latter global supply chain challenges. 
•	Managed and effectively tracked the business performance, timely spotting opportunities and risks for the business to make informed decisions. Mexico grew +22% its net sales in FY22, expanded OM% and closed above target its cash flow. 
•	Co-lead with Demand Planning and Commercial Finance the execution and improvement plan for the monthly S&OP process.
•	Built and coached a strong FP&A team for Mexico (6 people), potentiating their capabilities and becoming a source of talent for the company. During my time in the role 4 of my reports have been promoted and moved to other markets/roles.

Financial Planning & Analysis Manager for Mexico

Plena Global Holdings

Lead the complete Finance Function (FP&A, accounting, taxes, costing, treasury, and capex) for a pharmaceutical cannabis start-up with a planned investment of +US$100M.
•	Developed and implemented robust financial processes and controls. 
•	Assured company’s financial information is complete and accurate, aligned to IFRS. Successfully closed 2019 Fiscal year on time, passing Canada’s audit and local “revisoría fiscal”.
•	Shaped the budgeting process for the company and its periodical review vs. execution targets for both OPEX and CAPEX. Budget execution during my time in the role completed US$30M. 
•	Led along with IT the ERP implementation project for the subsidiary (Oracle’s Netsuite).
•	Established a temporary solution to track and record production cost, being able to analyze and accurately reflect the value of our Biological Assets in our financial statements.
•	Developed finance team’s technical and leadership skills.

Finance Director Colombia

Optimized revenue using all five pillars of NRM: headline pricing, promotional effectiveness, trade terms, formants, mix. 
•	Designed and led the implementation of a robust NRM plan for FY19. H1 FY19 closed over delivering NSV target with a price/mix effect of +6.0% (+4.0% vs. Budget).
•	Built a robust pricing plan during Jun/18 that had to be adjusted in December due to a high tax increase for 2019, optimizing the balance between tax recovery, volume, and market share.
•	Developed tools to track and control product mix, becoming part of commercial routines and S&OP process.
•	Developed NRM capabilities within Colombian Commercial team.

Net Revenue Manager

Supported commercial team and commercial strategy definition (Finance Business Partner), assessing commercial plans, and investment decisions.
•	Implemented a new trade investment control tool that allowed a tighter control and to optimize investment, reallocating resources to higher return activities. 
•	Supported and financially evaluated Route to Consumer changes in the market. 
•	Supported the implementation of successful pilots of Cost to Serve distribution model with our main distributors.  
•	Lead a high-performance team of 4 people.

Commercial Finance Manager

Financial Planning & Analysis Coordinator

Senior Financial Planning Analyst

William Grant & Sons

Senior Financial Analyst LATAM

Philip Morris International

Budgeting & Reporting Analyst

Operations Planning Analyst

I am a Finance Manager with over twelve years of working experience in consumer goods and pharma industries, ranging from large multinational companies to start-ups. I have experience leading finance teams through periods of change and growth, and I am skilled in developing and implementing financial strategies that drive profitability and efficiency. I am particularly interested and passionate about Business Intelligence and Data Analytics for the prime role they play in the success of today’s businesses.

My career in finance began in Financial Planning, where first as Analyst and later as Coordinator, I led initiatives that significantly increased forecast accuracy and projects that reduced working capital requirements by over 20%. In 2016, I was promoted to Finance Manager at Diageo, where I led the Commercial Finance area and collaborated on a Route to Consumer project that increased numeric distribution by 25%. Additionally, I ran negotiations and investment initiatives that generated saving for more than £3M. Later, as Net Revenue Manager, I led the promotional and pricing strategy for Diageo in Colombia.

After years working in big corporations, I took on the role of Finance Director in Colombia for a Canadian pharmaceutical start-up, controlling the execution of a +US$100M planned investment. In 2020, I returned to Diageo as Financial Planning and Analysis Manager for Mexico, forecasting and controlling a business with annual net sales over £480M and cost and expenses of £300M. With my team, we established a robust performance management process, that helped us achieve +22% sales growth in Fiscal Year 2022, expand operating margin by 1.2 percentage points, and maintain cash conversion above 100%.

I'm always looking to expand my professional network. Please feel free to contact me directly at d_maringar@outlook.com or connect with me on LinkedIn.

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Stefan Martin Meyer

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