Tomasz Rejman

CEO/ COO/ CFO/ CMO/ Engineer

*****

• Led, motivated and developed international teams comprised of more than 6,000 employees and managed operations and finance for businesses up to EUR 25 bn of revenue.
• Key spike in practical business judgement and people leadership. Overdelivered business results and development of organization. Successful year-after-year in exceeding EBITDA, cash and efficiency targets in 30+ occasions across industries and continents (Europe, Asia and Latin America).
• Industry spike: diverse with most experience in Refining and Chemicals, Financial Institutions (Insurance and Banking), Consumer Goods, Health Care, Energy and High Tech.
• Functional spike: ambitious growth and performance improvement/ turnaround (ORLEN Ops, Cersanit, Allianz), Operations (all assignments and projects), Strategy (ORLEN, Cersanit, McKinsey), Finance (ORLEN, Cersanit), Sales (Cersanit, ORLEN, Benzina, Allianz, Banking, Procter&Gamble), cross functional issues (all assignments) and IT (Allianz).
• Geographical spike: CEE (Poland, CR, SR, Ukraine, Romania), Iberic (for 30 years a member of the Spanish business community in Poland and in Czechia), Germany (leading business development in DACH for Cersanit), UK.
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Performance Improvement * Private Equity * Consumer Goods * Financial Institutions * Health Care * Refining and Chemicals * Strategy * Operations * Supply Chain Management * Mergers and Acquisitions * Unmatched Business Results * Organization Development * Finance and Accounting * Strategic Planning * Sales and Marketing * Change Management

SELECTED ACHIEVEMENTS HIGHLIGHTS

• Increased Cersanit's value by 120%, i.e. EUR +350 mn (home-improvement business, family owned, revenue of EUR 600 mn) despite a construction market crisis, dramatic raw materials price increases and closure of most profitable subsidiary (Russia, due to the war). Achievements included improving pricing, reducing value leakage, debottlenecking plants' capacity, reducing production and overhead costs, streamlining product portfolio, implementing direct distribution, and upgrading organization capability and satisfaction.
• Established ORLEN Group Operations division from scratch (refining and petrochemicals, revenues of approx. EUR 25 bn annually) resulting in a EUR 50-100 mn annual margin improvement for the Group. Led the business integration of the largest M&A in CEE in 2004, delivering EUR +40 mn in annual synergies.
• Turned around Allianz Poland's underperforming Operations Division (insurance premiums of approximately EUR 700 mn) by streamlining Ops business units: claims, IT, customer care, and admin/procurement. This led to substantial service and cost improvements, including a -7% reduction in average motor claims, a fourfold improvement in service levels, and +10-25% efficiency gains.
• Repeatedly formed high-performing teams by setting high aspirations, coaching, and hands-on collaboration with subordinates and peers, typically with limited personnel changes. Notable successes include Cersanit Board, Allianz Ops Team and Cersanit Ops Team members advancing to BoD and senior management positions, and the ORLEN Ops Team achieving 100% continuity and further growth.
• Supported Polish Healthcare system, with focus on oncology and anti-Covid. Efforts included: Polish cancer plan implementation, cancer prevention plan pilot, publications/ guide-book supporting family members of oncological patients, patient's experience improvement pilot, in case of Covid efficient testing strategy, feed international best practices to address health- and business-related issues to Ministry of Health. Business Advisory function in innovative drugs VC fund (Orphinic Scientific)
• Consistently developed innovative approaches and frameworks (KPIs, dashboards, routines) to ensure state-of- the-art performance management, including ORLEN's daily gross margin tracking, Cersanit's pricing leakage and margin/efficiency tracking, and Allianz's claims settlement performance.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

CERSANIT (Activist Investor/ Private Equity, Home Improvement/ Durable Consumer Goods)

Warsaw/ Poland, 2021/06-2024/05, 2012/ 01-2013/12,

Cersanit is privately owned and a largest tiles and sanitary-ware manufacturer in Central Europe. With strong presence in Europe (80% of margin outside Poland). Major product, market, channel complexity with unique full-scale tiles and sanitaryware businesses. Revenues are at approx. EUR 600 mn and staffing at 6,000 FTEs (excluding Russia  subsidiary sold in Feb 22).

Investment Partner of Owner's Family Office/ Head of Non-Executive Board of Cersanit, 2021/06-2024/05,

Context:

• This was a full-time yet non-for developing and delivering the strategic business and people agendas.
• I was re-hired by the owner eight years after I had left My objective was to drive profit growth after eight years of poor company performance. In 2021 the company planned to focus on increasing capacity in the most profitable Eastern markets (Russia and Ukraine).
• Three quarters after my return, the war in Ukraine began, and the post-COVID boom shifted into an unforeseen crisis:
• The most profitable subsidiary, Russia, was immediately sold at a fraction of its value. The critical Ukrainian market experienced a dramatic drop in demand.
• Remaining markets also suffered from declining demand.
• Major capacity increase investments in the East were canceled or became unviable.
• Low-cost Asian competition surged due to the global demand decline and reduced freight costs. Raw materials and energy costs spiked due to supply shortages and political factors.
• One of our sanitary plants was closed following a fire.
  
  Main achievements:

• Despite facing strong headwinds, Cersanit experienced three consecutive years of record profitability and increased its value by +120% (equivalent to EUR *350 mn). The key improvement levers were identified by me personally and successfully implemented throughout the organization, e.g.:
  
  Dramatically improved pricing strategy and reduction of value leakage in tiles:

• Cersanit had historically been focused solely on revenue, unaware of the significant value being given away (due to poor market understanding, lack of pricing transparency, and inconsistent pricing logic). Unaware of being a predominantly "non-branded" player (95% of tiles volume), the company had little understanding of competitive prices in this segment. Listing decisions were based on "cost-plus" criteria, without regard to market prices, resulting in subsubstantially lower prices compared to major European competitors.

• Upon joining, I initiated a price unification project to address the most obvious leakage  different prices for the same product. Subsequently, I personally mapped out the structure of the branded/non-branded businesses, relevant competitors and their pricing (by technology, format, finishing), benchmarked Cersanit against the competition, and aligned recommendations with the new Tile BU Head, despite initial organizational skepticism.

• Together with the new Tile BU Head, we launched an aggressive price increases and implemented rigorous monitoring. The most significant increase occurred immediately after the start of the Ukraine war, when we declared force majeure due to "the temporary closure of our most efficient plants". We introduced regular leakage measurements (gap to benchmark) and a benchmark monitoring process.

• As a result, within 12 months of my joining, the average tile price increased by +70% (with a stable product mix), and the tiles EBITDA margin improved by +7 percentage points.

  
  Reduced production and overhead costs and debottlenecking plants'capacity

• Cersanit production and overhead efficiency was strong compared to local competitors but still far behind world-class players.

• I organized reference visits to the world's most efficient competitors (in Spain, Turkey, India, and China), which highlighted gaps in multiple dimensions: labor, production KPIs, infrastructure, production processes, and portfolio complexity.

• In collaboration with the CEO and COO, I developed short- and mid-term efficiency targets for labor (production and SG&A) and production efficiency. We launched several cost- reduction projects: (a) Overhead and Commercial Team reduction by approximately -40% (partly supported by process improvement), (b) indirect labor cost reduction/delayering in production (approximately -40% reduction in indirect labor costs), (c) transformation of direct production costs (including labor, energy efficiency, scrap, and throughput), (d) procurement cost reductions, and (e) smart plant debottlenecking.

• The combined incremental recurring value of these initiatives is approximately EUR +40 mn annually, most of which had already been realized by May 2024, with the remaining benefits well underway.

  
  

  Re-focused product sales listing priorities and portfolio development on the most profitable mass formats and shapes ("Blue Sky"):

• focused approach resulted in a high share of low-profit products (e.g., small-size tile formats or compact bowls in sanitaryware) and a marginal share in higher- value products (e.g., mass large size tile format, wall-hung bowls). In alignment with the Tile BU, portfolio development was refocused exclusively on the mass large size 60x120 format and derivatives, listings were reprioritized, and a dedicated Blue Sky review process was established. As a result, the share of Blue Sky products within our sales increased by approximately +10 percentage points and continues to grow.
  
  Streamlined product portfolio:

• Conducted a series of dedicated workshops with combined Commercial and Production teams to streamline the product portfolio and improve the structured development of product innovation, especially in the sanitary segment (focusing on the bathroom zone and key selection factors rather than technology).

  
  Implemented a world-class innovations in home improvement market:

• Launched a unique direct distribution to Traditional Trade in the Polish market to meet increased service expectations (e-commerce) and ensure control of the value chain (preventing margin leakage). This required debottlenecking internal processes and building capabilities (overcoming significant internal and external resistance). By 2023, nearly 100% of the Traditional Trade business had shifted to this model.
  
  

  • Upgraded organization

• I upgraded by hiring and intensive onboarding of critical Board and N-1 positions, including Commercial VP, COO, BU Heads, CFO, Plant Managers, Sanitary Product Manager, SCM Head.

• Much of my work involved on-the-job coaching at various levels (including juniors, if their area was for some reason important), like Head of Claims in Customer Service, Master Data Specialist, or Recruiting Specialist up to the CEO himself, and my contribution to their professional development is widely recognized.

• I also initiated an annual People Review (formal capability assessment process) and relaunched student recruiting at local campuses in Kielce

  My assignment ended in May 2024 due to differences with the owner on his/ mine roles, and the priorities going forward.

Deputy CEO/ COO/ VP of Operations Division (1/2012-12/2013)

Context:

• I was hired to turnaround the Operations, which was a pivotal part to increase EBITDA threefold by
• Supervising two very experienced yet conservative BoD members, and several moderately experienced functional heads (Logistics, Purchasing, Planning). Involvement, buy-in, and capability development of critical
• Company results improving, mainly due to improvement in Improvement in Sales/ Marketing at a slower growth pace (partly due to crisis on key Eastern markets).

Main achievements:

• Production margin improvement: prepared and implemented restructuring plan to improve margin and by - 7% (-25 mln E) via operating levers (production allocation, debottlenecking, technological and procurement levers). How: launching efficiency improvement (top down), reviewing internal/ historical achievements, rigorously reflecting all commitments in the budget, procurement (working capital and cost), specializing plants in technologies and formats.
• Developed and applied innovative and practical "controlling bridge" to isolate external effects (volume changes, portfolio mix, FX, quotations of major commodities) from the efficiency improvements. Own work: concept, structure, methodology, development, and application.
• Reduced inventory levels (raw materials and finished products) by -35% while increasing Main improvements: increasing production flexibility and improving planning process, setting inventory targets, adjusting production to demand, tightening coordination, institutionalizing demand forecasting.
• Turnaround of problematic logistic warehouses operations in all warehouses in PL: service levels from 92-95% to 99% while costs down -15%.
• Successfully set up two new production plants in Russia, and three central warehouses: tiles in Russia, sanitary-ware in Russia and sanitary-ware in Poland. Prepared and launched Logistic infrastructure development strategy for Russia (given the distances superior logistics represent key competitive advantage).
• Initiated, launched and successfully lead liquidity improvement plan resulting with +60 mln E cash improvement in summer 2013 (vs. controlling's forecast 6 months earlier).
• Ensured EU subsidy of 10 mln E to an associated supply chain/ store management start-up ('on the boarder-line of impossible").
• Recognized by Cersanit Operations and Sales organizations as impactful and careful for organization capability development.
• Due to initial limited industry-specific knowledge used every opportunity for hands-on field visits at point-of- sale, competitive / supplier sites (including private trips, holidays, personal events, etc.).
  As a result, developed cutting edge know-how about international industry best practices and used this know-how to aggressively improve Cersanit's efficiency and tailor its value proposition.
  
  MCKINSEY TRANSFORMATION SERVICES (Interim, Turnaround), Senior Vice President

  London 2016/02  2018/07, Warsaw 2018/08  2021/05

  Turnaround/ from good to great across industries. Sizing improvement opportunity (due diligence), turnaround program design and implementation for distressed companies or companies looking rapid performance improvement.

  FMCG (leader of the overall Transformation and Operations judged as major area of opportunity)

• For a privately owned rapidly growing regional CEE food business leader prepare an efficiency improvement plan to increase of generated cash by +60-80% (via improved equipment and labor efficiency, procurement, improved logistics, reduced working capital and Capex spend)

  Advanced Industries

• For a privately owned leading Central European utility meter equipment provider (revenues of approx. $ 400 mn, EBITDA $ 30 mn). Lead due diligence of efficiency improvement revealing (a) potential of doubling EBITDA within 2 years via improved production efficiency and debottlenecking, reduced labor and improved procurement, (b) additional potential of improved cash of $+30 mn via inventory reduction and improved management of payables and receivables.

• Quick diagnostics, workshops and project proposals for top CEE advanced industry manufacturers and distributors, both local champions as well as subsidiaries of global leaders.

Financial Institutions

• For a large and efficient CEE bank prepare a further efficiency improvement opportunities for major cost areas: customer care, cash management, mailing, real estate, IT, back office labor.
• For an insurance attacker prepare retail insurance operations improvement plan (claims, fraud, call center) and corporate insurance (pricing and portfolio pruning).

High Tech/ Media

• For a leading Italian telco and utility maintenance operator and construction provider owned by a major distressed PE fund (revenues of EUR 800 mn). Lead due diligence of efficiency improvement revealing potential of doubling EBITDA via improved field force productivity, improved management of contractors and improved procurement. The findings have been implemented and efficiencies captured.
• For an advanced "Network and IT" division of a large integrated telco: design and implemention of ambitious efficiency improvement program (approx. value of 25% of costs within 2 years).
• PMM DD for a leading global Freemium PC and mobile application provider owned by a major PE fund. Lead due diligence of business/ efficiency synergies for an acquisition of its biggest competitor worth $1.5 bn. Identified synergies representing 35% of cost base (approx. $150 mn) related to development cost, remaining labor costs, and external expenses (office space, IT infrastructure, sales and marketing). The synergies were fully captured after the acquisition.
• For a leading CEE on--term EBITA improvement plan. The result exceeded expectation by +10%.
• For a distressed leading Balkan Sat TV and Internet provider (revenues of approx. $ 100 mn). Lead development of reliable business plan to ensure implementation of expensive strategic initiatives (own satellite and mobile offer) while ensuring repayment of debt to banks (loan of $90 mn).
  
  Refining and Chemicals

• For a leading Iberian integrated refining and petrochemical holding, developed a very pragmatic entry strategy into most profitable Polish market niches (in chemical and non-fuel refining markets).

• For the biggest refining and petrochemical merger in CEE developed a deep assessment of synergies  exceeding analyst estimates by 10x  and an integration approach.

• For Polish Ministry of Development prepared a petrochemical and fertilizer strategy for Poland with an integrated view of all state-dependent and privately-owned assets.

• Conducted workshops and developed project proposals for leading CEE Refining, Petchem and Chemical companies: CIECH, LOTOS, Azoty, Achema, Spolana.

  
  Global Energy and Materials

• For a PE fund buy side due diligence of nonferrous metal business (approx. enterprise value of EUR 300 mn). Assessment of market outlook, revenue upside, operational efficiency upside, optimization of Capex plan.

• For a mid-scale steel mill in CEE (revenues of EUR 200 mn) design and hands-on implementation of efficiency improvement program.

Health Care

• For Polish Oncological Society and Ministry of Health prepared implementation approach for first ever Polish Cancer Plan, based on in depth review of existing successful cancer plan around the globe
• For Polish Oncological Society prepared and launched cancer prevention plan pilot including: infrastructure and navigation, reduction of queues, efficiency improvement of medical staff, IT system stability improvement.
• Written, published and intensively promoted a book to guide family membes of oncological patients " Hpw to face" the medical treatment and support to the patients
• Supported development efficient testing strategy for Covid , feed international best practices to address health- and business-related issues to Ministry of Health.