Marco Torrente kicked off his finance career inside the Milan, Italy, offices of SC Johnson, the household cleaning products giant headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin.
All told, he would end up spending 7 years in various finance roles at Johnson—including that of controller—while relocating first to London and then eventually to Geneva.
Looking back, Torrente tells us that the family-owned company created a “flexible culture” that valued autonomy and direct communication—two qualities that have been instrumental in shaping his approach to finance leadership.
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CFOTL: Tell us about WebBeds … what does this company do, and what are its offerings today?
Torrente: WebBeds is a B2B company. We’re part of the Webjet group, which is an Australian public company that’s listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Its market cap is 3 billion Australian dollars, which is around 1.8 billion euros, so it’s already a very relevant company. WebBeds is a global marketplace for the travel industry that provides a powerful distribution solution. We create a connection between hotels and travel companies as a B2B service, as well as with some B2C retail travel agencies.
Read MoreOur priority in finance is to support the business properly as we continue on our already fantastic growing journey. We’re doing this particularly through the digitalization journey that we have been implementing in everything from our foundation systems to new software that uses artificial intelligence. Really key for me is to support and grow the business—which is what we want—without growing the department’s head count by the same 30% to 40% increment.
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WebBeds | www.webbeds.com | Dubai, United Arab Emirates