Finance and accounting operations
10 month-end close acceleration experts
These ten controllers and accounting leaders have shortened the month-end close at companies they worked for, according to their own profiles. A reader can learn from them which process, reconciliation and system changes cut close days and what had to be fixed first.
Professionals to explore
01—10Angela Cottrell
LinkedInExperience: Director, Financial Transformation - Projects · Mitratech Holdings / Circa
Former Director, Financial Transformation - Projects at Mitratech Holdings / Circa (2022–2025); other roles include Sr. Director of Finance at SVS Services Group (2016–2018) and Director of Finance & Administration at Catalysis Inc. (2013–2016). Her profile says she drove month-end close process improvement to reduce the close from 15 to 8 days and optimized organizational structure within the office of the CFO.
Brian F.
LinkedInExperience: Director of Accounting · Digital Realty
Former Director of Accounting at Digital Realty (2018–2021) and at Attentive (2021–2023), and Director of Reporting and Financial Transformation at Industrious in 2025. His profile headline lists close compression, and the profile says he cut the close from WD+10 to WD+5 and led the expenses accounting function across 130+ data center properties.
Carey Bridger
LinkedInExperience: Sr Accounting Manager · Hostess Brands
Former Sr Accounting Manager at Hostess Brands (2017–2023) and North America Shared Service Center Manager at Delaval, Inc. (2005–2017). In the Hostess Brands entry, the profile says Bridger was responsible for the monthly close process, drove process improvements that reduced the financial close to four business days, and implemented an account reconciliation schedule so balance sheet accounts were reconciled and reviewed on time.
Deepa Damodar, CPA
LinkedInExperience: Global Corporate Controller · inDrive
Global Corporate Controller at inDrive since 2025; she was previously VP, Controller at Truckstop.com (2023–2024) and Global Corporate Controller at Thumbtack (2022–2023). Her profile says revenue reporting had been delayed by 20 days after month-end because of a problematic implementation, and that she designed solutions to close the books by Day 6 while leading a team of 35 in accounting operations.
Denise Eberle Cruz, CPA
LinkedInExperience: SVP, Chief Accounting Office and Corporate Controller · T1 Energy Inc.
Former SVP, Chief Accounting Office and Corporate Controller at T1 Energy Inc. (2025–2026) and Corporate Controller at FTC Solar, Inc (2022–2025); she was also Vice President Corporate Controller at Enovis (formerly DJO Global) (2018–2020). Her profile says she implemented process improvements that decreased the number of close days from over 14 business days to 3, including consolidations within the ERP and automated translation of foreign subsidiary financial statements.
Dianna B.
LinkedInExperience: Assistant Controller · SMG Industries, Inc.
Former Assistant Controller at SMG Industries, Inc. (2016–2023) and Controller at Innovative Turnaround Controls (2023–2025). In the SMG Industries entry, her profile says she directed month-end close processes for a holding company and seven operating subsidiaries, reducing close time by 40%, and implemented a 10-day hard close process.
Melinda Artis
LinkedInExperience: Vice President, Global Controller · Frost & Sullivan
At Frost & Sullivan she was Financial Controller, Americas (2019–2021), Global Accounting Director (2021–2022) and Vice President, Global Controller (2022–2025); she has been Financial Controller, North America at Apryse since 2025. Her profile says she managed a team of 6 overseeing month-end close and cash flow forecasting for 30 global entities and shortened the monthly close by 3 days, reducing errors through enhanced internal controls and regional checklists.
Raymond Xu
LinkedInExperience: Head of Accounting and Finance Operations, China · adidas
Former Head of Accounting and Finance Operations, China at adidas (2014–2021) and Financial Controller, China at Ralph Lauren since 2022. His profile lists a FAST CLOSE initiative (Dec 2018 – Jul 2019) to streamline closing processes within finance and across functions, shortening the period and delivering financial results to the board earlier, with him as project owner.
Rebecca Julie Izard, CPA
LinkedInExperience: VP, Corporate Controller · Primergy
VP, Corporate Controller at Primergy since 2026. At Pine Gate Renewables she was VP, Corporate Controller (2020–2022), SVP, Corporate Controller (2022–2023) and SVP, Executive Controller, Head of Enterprise Accounting (2023–2025), and she was Corporate Financial Controller, Head of Accounting at SunEnergy1 (2025–2026). Her profile says she reduced the month end close process and published financials from 30+ days to 10 days.
Shermaine Ng
LinkedInExperience: Financial Accountant III · F5
Former Financial Accountant III at F5 (2019–2025), after serving there as Financial Accountant II (2013–2019). The profile says Ng managed end-to-end controllership for APAC entities, directing month-end close and balance sheet reconciliations while reducing the close cycle from 5 to 3 days, and drove regional finance transformation through process automation and ERP enhancements.
Choose the right perspective
Match the person's scale to yours, since speeding up a single-entity close is a different problem from compressing a multi-entity or global close. If your close is held up by a specific bottleneck such as a system implementation or consolidation, favor someone whose profile describes fixing that kind of problem.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01Which steps in your close took the most days before you started, and what did you change first to shorten them?
- 02How did you keep reconciliations and internal controls reliable as the close timeline got shorter?
- 03How much of the time savings came from ERP, consolidation or automation changes versus process and team changes?
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot and may describe past or present roles. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.
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