Alex Beired

Alex Beired was born in Barcelona.

He received BA in Business Administration and MBA by ESADE (Barcelona) and MBA in International Management by Thunderbird (Arizona).

Alex brings 27 years of experience at Guardian.

He started at the Carleton glass plant as assistant controller. After one year, he moved to the Llodio glass plant in Spain, where Alex was controller of Fab operations while leading the implementation of Activity Based Costing and S&P across all EU plants.

5 years later, he moved to Guardian Automotive Trim division (today’s SRG Global) where he performed roles in Finance, Value Estimating (aka Quoting) and Business Development (acquisition of the Ibi Plater and expansions into Poland and Mexico), first in Valencia (7 years) and later in the US SRG Global’s headquarters (9 years).

Back to the Glass division since 2016 at the Auburn Hills office, first as FPA director and recently as Pricing Strategy director.

Michael Coveney

Michael Coveney spent 40+ years in the software analytic business with a focus on transforming the planning, budgeting, forecasting and reporting processes.

He has considerable experience in the design and implementation of Business Analytic systems with major organisations throughout the world. He is a gifted conference speaker and author where his latest book ‘Budgeting, Forecasting and Planning In Uncertain Times’ is published by J Wiley.

His articles have also appeared on www.fpa-trends.com, that encourages innovation in FP&A departments.

Larysa Melnychuk

Larysa is a leading FP&A professional and influencer. She held senior roles at top organisations such as Invensys, Key Bank, and Combined Insurance, before establishing the International FP&A Board in 2013. A high-profile global thinktank, the Board aims to identify and promote new trends and best practices in modern Financial Planning and Analysis. Larysa has successfully expanded the Board into 27 chapters in 16 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and North America.

Larysa is also the founder and CEO of the FP&A Trends Group, the leading online resource for FP&A professionals. She chairs the Global AI/ML FP&A Committee and runs a number of high-profile initiatives in the area of modern financial analytics.

Holding a Master of Science, Larysa has a highly numerical background. She is a qualified chartered management accountant (CIMA) and chartered global management accountant (CGMA), as well as holding an FP&A certification. She is also a member of the exam content writing team for the Association of Finance Professionals (AFP) FP&A certification.

Larysa is also a passionate conference speaker, and writes articles on various FP&A-related subjects – many of which you will find on the FP&A Trends website.

Michael Weiss

Business leader with experience including executive advisory, strategic value selling, management consulting, sales management & strategy, industry and investment analysis, business unit management, and strategic planning. Career includes leadership positions supporting operating plan execution in global and domestic organizations.

20+ Years Experience as a Finance Executive

Specialties include business plan development and execution, business development, strategic selling, and deal negotiation. Strong background in financial planning and analysis, operational planning, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, financial accounting, cash flow & capital planning, financial systems and project management.