Guiding the Finance Team and the Enterprise at Large Through M&A Activities

  • Walking through a timeline of the who, what, where, when, why, and how of bringing two different companies together in a productive and compliant way
  • Building bridges to the other Finance team to allow two-way communication, coordination, and collaboration as the two parties come together
  • Discussing common obstacles and stumbling blocks in M&A activity. What can be done to avoid these pitfalls?
  • Illustrating best practices, lessons learned, and key takeaways based on Mars’ experience acquiring KIND North America. Where are we as a Finance team and as a company today on the far side of this union?

Dumitrache Martinez
Global CFO, Kind & Nature’s Bakery
Mars

Dumitrache (Dumi) Martínez has twenty-four years of corporate experience in global companies – Procter & Gamble, Danone, SCA/Essity and Mars/KIND – in Mergers & Acquisitions, Competitive Intelligence, Business Development, Strategic Planning, Financial Planning & Analysis, Commercial Finance, Product Supply Finance, Business Control, Taxes, Treasury, Accounting, and Internal Controls.

In his role as Global CFO, KIND and Nature’s Bakery, Dumi oversees finance and strategy for the Health and Wellness business unit of Mars, Inc. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, for more than a century, Mars has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. This idea is at the center of who we have always been as a global, family-owned business. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating, and evolving in ways that affirm their commitment to making a positive impact on the world around us. Across a diverse and expanding portfolio of confectionery, food, and petcare products and services, Mars, Inc. employs 133,000 dedicated associates who are all moving in the same direction: forward. With $40 billion in annual sales, they produce some of the world’s best-loved brands including DOVE®, EXTRA®, M&M’s®, MILKY WAY®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, ORBIT®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, SKITTLES®, BEN’S ORIGINAL™, WHISKAS®, COCOAVIA®, and 5™.

Dumi serves as CFO for this newly created business unit with sales across North America, Europe, Australia, Middle East and Africa. This team is also responsible for the transition of the recent acquisitions of KIND North America and Nature’s Bakery, which support Mars’ Health and Wellness aspirations, as they provide a unique opportunity to create a separate and distinct platform while scaling their insurgent portfolio.

Prior to joining Mars Inc., Dumi was the CFO for Essity’s Professional Hygiene business unit and Essity’s Americas business unit, which included financial oversight of all Consumer and B2B operations from Canada to South America, each with annual revenues of $3 billion. Throughout his tenure in Essity he worked for all their businesses in Latin America, for the commercial businesses in North America and led M&A activities. Dumi also served as a board member in Familia, Essity’s joint venture in South America. Prior to Essity, Dumi worked for Danone in Latin America, after starting his career at Procter & Gamble both in North and Latin America.

Dumi received an M.S. in International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management and Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, in Phoenix, Arizona. He earned his B.S. in Economics from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Nuevo León, México. He has attended executive education programs at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (Mergers and Acquisitions), The Stockholm School of Economics (Value Creation), Thunderbird Europe (Doing business with the European Community), and Harvard University (2021, VUCA Essentials; 2016 & 2017, CFO of the Future Summit and VUCA Essentials). In 2016, Dumi was awarded CFO of the Year by the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Dumi is fluent in Spanish, English, and has basic knowledge of French and Portuguese. His passion for intellectual curiosity and cultural diversity has inspired his travels to 58 countries and counting!