Lorena Fuel

Driving efficiency, compliance, and innovation across global payment, cash, and reconciliation operations. Results-driven Accounts Payable and Treasury Operations Leader with 15+ years of experience transforming financial operations across retail, fashion, and e-commerce, and testing and inspection industries. Proven success in optimizing payment workflows, improving reconciliation accuracy, and implementing automation that reduced costs by up to 30%.

Skilled in leading global teams, driving ERP integrations, and ensuring compliance with SOX, GAAP, and international tax regulations across the U.S., Canada, U.K., and EU. Recognized for building collaborative partnerships with Finance, IT, Tax, and Operations to enhance cash flow, working capital, and financial visibility.

Accounts Payable Manager at TIC Solutions (2024-12 – Present)

• Lead global AP operations and serve as the primary business partner for AP across all regions within the USA and Canada.
• Collaborate with the Procurement Operations team to optimize the Source-to-Pay (S2P) process and systems.
• Act as the accounting lead for AP, partnering with Treasury, Legal, IT, HR, Compliance, and Commercial teams.
• Champion AP transformation initiatives in collaboration with the BPO partner including implementing proactive, and preventative solutions in compliance with SOX / Internal Controls requirements.
• Serve as the senior escalation point and decision-maker for AP-related issues.
• Oversee internal and external audits, quarterly reviews, and ensure AP activities meet internal controls and SOX requirements.
• Managed the processing and reconciliation of real estate transactions for over 100 locations across USA and Canada, partnering with Real Estate and Legal to resolve discrepancies, ensure compliance with lease agreements, and maintain accurate financial records.
• Manage the corporate credit card program, ensuring policy compliance and effective administration.
• Support account reconciliation process by ensuring timely resolution and clearing of aged open items.
• Prepare regular AP reports and KPIs for senior leadership, including cash flow forecasts, outstanding payables, and aging reports.

Accounts Payable Manager at Sally Beauty (2023-02 – 2024-11)

• Led U.S. and Canada Accounts Payable operations supporting 10,000+ vendors while managing a team of 15 professionals, including AP Supervisors, Coordinators, and Specialists.
• Served as AP business lead and key liaison between Finance, IT, Inventory Accounting, Tax, and third-party providers to resolve complex system, pricing, inventory, and payment discrepancies.
• Utilized Oracle E-Business Suite to identify, analyze, and resolve invoice, inventory, and pricing variances; developed reporting and root-cause analyses that improved data accuracy and reduced reconciliation issues.
• Partnered with IT teams to troubleshoot and resolve ERP system discrepancies, including invoice matching variances, pricing errors, inventory reconciliation issues, and recurring transaction exceptions.
• Acted as AP subject matter expert for Kofax OCR invoice automation, managing invoice workflow queues, exception processing, routing logic, and invoice capture accuracy.
• Developed and maintained OCR automation rules that enabled automatic coding, approval routing, and invoice classification, significantly reducing manual intervention and processing time.
• Designed and maintained KPI dashboards measuring invoice cycle times, payment failures, discount capture rates, invoice backlog, exception volumes, and reconciliation discrepancies.
• Presented operational metrics, system performance results, and AP aging analysis during weekly meetings with the Director of AP and bi-weekly reviews with the Corporate Controller.

Accounts Payable Supervisor at Stitch Fix (2021-11 – 2022-12)

• Supervised a team of 10 Accounts Payable Specialists responsible for vendor onboarding, inventory AP, invoice processing, payment administration, and vendor master maintenance.
• Served as AP business representative for Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP implementation and integration projects, collaborating with Finance, Procurement, IT, and external consultants throughout design, testing, deployment, and post-go-live support.
• Led Accounts Payable participation in two enterprise Oracle Fusion integration projects involving vendor onboarding automation, supplier master data governance, payment processing integrations, and electronic remittance solutions. Collaborated with senior Finance and IT leaders to define business requirements, execute UAT testing, resolve system defects, and implement scalable AP processes supporting business growth and operational excellence.
• Supported implementation of an automated vendor onboarding platform integrated with Oracle Fusion, enabling suppliers to securely submit vendor information, banking details, tax forms, corporate documents, and supporting compliance documentation through self-service workflow.
• Assisted in workflow configuration and approval hierarchy mapping based on spend thresholds, business ownership, and internal control requirements.
• Developed and maintained SOPs, process documentation, training materials, and internal controls supporting Oracle Fusion implementation and post-deployment operations.
• Produced AP disbursement reporting, payment analytics, vendor performance metrics, and operational dashboards for senior leadership review.

Treasury Manager at Inditex USA (2016-06 – 2021-10)

• Directed treasury and cash management for 104 retail stores and e-commerce platforms with a $2.1B cash portfolio.
• Negotiated with financial institutions to reduce banking fees by 30% and consolidated the banking network by 60%.
• Oversaw daily cash positioning and 90-day forecasting, strengthening liquidity management and reporting accuracy.
• Spearheaded chargeback analysis and recovery, yielding $4M in savings by identifying root causes and implementing controls.
• Managed letters of credit and bank guarantees, ensuring compliance and maintaining adequate liquidity levels.
• Implemented treasury automation tools (CashPro, JP Morgan Access) to improve cash visibility and reconciliation speed by 10%.
• Daily reconciliation of Cash and Credit Card transactions for all retail stores.
• Worked with credit card processing partners on document and information requests and fraud/chargebacks.

Senior Finance & Operation Analyst at LVMH Fashion Brands (2008-01 – 2016-05)

• Consolidated treasury operations for five luxury brands, managing $200M in daily cash and $110M in monthly FX hedging.
• Increased cash forecast accuracy from 30% to ±5%, improving decision-making for global liquidity planning.
• Negotiated payment terms and developed vendor performance tracking that reduced cost leakage.
• Authored expense control policies and workflow documentation that enhanced accountability and audit readiness.

Inventory Control Consultant at Tory Burch (2007-08 – 2007-12)

• Partnered with IT and Retail Operations to oversee physical inventory, reconcile variances, and align reporting with financial policy.

BBA in Business Management – Devry University