Dan Pinsel, Vice President of Finance, Food For Thought, Inc.
“While working with Joe at Food For Thought, he demonstrated the ability to combine financial/accounting expertise with a detailed operational understanding of the business. This application resulted in process changes and efficiencies which lowered expenses and improved the company’s bottom line. Joe completed projects where he was able to provide senior management with detailed information regarding process definition and financial opportunities to help improve efficiency and financial performance. Joe proved to be a team player who worked with integrity and showed a tremendous amount of passion for the business.”
Chris Opper, Executive Chef, Food For Thought, Inc.
“While Joe and I worked together at Food For Thought, he was the Mastermind behind the financials. A consummate professional who went above and beyond what his current project at hand was while striving to help out the next group with their project. Joe held everyone to the level of responsibility, accountability, and professionalism in the office, and expected the same in return.”
Nancy Sharp, CEO/Owner, Food For Thought, Inc.
“Joe Thielmann is a financial professional, executive-level performer of the highest caliber. He was hired as a Financial & Operational consultant to help strengthen our financial functionality and to lend a hand on the Operations side which included defining the best footprint for our thirteen food service entities, to perform due diligence regarding a franchise acquisition, to collaborate in the negotiation and execution with the line of credit increase and to forecast & project cash flow during a highly volatile time. In his nine months of employment at Food For Thought, Joe worked closely with our VP of Purchasing and Executive Chef in determining the best product costing methods and pricing strategies to be used. Working with the VP of Finance and Controller he was able to collaborate with the bank in a debt financing agreement. He provided a very detailed twelve-month cash flow to align current costs with current revenue. All departments appreciated Joe’s level of knowledge and expertise. While Joe possesses astute financial skills he also has the ability to deconstruct and communicate the idiosyncrasies of complex transactions with non-accountants. He shares tools, spreadsheets, data sites, etc. without reservation and, more importantly, with the attitude of a peer. You will find his patience, sense of humor, and generosity extremely helpful when selling new & effective processes within your firm. Joe is a valuable asset to have on your team and I strongly recommend him to any organization.”
Chad Cassinelli, Human Resource Manager, Food For Thought, Inc.
“Joe came to us as a referral from another executive in the company to do some financial consulting and process improvement. Over the course of the next eight months, Joe’s attention to detail and high-level expertise helped FFT Accounting and HR create many new efficiencies as well as extensive cost savings that made a huge impact in our operation over the course of a difficult year. Joe is a very knowledgeable and driven finance professional and would be an asset to any company. Joe also has a very good sense of humor and is very good at breaking down complex financial analysis into language that is easy to understand for those that are not of a financial background. I would definitely hire him again if the situation presented itself.”
Joe McMahon, Partner, Hinshaw and Culbertson
“Joe Thielmann has assisted me in analyzing complex financial data and synthesizing that information into a clear and concise message. His dedication, integrity, and work ethic are great attributes and he is easy to work with. He is a great team player.”
Brian Rosen, President/Owner, Sam’s Wine & Spirits
“Joe came very highly recommended to me when I was CEO of Sam’s Wines and Spirits. Joe was thrust into the CFO role from a finance position and did not flinch or miss a beat. He quickly sped up monthly close, replace the team with better players, and made the accounting and finance department a world-class operation. Joe was also gifted in cash flow projections often coming within dollars of forecast 6-12 months ahead of the date. I would lean on Joe in difficult times and situations financially and he was strong, stable, and even-keeled.”
Nicole Dick, Director of Purchasing, Sam’s Wine & Spirits
“It’s refreshing to work with someone in finance who understands both numbers and people. As the Purchasing Director, I had to work closely with the finance department; working with Joe as the CFO made my job easier. Joe is creative, intelligent, and full of ideas. He was a great resource to the employees at Sam’s, and will be a valuable addition to any company he chooses to work for.”
Anne Hardy, Director of Business Development, Sam’s Wine & Spirits
“Joe Thielmann is an extremely dedicated and motivated professional. As Director of Business Development, I worked with Joe on everything from new business strategy to analysis regarding our current business and Joe was able to take all the data and communicate it to me in a way I could understand; and use that knowledge learned, to grow various sales channels. He consistently went above and beyond my expectations and his outgoing personality and relationship-focused approach allowed him to work well amongst many diverse project teams. I would suggest Joe for any working environment and all teams.
Jim Breslin, Manager, Bearing Point
“I have had the good fortune to work closely with Joe on various projects and initiatives. I have seen Joe consistently demonstrate the business acumen, focus, and financial savviness necessary to accomplish complex business transformations. I look forward to the opportunity to work with Joe again in the future.”
Glenn Larson, Controller, ITT Bell & Gossett, Retired
“I am pleased to highly recommend Joseph Thielmann as a candidate for any organization. Joe reported to me for five years as General Accounting Manager, at both ITT McDonnell & Miller and ITT Bell & Gossett. He is a proven self-starting, dependable manager who requires minimal supervision. I found Joe to be extremely hard-working and effective. As an integral member of our financial team during our company consolidation project, Joe successfully managed several different teams that greatly contributed to the accomplishment of this complicated task. During the project, he demonstrated strong leadership, initiative, and interpersonal skills. He also was instrumental in completing the Sarbanes-Oxley documentation project when this requirement was introduced. Joe independently managed departmental issues and strove to improve efficiency and decrease costs. He was dedicated to always doing his best in every endeavor he attempted. I firmly believe that Joe would be a great addition to your organization.”
Chris Wienke, VP, and Controller, Fluid Handling Division
Before my relatively recent retirement, I was Vice-President and Controller of the Fluid Handling Division, a $350M, multi-plant organization of ITT. Joe Thielmann, who I highly recommend, worked for that division for five years, first as a General Accounting Manager of a $50M plant and later in a very important leadership role where he collaborated with other functions in the reorganization and combination of two plants into a $350M organization. He was later promoted to the Financial Planning Manager’s position of the new organization. This reorganization was a highly visible and important ITT corporate project with an extremely tight deadline that involved the combination of two separate information systems and the movement of all manufacturing assets from one plant to another. Joe was responsible for the accounting of all asset movement and the reconciliation of the two plant financial records. More importantly, he collaborated with information systems, customer service, and marketing management on the new development of product pricing programs and the transfer of the customer order backlog from one plant to another. Despite extreme pressure from upper management to cut-over to the newly developed software programs before they were fully tested, Joe displayed strong leadership qualities while proving the need to delay the project cut-over for one month. The whole reorganization and systems upgrade was completed during a twelve-month period.”
Tony Klaich, Partner, Crowe Horwath LLP
“Joe worked non-stop in a fast-paced dynamic start-up and was very involved in most aspects of the finance function. I’ve known Joe personally for a number of years beginning from his MBA program at Notre Dame and am comfortable speaking on his behalf.”
Robert Dvorak, VP & General Manager, R&CW Americas, and ITT McDonnell & Miller
“Joe Thielmann is an extremely dedicated and motivated professional that consistently went above and beyond the expectations of his colleagues. His outgoing personality and relationship focus approach allowed him to work well amongst many diverse project teams. As General Accounting Manager for ITT McDonnell & Miller, Joe continued to strive for improvement. I found that he is very flexible and hard-working, willing to spend extra time when necessary. He’s hands-on, unpretentious, and will not shy away from difficult situations. His intelligence and positive attitude have also impressed other managers in the corporation. I would suggest Joe for any working environment and all teams.”
John Cecilia, LSW, MSW, Marketing Manager, ITT McDonnell & Miller
“While we were both at ITT, Joe was the General Accounting Manager, which meant he was in charge of all the day-to-day operational functions of all accounting, including billing, collections, and the other customer-related pieces. As the Marketing Manager with some sales responsibilities, I often had significant interest in these areas and needed help from Joe in dealing with customers and our various selling organizations, which he always was willing to provide. In addition, with my marketing hat on, I was always looking for help in regards to costing, pricing, and numerous other collections of data to help us better understand and optimize our business. Again, Joe and his people were always ready to help and in fact participate in our projects. Joe was always the consummate professional in our relationship, looking as I was to help optimize our business, and I would not hesitate to recommend him.”
Michael Rosenberg, IS Manager, ITT McDonnell & Miller
“I had the opportunity to work with Joe while he was the Accounting Manager for McDonnell and Miller and I was the IS Manager. Joe and I collaborated on a quite few activities, most notability to ensure our compliance with Sarbanes – Oxley. Joe was always on time with his activities and brought a high level of expertise and professionalism to the table. I would highly recommend Joe for any position that he is being considered for.”
Michael Godzik, CFO, BMI, Inc.
“Joe was hired at BMI when BMI was establishing its international presence. He was given the responsibility of establishing accounting and internal controls for BMI’s Germany facility. Joe wholeheartedly jumped into the project, spending many hours working to ensure the integrity/success of that operation. I would hire Joe again if I had a position open.”
John Sturm, VP Manufacturing, BMI, Inc.
“Joe possesses a very strategic framework with his approach and is a expert initiator of tactics to reach and exceed objectives. I highly recommend Joe as an integral part of the financial team.”