Theodoros A. Mantos

Investment and consulting company with operations focus on acquisitions, consolidations, company restructuring and management consulting  to selected companies in the transport and logistics industry.
In cooperation with sister company Mare Nostrum S.A., activities also aim on maritime portfolio management and fund development, targeting market opportunities for value creation in shipping, freight forwarding and 3 PL industries. Recently, focus has been put on project development in the waste management industry.

Principals' role is on project generation, deal structuring, implementation and project financing.

Notable Accomplishments:

• Designed, developed and launched project  on innovative short sea shipping  and  fund development.
• Designed, developed and marketed unique consolidation project for Greek forwarding Industry.
• Developed M&A plans for selected companies in the freight forwarding sector in Greece.
• Elaborated business turnaround and restructuring plans for many forwarding and 3rd Party Logistics companies
• Implemented sales development and business plans for numerous forwarding companies in the Greek market.

Leading Freight Forwarding and 3rd Party Logistics Group in SE Europe region.Main activities in Freight Forwarding,(Air, Sea, Road, Multimodal), Relocation Services, Contract Logistics and Shipping. 

Approximately €70 million p.a. in consolidated turnover - 8 companies in France, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus -11 branches - 1, 000 employees & associates.

Mandated to turnaround group in turmoil, develop and expand business.
Own participation in shareholders' capital reached 30% by the end of 2004. 

Responsible for establishing group strategy and delivering on the business plan. In charge of all group operations, focused mainly on road freight and 3 PL business development, and new business set-up.
Responsible for partner networks, projects, banks, top accounts. Managing group financial performance and the capital structure.
Monitoring all activities, procedures and project implementation. Recruiting, hiring, training, managing developing and appraising the performance of management staff.

Notable Accomplishments: ·

• Propelled unprecedented sales growth and increased consolidated turnover from  €18 million to €70 million within eight years. Increased ROE by 600% and EBITDA 10 times within same period. Company ranking rose to 3rd in the industry, placing it among the top-500 Greek companies.
• Introduced pioneering new strategy changing company niche orientation, transform it in“ a one-stop shop” regional leader.
• Introduced new organizational structure, new divisions & directions and new middle-management positions.Staffed all key director and middle-management positions with capable professionals, creating a concrete company structure.
• Initiated B.P.R. and restructured all company activities standardizing processes and procedures.
• Completely  re-organized the road freight division and re-engineered all its activities. Re-organization resulted in the alleviation of bottlenecks, 45% improved staff productivity and improved output in terms of quality & service performance.
• Completely redesigned cross docking warehouse operations to improve productivity, speed and efficiency.
• Rebuilt 3 rd party logistics, turning it from a distressed company activity into a new division, and ranking 3rd in the industry. Established and advanced the overseas division into a business leader in project and military transports. Developed highly competitive innovative national distribution networks.
• Established and grew four subsidiary companies in France, Romania, Bulgaria & Cyprus. Set-up three new branches in Greece. Begun a trading company to facilitate innovative 4 PL business. Acquired two leading companies on re-locations and fine arts. 
• Put emphasis on road freight development (groupage, LTL/FTL). Redesigned the old while and introduced new trade lanes covering all Europe and PECO countries. Introduced multimodal lines.
• Achieved superb maximization of load factors over 94%. Introduced new optimization software for light/heavy combinations and payload maximization (over 30 tones). Changed operation plans to become more concrete, profitable and time accurate and improved lead times. Focused on new and on rich ton-mile routes to increase profitability and margins.
• Personally involved to develop new budget planning method linking sales and operations under common targets and KPI’s. This in turn eliminated conflict of interest between sales and operation departments increasing results and productivity to record levels.
• Developed advanced cost and pricing methods and report system to better understand cost and profit structures.
• Introduced new cost and price catalogs and implemented profit maximizing software based on heuristic algorithms.
• Negotiated personally with suppliers (hauliers, partners and shipping companies) to achieve availability, capacity, lower rates, and higher payloads. Introduced track and trace software to speed up information on operations and improve service.
• Centralized the purchase of cargo capacity and concentrated on global service centers.
• Expanded globally by changing almost 80% of the company partner networks. Revised network strategy to focus on network stability and operations process homogeneity. As such, created and personally negotiated strong partnerships with industry leaders like Rhenus, Hellmann, Gebruder Weiss, Davies Turner, Heppner, SDV, Agility, Italsempione, ESSERS, Bosman, Salvat. Entered the company into System Alliance Europe.
• Developed and executed marketing strategies geared towards both internal and external target audiences.
• Focused on new product development, with stronger focus on individual segments customer needs.
• Managed company, re-positioning and branding and introduced dedicated and specialized products and group of services for specific industries (pharma and healthcare, hotel, textiles, industrial, chemical and plastics, automotive, spare parts, DAP & electronics, , food and beverages, FMCG, flower, telecom and mobile telephony).
• Enhanced and strengthen the clientele basis thereby creating one of the largest and more diversified client portfolios in the sector with more than 4,500 active customers. Personally involved to earn numerous key accounts like Philips, BSH, DT, Carrefour, Unilever, P&G, HP, Yara, ABB, Kaercher, Stiehl, Pfizer, Wurth, etc.
• Focused and penetrated specific target groups and industries adapting the sales channels to specific segments.
• Invested and developed new infrastructure and personally involved in the design and project management of five new warehouses, cross docking depots, and office start ups (60k m2).
• Implemented new ERP to improve productivity and efficiency. Introduced CRM, simulation and optimization software and detailed Business Intelligence software providing online management reporting.
• Introduced new HR management appraisal systems and bonus system based on KPI’s. Implemented education center within the company.
• Certified the company with ISO-TUV, FIDI, TAPA, AEO quality systems. Introduced and standardized customer satisfaction surveys.
• Participated in M&A deals. Negotiated and sold subsidiary in France following spin- off strategy execution.

Established, developed and managed one of the company's top-5 branches. Reported to the Managing Director.

Responsible for all aspects of business operations, client & business development, reporting, cash management and risk management.
Set budgets and monitored the desk's overall financial performance. Recruited, hired, trained and managed staff.

Notable Accomplishments:

• Organized and supervised branch set-up, construction and establishment to make it a leader in the local market.
• Developed a strong client base within a short period of time. Successfully developed and managed an equity portfolio worth over  €70 million.

Positioned to increase equity portfolio sales and penetrate the ship-owner investor target group. Reported to the Managing Director.

Responsible for private customer equity portfolio design, development, analysis and risk management.

Notable Accomplishments:

• Raised a €28 million selected customers' portfolio in a 16 months time.
• Effectively penetrated targeted customer audience and promoted portfolio of Templeton financial products.

Forex Trading, specializing in CHF. Reported to the dealing room head.
Member of the Management Associate Training Program. 

Family business in the retail & wholesale sectors, specializing in footwear & accessories.

Directing  the company’s commercial advancement.
Responsible for all aspects of business operations, development, marketing, financing, cash management and purchasing.
Setting budgets, monitoring the company’s overall  financial performance.

 Notable  Accomplishments:

• Capitalized on company brand name recognition to advance the company sales and become a local market leader. Sales during the last three years rose at a CAGR 63%.
•  Identified market opportunities to conceptualize and successfully open two new retail outlets. 

Honors Degree on program that combined the global perspective of International Business, Trade  and Finance and the strategic thinking required to develop and defend competitive advantage and implement effective organizational designs.

Double Major in Marketing Management and in Accounting & Finance .    Minors in Management Information Systems (MIS) and HR Management. (GPA 3.6,  Deans List,  Deans Assistant).