Vanessa Li, Director
Vanessa is a restructuring and performance improvement professional who partners closely with management teams, sponsors, and lenders to bring clarity and rigor to high-stakes financial decisions. She has repeatedly stepped into interim leadership roles, including as an interim FP&A Director, to stabilize and rebuild critical finance functions under pressure, and has led complex wind-downs and Chapter 11 processes for private equity-backed companies. Her experience spans technology, consumer, media, energy, and food & agriculture industries.
Select Representative Experience
Served as interim FP&A Director for the company’s software division for five months, managing a two-person client-side team and reporting directly to the division CEO and enterprise VP of FP&A. Built the annual operating plan and two long-range plans, presented to global executives and sponsors, informing product integration decisions with material revenue and cost impact.
Led the rebuilding of management reporting process during an FP&A team transition and cut reporting time post-close from 15 to 3 days. Built a three-statement financial model used for reforecasting and the top-down budget process. Worked closely with the company’s sponsor and lenders on ongoing performance reporting. Hired and trained a new FP&A team before rolling off, leaving behind a fully scalable finance function.
Managed internal stakeholder coordination and served as the primary liaison between the client and its asset disposition partner during the wind-down of a business unit, facilitating capital lease buyouts across multiple lessors and the auction of 3,000+ utility equipment assets for $130M in proceeds.
Supported Chapter 11 contingency planning ahead of the company’s bankruptcy filing, working directly with the Chief Restructuring Officer and outside counsel to prepare first-day declarations and motions ensuring readiness for court proceedings.
Built a 13-week cash flow forecast from the ground up, working directly with the CFO, controller, and accounting team to gather data and validate assumptions. The forecast became the CFO’s primary tool for near-term liquidity decisions, giving leadership the visibility needed to manage cash through a critical period.
Acknowledgements
Certified Public Accountant (China, Inactive)
Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor (Level I)