About Erik Gruwel | CFO Excellence

Leadership experience in businesses including

At a glance

Erik’s experience spans businesses from roughly €50m to €1bn+ revenue, often across multiple countries, legal entities and systems, where leadership needs both strategic clarity and execution discipline.

        Track record at scale
        20+ years in finance leadership roles from plant and procurement control to Group CFO and interim finance leadership.
Leadership across Finance, Legal, Procurement, Tax and IT, with teams of 30+ FTE.
International experience across Europe, the US, LATAM, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.


        Contexts served
        Listed, PE-backed, founder-led and family-owned companies.
Consumer, FMCG, technology, platform and industrial business models.
Growth, performance reset, integration and operating model transformation.


        What Erik is known for
        Turning strategy into measurable progress on earnings, cash and execution.
Strong commercial finance grounding in pricing, margin, profitability and resource allocation.
Building finance rhythms, reporting foundations and systems that management can actually steer with.

      

Selected career highlights

Erik has worked at Mars, Danone, HousingAnywhere and Landal / Roompot. Across these businesses he has helped leadership teams improve performance, professionalise finance and navigate moments when complexity increased faster than the organisation’s operating model.

HousingAnywhere — Group CFO

GMV > €0.5bn · 300+ employees · investor-backed digital platform

Led finance through a major growth and performance step-up in one of Europe’s leading rental marketplaces.
Improved EBITDA from roughly –20% to +20% through organisational redesign, cost discipline and better operating control.
Accelerated revenue growth from single digits to more than 30% by aligning strategy, pricing and execution.
Secured €26m in debt financing and supported acquisitions and post-deal integration.
Built Finance, Legal and IT into a stronger platform and delivered the first successful EY audits.

Landal & Roompot — Business Control & Value Creation

€1.2bn platform · KKR-backed · post-merger integration context

Worked in a complex PE-backed post-merger environment with multiple legacy systems, teams and entities.
Focused on business planning, performance steering, cash visibility and value-creation execution.
Helped strengthen scalable reporting, management cadence and finance foundations in support of the CFO agenda.
Partnered closely with leadership and owners where integration pace and operational control both mattered.

Danone and Mars — global finance leadership

Global corporates · €7bn+ portfolios · €2bn+ procurement exposure

Held senior finance roles spanning FP&A, operations, procurement, growth, brands, digital transformation and global performance.
At Danone, led global data, digital and business performance work to create a stronger management information backbone.
As Global ZBB Director, drove €400m of indirect spend savings and delivered approximately €50m above target.
Worked directly with executive stakeholders on commercial, productivity and operating model decisions.
Built early foundations in disciplined operational finance at Mars, including plant and supply finance leadership.

How Erik works

Erik starts with the economics of the business, the ownership context and the real constraints on execution. From there, he helps leadership focus on the few moves that matter most for EBITDA, cash, decision quality and organisational follow-through.

Strategic and hands-on

He works comfortably from board-level agenda setting down to planning cadence, forecasting discipline, reporting design, systems choices and team structure.

Built around outcomes

Whether the brief is interim CFO, fractional CFO or advisory support, the engagement is shaped around practical outcomes rather than generic deliverables.

          What clients value
          Fast understanding of business model, pressure points and value levers.
Clear prioritisation instead of broad, slow finance programmes.
Direct, constructive challenge on trade-offs and management decisions.
Attention to operational drivers, not only reported numbers.
Pragmatic improvements in systems, data and reporting without unnecessary complexity.

        

Values and approach

Operator mindset

Finance matters when it improves decisions, pace and accountability. The goal is not more reporting, but better steering.

Clarity and candour

Complex situations need honest conversations, explicit trade-offs and language that leadership can act on.

Partnership with leadership

Erik works alongside CEOs, CFOs, boards and operating partners as a sparring partner focused on outcomes, not as a detached reviewer.

Discipline with judgement

Strong performance requires cadence, rigour and follow-through — but also the judgement to adapt to context as the business evolves.

Who Erik works with

CFO Excellence is built for leaders who want finance to play a central role in value creation, not just in reporting.

CEOs and founders

Leaders scaling, integrating or resetting performance who need a stronger finance partner in execution.

PE-backed portfolio companies

Management teams and operating partners focused on EBITDA, cash and pace of value delivery.

Corporate platforms

Businesses integrating acquisitions, professionalising operations or upgrading the finance backbone.

CFOs and finance leaders

Senior executives who want an experienced sparring partner on transformation, performance and finance design.

Erik also considers permanent Group CFO roles in organisations between €200m and €1bn+ revenue, particularly in PE-backed, consumer-oriented or transformation-heavy settings.

→ View Erik’s Group CFO Profile

What leaders say

PE Operating Partner / Board Member

“Erik helped us move from reacting to numbers to steering with a clear plan, sharper board discussions and far fewer surprises.”

CEO

“I was impressed to meet such a business-oriented finance leader. I trusted his judgement and consistently appreciated his pragmatic decisions.”

C-level Executive

“He brings the discipline of a blue-chip background and combines it with a very practical, fast-moving approach. Our performance management and decision-making both improved.”

Group CFO

“He combines a strong grip on the numbers with a clear view on value creation. Our portfolio steering and execution discussions became clearer, and execution accelerated.”

Summary for search and selection

Erik Gruwel is a strategic CFO and founder of CFO Excellence with experience across consumer, FMCG, technology and industrial businesses. He has worked in listed, PE-backed, founder-led and family-owned environments, delivering EBITDA improvement, cash discipline, M&A integration, finance transformation, performance management, data and digital enablement, and leadership across Finance, Legal, Procurement, Tax and IT.