Damien Harte
Well-versed in the worlds of venture capital and banking, Damien Harte has provided organizational leadership and financial direction in diverse business sectors. He has served as CFO for Europe's dominant food distribution corporation, and he held the same position for a leisure company that operates hotels and restaurants. Damien Harte also proved instrumental in the launch of a TV network, Channel 5, growing it into a £1 billion enterprise within 36 months. In addition, he spent three years as the Operational CFO of Summerfield Food Markets, where he oversaw the financial operations of a £3.5 billion retailer.
Today, Damien Harte performs as the Global Chief Financial Officer of LM Windpower, the world's largest independent producer of wind turbine blades. Since joining the Amsterdam-based manufacturer in 2010, he has worked closely with private equity owner to restructure business operations. Damien Harte cut services division costs by over €15 million by implementing productivity metrics and by transferring operations to Poland. He implemented strict controls and overhauled cash management, forecasting, and reporting. He was instrumental in spearheading the company's growth into key new growth markets such as China, India and Brazil, gaining knowledge of the renewable energy market in the world's key growth economies.
Earlier, while with the London-based turnaround firm Zolfo Cooper, Damien Harte played a key role in the successful financial and operational restructuring of the UK's largest property management company. The measures resulted in the successful sale of the firm to private investors. Between 2006 and 2009, Damien Harte was a Financial Advisor with Consensus Business Group, a multi billion pound private investment company where he successfully managed a diverse portfolio of investments ranging from property to renewable and telecoms. He specialized in developing innovative solutions for unlocking hidden value from property assets and developing long-term funding instruments to finance infrastructure investments.