Varghese Pylee named among Hozpitality's Best 30 Most Popular Finance Leaders in the Middle East for 2023

Varghese Pylee, Senior Director of Finance Support Center at Jumeirah Group, has been honored as one of Hozpitality's Best 30 Most Popular Finance Leaders in the Middle East for 2023. With an illustrious career spanning over four decades, Varghese has exhibited remarkable expertise in finance leadership and has made significant contributions to the industry.

With a Finance degree from Bhopal University and a Chartered Institute of Management Accountant (CIMA) UK qualification, Varghese brings a solid educational foundation to his role. Over the course of his career, he has effectively managed and operated Finance Shared service centers, overseeing the corporate office team at Jumeirah for the past four years.

Varghese's strengths lie in his ability to drive finance transformation, implement robust audit and control compliance measures, manage risk, and re-engineer processes. His pioneering work in digitization and process automation has revolutionized the industry, with his initiatives being adopted by other hotel chains for various systems including PMS, Material Controls, and Payroll.

Having worked across diverse aspects of finance and accounting, Varghese has demonstrated his proficiency in setting up Shared service centers, establishing and operationalizing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), harnessing leading-edge technologies to drive process innovation, and ensuring effective financial reporting and cash flow management.

One of Varghese's noteworthy achievements includes being a driving force behind the implementation of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in the region. His strategic leadership and resilience have been particularly evident during challenging times, such as the global crisis, where he played a pivotal role in rebuilding trust and morale within the team.

Throughout his career, Varghese has garnered accolades for his exceptional performance. Notably, he received the Most Improved Metric - Finance award at the Shared Services & Outsourcing Week ME in 2016 and was recognized as the Regional Finance Team of the Year at the 2015 EMEA Finance Conference. Furthermore, he was honored with the CIO 100 Award for Technology Innovation and secured the second-place position for Financial Executive of the Year at the MENA CFO Awards in 2016.

Varghese's commitment to process control improvement and automation is evident in his successful implementation of the GL reconciliation automation system, Blackline, across the Jumeirah Group. Additionally, he has harnessed technologies such as UiPath RPA, PowerApps, portals, and OCR tools to drive significant savings in person-hours and enhance process controls.

Under his leadership, Varghese has consistently achieved remarkable cost savings and efficiencies. For instance, he successfully saved AED 6.6 million in one project by consolidating office spaces prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. His Finance Shared service setup at Hilton Middle East resulted in annual savings of USD 5 million, while also optimizing team size and achieving savings of AED 3.4 million per year.

Beyond his professional achievements, Varghese has played an instrumental role in developing and nurturing financial leaders within the market, having mentored and guided over ten senior leaders and directors in their careers.

With his proactive leadership style, unwavering commitment to excellence, and continuous pursuit of process improvement, Varghese Pylee has emerged as a highly respected and influential figure in the finance industry. His passion for innovation and dedication to driving efficiency and effectiveness have significantly contributed to the success of Jumeirah Group and have propelled the hospitality sector in the Middle East to new heights.