Senior Finance Executive | San Francisco Bay Area
Building finance functions,
not maintaining them.
Twenty years at Chevron leading the finance organization delivering business insights to a $30 billion LNG megaproject, the finance integration of a $3 billion acquisition, and a global SAP S/4HANA transformation leading more than 200 finance professionals.
Grouped by what each one does for a business, and where she proved it.
Builds the function
SAP S/4HANA go-live for 5,000+ users
SEC and IFRS statutory reporting, SOX
Work built into lower-cost delivery centers
Runs the numbers
$135B revenue, $20B capital program
$30B Wheatstone LNG, peak construction
Leads the change
$3B Renewable Energy Group, $350M Pasadena
JV board seat, carbon and ESG reporting
Global talent organization, sponsorship program
The part a résumé doesn’t capture: what it is like to work with her.
Executive teams call on her when the stakes are high and the path forward is unclear. She starts by giving the work a shape everyone can see, then moves.
Every transformation she has led came down to whether people stayed, understood the why, and could do the work. She builds the team first and keeps it through the change.
She stays near the detail of the business, which is how problems reach her before they reach the results, and why her forecasts hold up under scrutiny.
“Give people purpose and show how their work contributes to enterprise results, and they’ll rise to the challenges almost every time.”
Building high-performing teams, translating finance into insight the business can act on, and connecting the dots before they become issues.
Most recent work first
Now
After twenty years inside one of the world’s largest enterprises, Tavia is bringing that experience to a mission-driven organization in a growth chapter, where the finance function is still taking shape and insight with technology drives strategy. She is currently completing a program in agentic AI strategy and applications, with a focus on putting it to work in corporate finance.
2023 – 2026
As General Manager for the finance side of Chevron’s multi-year SAP S/4HANA transformation, she directed more than 200 finance professionals to an on-time, on-budget go-live across businesses holding a third of enterprise asset value. The work standardized processes for 5,000+ users, modernized payments with no disruption to the business, and built project expertise into lower-cost global delivery centers.
Company’s largest ERP go-live, 5,000+ users2022 – 2023
She led the finance integration of Renewable Energy Group from announcement through stabilization: reporting, controls, systems, governance, processes, and people. She set the post-acquisition governance frameworks, folded results into SEC and management reporting by the first quarter close, and integrated the talent the synergies depended on.
Integrated into SEC reporting by first-quarter close2020 – 2022
Reporting to the CFO and serving on the Senior Finance Leadership Team, she stood up Chevron’s global finance talent organization after a major enterprise restructuring. She rebuilt capability through targeted experienced hiring, ran leadership pipeline programs, and launched a formal sponsorship program pairing senior leaders with high-potential employees.
Global finance talent organization stood up2018 – 2020
Running decision support and reporting for manufacturing and retail businesses earning $2 billion a year, she advised on the formation of an alternative fuels joint venture with California Bioenergy and dairy producers, and took a seat on its first board. She led the team through incorporation of the $350 million Pasadena Refinery acquisition, and when COVID-19 hit, built rapid-response cost analytics that showed leaders where to act as retail volumes fell.
First JV board seat, $350M acquisition2016 – 2018
As senior enterprise FP&A advisor to Chevron’s CFO and Controller, she led annual business planning across roughly $135 billion of revenue and a $20 billion capital program, and delivered the consolidated forecasts, drivers, and risks behind executive decisions. She prepared the CFO and Controller for board meetings, quarterly earnings calls, and Investor Day.
$135B revenue, $20B capital program2011 – 2016
Tavia led project accounting for Wheatstone LNG, a $30 billion operated megaproject in Western Australia, through its peak construction years. She built a finance team as the project scaled after FID, moved core support from the US to Australia, and put financial oversight around the onshore construction contractor that sharpened forecast accuracy and reduced cost variances and claims. She stayed on in Perth to run forecasting, internal reporting, and statutory reporting for Chevron’s Australian operations through the most capital-intensive stretch in the region.
$30B megaproject through peak constructionBS, Business Administration and Management
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, magna cum laude
Board Member, Chevron Renewable Gas Joint Venture
Industry Board Member, Cal Poly Accounting Advisory Board
Tavia appears in Chevron’s renewable campaign.
Come the weekend, you’ll find me on a snowy mountain with a dog trailing along, coffee in hand, and a ski run waiting for me (I am a proud fair-weather skier). When we’re not there, my family explores corners of the world we’ve never seen, making sure our son learns early that the world is far too big and beautiful to experience through a screen.
For executive search, leadership, and advisory conversations, reach Tavia directly.
Tavia@TaviaNelson.com
Résumé available on request.