Transforming Tronox with Director of Finance Rob Alleva — Episode 092

Modernizing finance inside a global manufacturing organization is rarely straightforward. In Episode 092 of CPM Customer Success, Nova Advisory sits down with Rob Alleva, Director of Finance at Tronox, to explore what real finance transformation looks like at scale. Joined by Nova’s Senior Vice President of Delivery, Tom Foley, the conversation offers a candid look at how Tronox navigated complexity, replaced legacy systems, and built a more integrated, resilient finance function.

Episode Summary

This episode examines Tronox’s multi-year journey to modernize finance across a highly complex, global operating environment. Rob Alleva outlines the challenges Tronox faced before OneStream, including fragmented CPM systems, manual planning and consolidation processes, limited visibility, and heavy reliance on spreadsheets. Following a major acquisition, these challenges intensified, requiring the finance organization to rethink how it planned, closed, and analyzed performance.

Rob and Tom discuss how Tronox approached transformation with a focus on standardization, scalability, and transparency. Central to that effort was replacing multiple legacy applications with a single CPM platform that unified actuals, planning, forecasting, and reporting. The discussion highlights how automating cash flow, balance sheet processes, intercompany activity, and inventory planning significantly reduced manual effort while improving accuracy and auditability.

A key theme throughout the episode is the role of perpetual, driver-based planning. Tronox moved away from static, cycle-based forecasting toward an integrated model where commercial, supply chain, operations, treasury, tax, and finance teams all contribute data through structured workflows. This approach enabled faster forecasting, better alignment across teams, and more confidence in the numbers being presented to leadership.

The conversation also explores the importance of cross-functional alignment, upfront design, and ongoing partnership. By involving stakeholders early and building flexibility into the system, Tronox created a finance platform that continues to evolve alongside the business. The episode closes with practical insights for finance leaders considering their own transformation journeys, emphasizing long-term thinking, collaboration, and adaptability.

Listen now:

What You’ll Learn

• How Tronox replaced fragmented CPM tools with a unified finance platform

• Why automating cash flow, balance sheet, and intercompany processes matters at scale

• How perpetual, driver-based planning improves forecast accuracy and agility

• The role of cross-functional alignment in successful finance transformation

• What finance leaders should consider when modernizing planning and close processes 

Subscribe to the CPM Success Newsletter

Don’t miss an episode. Sign up to get weekly podcast updates, OneStream insights, and real-world finance transformation stories, delivered straight to your inbox.