Financial executives said market downturns and regulatory complexities have made the job more difficult at the annual Fairfield County CFO of the Year awards. Yet the nine CFOs honored at the Oct. 7 event have still been able to contribute to their companies”™ growth.
The Fairfield County Business Journal along with McGladrey LLP and TD Bank hosted the event at David Soundview Catering”™s The Landing in Stamford. Other sponsors included Rakow Commercial Realty, New Country Audi and Val”™s Putnam Wines and Liquors.
The event recognized seven finalists, three of which were winners in the small, medium and large-size company categories.
- Fairfield CFO of the year finalists from left: Matthew Wilber, Csilla Stekler, Ryan Johnson, Michael Iannazzi (standing in for Michael Kinney), Jeff Gulbin, Jay Ford and Paul Driscoll enjoy the evening”™s awards ceremony at The Landing in Stamford. Photo by Jose Donneys
Thomas Santa, CEO of Bridgeport-based Santa Energy Corp., said, while futures and derivatives have given more tools to help business, they have added much more financial complexity compared with when his company started in 1940.
“Today being an entrepreneur is not so simple,” Santa said. “Even in a straightforward business like fuel distribution, this tangle of licenses, permits, registrations, taxes, fees and record-keeping did not exist 75 years ago and it makes business far more complex.”
He credited the company”™s first and remaining CFO for helping Santa Energy grow into a billion-dollar business. Santa saluted the finalists that help companies “face the business challenges that are in front of us in 21st century.”
The winners and finalists each responded to the question: What is the biggest challenge in your industry affecting your role today?
The winner in the small business category, Jay Ford, CFO of Greenwich-based Splash Management Group, said his standard response used to revolve around the weather. Now that revenue and profits are growing, he sees the weather as a short-term problem and instead monitors peaks rather than reacting to them. Ford said his biggest challenge is looking past the external factors and finding opportunities for growth.
“It”™s easy to blame bad weather for poor performance or get excited about a run of good weather, but I can”™t let it cloud my judgment,” Ford said. “My goal is to make strategic recommendations based on the underlying information.”
He said he considers how the company is controlling labor, the cost of goods and expenses.
For Jeff Gulbin, CFO of Stamford-based Finacity Corp. and winner in the mid-sized company category, dealing with compliance for domestic and international financial regulations and accounting is his biggest challenge. He said CFOs in his industry have to be aware of regulations like Dodd-Frank to carefully structure transactions for clients and make sure there is no risk.
“At the end of the day, it”™s not about the compliance, our books and records, and making sure the Is are dotted and Ts are crossed, but it”™s also commercially important to our clients and to our bottom line,” Gulbin said.
Michael Kinney, CFO at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, won in the large-sized business category. His nominator, Michael Iannizzi, vice president for marketing and communications at Sacred Heart, said Kinney was successful in the corporate world and returned to his alma mater to make a difference. According to Iannazzi, who accepted the award on Kinney”™s behalf, the CFO has overseen the growth of revenue, endowment, real estate and facilities.
The other finalists included Paul Driscoll, CFO of Acme United Corp.; Ryan Johnson, CFO of Lovesac; Csilla Stekler, CFO of Vitesse Worldwide and Matthew Wilber, CFO of Barteca.
The winners were chosen by three judges who commended the impressive nominees. The panel consisted of Peter Gioia, vice president and economist at the Connecticut Business and Industry Association; Patricia Poli, associate professor of accounting at the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University; and Julie McNeal, director of finance and operations at the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants.
