Outside of the boardroom, chief financial officers are often the least noticeable executives, but Thursday evening, 16 of Westchester County”™s top CFOs were honored at the 2014 CFO of the Year Awards.
Held at the Wainwright House in Rye, the awards ceremony was presented by Westfair Communications and sponsored by McGladrey, Heineken, TD Bank and Rakow Commercial Realty Group. Fifteen nominees from for-profit and nonprofit entities were presented for three award categories: big business, midsize business and small business.
“The ability of a CFO to navigate financial reporting requirements, economic conditions and corporate policy is what makes the job difficult, and it”™s this broad range of responsibilities that makes the CFO role so crucial, and so much more impressive when a person does it well,” said Leslie F. Seidman, a CFO of the Year Awards judge and executive director of the Center for Excellence in Financial Reporting at Pace University”™s Lubin School of Business.
In Seidman”™s view, being an excellent CFO has not been easy as of late.
“Companies and nonprofits have had to deal with a prolonged period of economic turmoil and technological changes,” Seidman said. “I think it”™s fair to say that boards of directors, shareholders, donors and others look to CFOs for financial acumen, leadership and forward thinking.”
Vincent DeSantis, CFO of Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow, won the CFO of the Year Award in the big business category. With both an undergraduate degree and an MBA from Iona College, DeSantis began his career at Deloitte”™s health care division before moving into hospital finance.
“Up until tonight, I though passing the CPA exam was my greatest accomplishment,” DeSantis joked in his acceptance speech. “I work with the most amazing people in the field of finance as well as health and clinical professionals. It”™s a job that lets me be creative, go beyond the numbers and help us achieve our organization”™s goals.”
For the first time ever, a woman was named CFO of the Year, when Jennifer Solomon of Yonkers-based Greyston was honored in the midsize business division.
“I really value this and I really value working for Greyston,” said Solomon, whose career began on Wall Street as an equities analyst. Solomon said that being a CFO and an equities analyst require similar traits, including the ability to make bold financial calls and effectively make one”™s opinion known.
“I”™m kind of lucky; I”™ll go home and tell my daughters I won,” Solomon joked. “But my 10-year-old will want to remind me, ”˜How many CFOs are there in Westchester?”™”
Also receiving the CFO of the Year award in the midsize category was Marshall Asche of St. Christopher”™s Inc., a residential treatment center for special education students in Dobbs Ferry.
“Greatest team of execs you could ever imagine, who give their time to improve the lives of the kids in our care. It”™s their last chance,” Asche said. “So for my staff, we all join together for the purpose I mentioned.”
According to Asche, his ascension to a CFO position was a case of being in the right place at the right time.
“I was the right person when there was a need for a CFO ”“ I came on day one as CFO,” he said. “My years in public accounting made me the right person for this position.”
Taking home the CFO of the Year award in the small business category was F. Thomas Cornelius of Greater Hudson Bank.
“I walked in five years ago to the president of the bank and said ‘I”™m up for the job,’” Cornelius said of how he became the bank”™s CFO. “I said, ”˜Give it to me,”™ and the board did. My success has been a reflection of that confidence and my staff, they really do a great job for me.”
Also nominated were Susan Barto of School Choice International, Andrew Bracco of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, Anthony Capeluppo of O”™Connor Davies LLP, James Crisci of Cerebral Palsy of Westchester, Richard Dannenbaum of the Cappelli Organization, Rachel Eckhaus of Strauss Paper, James Federico of Vintus LLC, Tom Gannalo of Magnetic Analysis Corp., Abbie Relkin of the Mental Health Association of Westchester, Thomas Scalera of ITT Corp., Arthur Schwacke of ENT and Allergy Associates LLP, and Patricia Vitelli of Westhab.
The awards were judged by a panel consisting of Leslie Seidman; Marissa Brett, president of the Westchester County Association; and Michael Gillan, dean and associate vice president emeritus of Fordham University.
