Antoine Remy, CFO and vice president of finance for The Dannon Co. Inc., has two obsessions — and one feeds into the other.
The first is to make sure Americans eat more yogurt. The second is to make sure that Dannon, based in White Plains, N.Y., and one of the world”™s largest yogurt producers, continues to report increased sales and growth.
Remy was joined June 26 by several Westchester and Fairfield County CFOs and business experts to discuss the changing role of chief financial officers in the post-recession corporate environment.
Despite the ever-present reminders of the recession in boardrooms and on balance sheets, Remy said the job of a CFO is not to automatically shoot down a bold idea but to find a way to transform it “into a profitable and sustainable proposal.”
“I wouldn”™t kill the idea at first because of financial constraints ”“ I would first look at what”™s going to drive growth,” Remy said. “Growth is what”™s missing today. It”™s not a matter of trying to do it cheaper or to do less ”“ it”™s about going back to growth.”
The roundtable, “Are CFOs the new CEOs?” was hosted by the Fairfield County Business Journal and sister publication the Westchester County Business Journal at 1133 Westchester Ave. in White Plains, and was moderated by Steven F. Kirn, partner in the Stamford office of McGladrey L.L.P.
McGladrey, TD Bank and the Business Journal kicked off the roundtable by announcing the creation of a new “CFO of the Year” award, open to companies located in Fairfield County.
Nominations are open at www.westfaironline.com/cfo-awards/ and run through August. The award is broken into three categories: companies with fewer than 100 employees, companies with 101 to 500 employees, and companies with more than 500 employees.
A panel will judge the nominations and the awards will be presented in the fall.
Also participating in the panel were Russell Boyle, partner in the New York City office of Egon Zehnder; Matthew R. Bud, managing partner of The Financial Executives Consulting Group in Darien and chairman of The Financial Executives Networking Group in Westport; Charles T. Field, senior vice president and CFO of The Westchester Bank and The Westchester Bank Holding Corp. in Yonkers, N.Y.; and Patrick Lapera, CFO of Bacarella Transportation Services Inc. in Shelton.
Not only has the economic crisis thrust CFOs into the spotlight as risk managers, but it has also given them a more prominent role in day-to-day business operations, Lapera said.
“I think it gave the CFO a little broader business exposure, which I view as a really good thing,” he said. “Maybe it brought some light to the value of the CFO in being able to respond in a crisis situation.”
With interest rates and property values historically low, panelists were questioned about the right approach to expansion and investment.
While the opportunities seem ripe for the picking, Bud and his fellow panelists said, it is important that CFOs act as the last line of defense in order to protect a company”™s bottom line.
“Economic hard times put a greater focus on the finances of the company and where resources are being allocated,” Bud said. “The grand visions are all very well when you have plenty of money to throw around. When resources are scarce, you count on the CFO to hold people back.” However, Lapera said, “Even in a down economy there are opportunities.”
Where the CEO supplies the long-term vision, the CFO”™s responsibility is to provide the discipline and risk analysis, he said.
“Your first reaction shouldn”™t be ”˜No,”™” Lapera said, “but it should be to ask, ”˜Is there a way we could do this?”™ and to help people see where the risks are and limit them.”
