The invite-only breakfast titled "CFOs Evolving Role as Trusted Advisor" has received outstanding feedback from attendees! In addition to a morning of peer-to-peer networking, we heard a panel of CFOs discuss their evolving role as a valued member of the management team.
Panelists included: Diane Aigotti, Managing Director & CFO, Ryan Specialty Group; Jack Fortnum, EVP & CFO, Ingredion Incorporated; John Mordach, Senior VP & CFO Corporate Finance, Rush University Medical Center; Kyle Sauers, CFO, Echo Global Logistics; and Moderator Harry M. Kraemer, Clinical Professor of Strategy at Northwestern University's Kellogg School & Executive Partner with Madison Dearborn Partners.
FEI Member Tom Ehmann shares his thoughts on this breakfast meeting… Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending the Crain’s CFO Breakfast. With Harry Kraemer Jr. as moderator, more than 150 professionals received insights from a panel of four (4) accomplished, Chicago-area CFOs. Attendees weighed in on the questions and issues highly relevant to them were presented to the panelists.
Many of the questions are ones that we have asked or should have asked ourselves as a financial professional. Some of these where: how to attract and retain the best talent, including millennials; what keeps you up at night, how do you manage conflict between finance and other teams, and how the CFO be a valuable partner to the CEO and Board of Directors.
Although time constraints prevented a deep dive on the topics, the panelists skillfully correlated how to add value and improve organizational performance into their responses. In my view, mutual respect and effective communication were the underlying themes of the responses. More specifically some insights were to make sure each employee and director understands the organization’s mission, goals, and values; educate others on key metrics, recognize that sometimes “less is more”, help employees understand their value and realize their potential, be engaged and develop key relations to minimize tension and to set expectations, and ask questions to gain different perspectives.
On a macro level, each panelist was generally upbeat about the state of the world recognizing that “there are always problems to deal with”. However, unemployment and challenges facing people entering the workforce were mentioned as concerns; also the political state of affairs and challenges facing Chicago, Illinois, and the United States deserve our attention.