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In today’s show, Tony Mitchell describes his path to being the CFO of a $1.5 billion company which is a subsidiary of one of the top twelve largest companies in the world, Compass PLC. From his early career with a Big 8 CPA firm and also being the CFO of two securities broker/dealer firms, Tony’s path led him to the food industry. He speaks of the challenges facing today’s CFO, needing to learn the “business” and motivating your finance staff. He also talks about being acquired by one of the largest companies in the world, and how successful this partnership has been, ten years running.

Join us on CFOradio.com as Tony Mitchell explores the aspects of being a CFO and leading the “business” and “people” of finance.

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Tune in as CFOradio talks with Marian Powers, Ph.D., Professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Through Marian’s career she specialized in teaching financial reporting and analysis to executives.  Marian has designed and delivered customized finance and accounting training for numerous corporations and organizations.  She is co-author of several college accounting textbooks and in-depth cases on financial analysis. Her research has been published in The Accounting Review, The International Journal of Accounting, The Journal of Accountancy, among others.

Marian’s analysis of several of the highest performance companies of the world is quite surprising in its findings.  She discusses the characteristics of these companies having researched those who sustained this growth for a decade.  She talks in depth about the key finding that most companies or the finance function don’t focus upon – cash flow yield.  Listen and learn as she explains what it is and how you can measure it.

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Listen as Rebecca Flick tells the CFOradio audience why “Cash is king and queen” in today’s economy.  Rebecca explains how cash is the proxy for evaluating shareholder value and how running a business on cash is fundamental to increasing shareholder equity.  Ms. Flick also traces her experience as a former assistant vice president of credit products for Bank of America, and describes the differences in experiences between being a corporate treasurer and a banker.

Having closed approximately 35 acquisitions in 3-4 years, also gave Rebecca some unique insight into the corporate treasurer function. “Often, the lead financial roles in a corporation are referred to as the ones who readily say, ‘No.’ ” Rebecca dispels that myth and tells us how she was able to work with problems and issues to produce successful outcomes.  Tune in for her valuable tips and perspective.

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Through Sharon Simpson Joseph’s career she has practiced as an attorney, advocate and national speaker.  She is a graduate of Stanford Law School, a member of Stanford Law Review, and a member of the California State Bar.  Sharon is the author of And How My Spirit Soars: Learning to Pack for an Extraordinary Journey.  As Executive Director of the JJF, she manages the operations and finances of this worthy non-profit supporting young girls between the ages of 6-18 years old who often are  victims of abuse at home and after leaving the home fall into prostitution as a way to survive.  Listen to this heart-felt interview with Sharon as  she explains the difficulties of managing the finances for an organization whose mission is difficult to talk about.

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With a career spanning 2 decades, Gloria Beck has been the Controller on an interim basis for several companies including: Direct Path (DirecTV), Miles Properties and Hands On Atlanta.  She has performed various consulting and interim staffing roles with Fortune 1000 companies including BellSouth (acquired by AT&T), Internap and private companies such as Merial, a joint venture of Merck. Gloria currently provides interim consulting services specializing in controllership functions.  We explore the controls aspect of the finance function through her eyes.  She discusses why a CFO would request an interim Controller to support the finance function.  She talks candidly about the Controllership function, and what she has learned from being part of the restatement team for the largest fraud and bankruptcy in the world.  Listen in as we explore more about the CFO function through the eyes of the controller.

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Mark White, Chief Financial Officer of SAP North America, joins CFOradio.com to share his perspective on the role of the CFO in a global corporation that fosters and facilitates the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of global businesses.

Mark joined SAP in 2002 and has held a number of positions with the company including chief operating officer (COO) of Business Operations for SAP Americas. In his role as COO, Mark was responsible for the company’s shared services organizations, including Value Engineering, Solution Engineering, Industry Solutions, and Sales Operations. In his role as CFO for the Americas region reporting directly to the CFO of SAP AG, Werner Brandt, Mark was instrumental in leading SAP Americas’ transformation over a five-year period, resulting in revenue growth and an increase in operating margin rate. During this period, Mark implemented a robust risk management process and led the company’s compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley. Mark was responsible for all financial, legal, real estate, Americas government relations, and contracts, while leading the transition team in the Americas for acquisition integration.

“We are excited to interview Mark White on CFOradio,” stated Lorraine Chilvers, host of CFOradio and CEO of Delaney Consulting, LLC. “Mark is one of the foremost CFOs in the world today and we look forward to his candid views on the scope of his responsibilities for a prestigious firm like SAP.” Chilvers went on to say, “Mark’s interview will provide our listeners with a particularly unique perspective on corporate governance, compliance, and the collaborative role of finance in a large company.”

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Eric Harris is the Director of Investor Relations at Winn-Dixie, having held Investor Relations positions in a variety of international companies including Novelis Inc. and Alcan Inc.  Through his leadership of investor relations functions, he has helped companies who have had some complex situations including financial restatement and significant merger activity not only in the US but in Canada.  He has a broad experience of investor relations functions of companies.  Having started his career in the finance function, Eric has coordinated with the investment community and companies through growth, down-sizing and spinning off entire companies, impacting several thousand people.

Today Eric is responsible for leading the investor relations program and developing a comprehensive communication strategy to effectively reach the investment community of Winn-Dixie and was recently nominated to Institutional Investors, as the “Top Investor Relations Officer” for the food and drug industry by Barclays Capital Inc.

Join us as we discuss the investor relations aspect of the CFO function.

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Jim Childs founded a non-profit organization, Saving American Jobs Foundation, Inc. after a 30-year career, where he was involved in over $1 billion in capital transactions for small and middle market companies.  Today, he uses that experience to provide funding for companies who are having difficulty obtaining financing to help them survive the challenges of today’s continued economic climate.  In a nutshell, the non-profit’s mission is to provide structured, junior financing to challenged companies to avoid them laying off their workforce.  The organization’s strategy is to raise capital from larger corporations who have the funds to invest in such companies in a tax-free manner and provide the financing to struggling companies.  Jim is an executive who is utilizing his career experiences in a philanthropic mission to save jobs.  Listen in as he shares his thoughts on the job market and financing in today’s hard economic times.

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Richard Friedman currently provides executive consulting services specializing in assessing corporate internal audit organizations for Chief Audit Executives and audit committees. With a career spanning two decades in internal audit, we explore the controls aspect of the finance function through his eyes. He discusses why an organization or their board would request an assessment of their audit organization. Think, the “oversight body” receiving oversight itself. Richard talks candidly about the audit function and why he believes the role of Chief Audit Executive is one of the most difficult roles to play in any organization. He also gives his perspective on the characteristics of the most effective executives/board that he has worked with. Listen in as we explore more about the internal audit function…

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Andy Burnett has 18 years’ experience providing tax, accounting and personal tax planning management services to privately held businesses and high net-worth entrepreneurs and executives.  With a Juris Doctorate and a Master of Taxation, Andy describes how to balance the legal and tax aspects of being a business-owner and executive from a personal finance perspective.  Listen in as he discusses an entrepreneur’s most valuable asset — the business.

Listen to Andy Burnett’s CFO Tip of the Month