Basic HTML Version
WWW
.CFO
STUDIO
.
COM
/ 1
ST
Q
UARTER
2012
11
A
T
AST, M
ICHAEL
E
LDREDGE
wears many hats. Officially, he is the
chairman of the board, executive vice
president, COO, CFO and even enjoys his
self-appointed role as secretary of the
board of directors. However, Eldredge is
quick to say that titles are meaningless.
“As a company executive, especially
one with a financial role, you must
engage yourself with the business,”
Eldredge advises. “Don’t just be a
financial reporter, but become a
member of the entrepreneurial group.
Become the leader that helps drive
the car instead of being the passenger
who sits in the back reading the map.
The terms ‘passive‘ and ‘CEO‘ don’t mix. Be proactive when it
comes to helping to grow your company.”
Prior to AST, Eldredge was the vice president of finance/CFO
at Townley Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of consumer
products. Prior to that, he served as corporate controller of
Measurement Specialties Inc., a developer and manufacturer
of consumer and industrial electronic devices. He was chosen
as CFO of the Year by the New Jersey Technology Council
and as CFO of the Year finalist for 2011 by NJBiz.
While he is a lot of things to a lot of people, Eldredge isn’t a
certified public accountant. By choice.
Though he graduated from Rutgers University with a degree
in finance and accounting, Eldredge knew he wanted to be
something more than a number cruncher. He got his chance
in 1997 when he and two partners launched AST. They got first
round funding and hit the ground running. Eldredge brought
the financial brains to the business while his colleagues served
as president/chief technologist and sales and marketing experts.
“We ran this company as a public company from the start.
We looked at the way business was being run and put in place
an organizational structure that allowed us to hold and build
market position,” Eldredge says. “We have always searched for
and hired great talent – making sure that everyone on our team
has the global best interest of the company at heart. That’s the
secret of our success. Treat people fairly, like family. They will
grow and blossom, and so will your company.”
S
OMETIMES IT
’
S FUNNY HOW
things happen to go your way. Call it
serendipity, perhaps, but when oppor-
tunity knocks, only a fool fails to open
the door.
Ron Gaboury had been working as a
consultant for a CPA firm prior to doing
consulting for York Telecom – putting
financial systems in place and working
on government contract proposals for
two years. It was labor-intensive, nose-
to-the-grindstone financial work.
York was a $4 million company at the
time with less than 30 people on staff.
It was all-hands-on-deck, mostly in-house, as Gaboury recalls,
until they landed a $19 million contract for video conferencing
work from the U.S. government.
All of a sudden, York Telecom needed a CFO, and Gaboury
was in the right place at the right time. He joined the company
full-time as CFO in 1995; two other executives were in charge
of technology and sales, and the company was led by its
founder Dr. York Wang. He explains that York Telecom was
typical of many technology companies: the techies had less of
a business perspective on things and thought more about
developing and selling the greatest new thing on the market.
After Gaboury joined York, the company started growing
quickly. In fact, within a few years, value jumped to $18 million.
The company fully organized and brought in a full manage-
ment team.
He became president and COO in 1999 and, under his
guidance, Gaboury made its first acquisition in 2000, with
another following quickly a year later. Through M&A and other
growth, the company moved to expand its sales team, broke
into the enterprise market and started to attract Fortune 100
companies as clients. Disney, Amgen, Novartis, Google, BMS
and CitiGroup were among them.
In March 2011, Gaboury replaced himself by hiring David
Phillips as president and COO. Now, as CEO, he is busier than ever,
keeping an eye on new acquisition opportunities all the time.
“For CFOs to succeed,“ he says, “they need to know what the
company does, how the company does it and the company’s
strategy for growth – not only how much it costs to do business
or how to save money. If you are the kind of financial person
who can sit in the room with a bunch of financial people
holding calculators and be the one guy who is three pages
ahead waiting for the others to catch up, you may have the
ability to be in the top spot.”
Michael P. Eldredge,
COO & CFO of
American Sensor
Technologies, Inc.
Ron Gaboury,
CEO of YorkTel