CFO Studio Magazine - CFO Innovation Award Winners

WINNER 18 WWW.CFOSTUDIO.COM 2nd QUARTER 2015 CFO to CEO Evolution Award Brian Zietsman President and Chief Financial Officer Enteris BioPharma “In order to innovate and then act on ideas to create new value for the organization, it’s important that you first agree on a strategy or vision. That means taking a critical role in determining and guiding the strategic direction of the company. Next, get buy-in from your stakeholders. At Enteris this was not painless. Whereas we had been a research and development company, we determined that there was no longer a need to do further research — our new strategy involved utilizing the expertise and great technology that we already had. This resulted in a RIF, and impacted, in some cases, employees who had been with the former company for a decade or more. Third, encourage people to come forward with ideas. In determining the right product for us to develop, we spent a lot of time brainstorming as a team. Ideas under development were discarded only after everyone agreed that continuing to pursue that opportunity didn’t make sense. We have fostered an environment where employees and colleagues brainstorm continually. Last, spend wisely. Because of limited funds, we have had the financial discipline to spend as little as we can to get to a decision point.” Finalists for CFO to CEO Evolution Award • William Craig, Chief Executive and Financial Officer, Tarantin Industries • Barbara Heffernan, Chief Financial Officer and VP of Operations, Systems Sales Corporation