CFO Studio Magazine - CFO Innovation Award Winners

2nd QUARTER 2015 WWW.CFOSTUDIO.COM 27 spending, travel expenses, and their marketing decisions, he said. Ron Tassello, CFOof Bardwil Industries, a wholesaler of linens, presented an alternative perspective on the recession’s impact on managing and retaining workers. “While the bad economy has hurt sales inmany companies, it also reduces their employees’ mobility,” said Mr. Tassello. “Personally, I fear that when the economy does get better and that wage growth does reappear, a lot of the employees that I’ve been holding onto will leave because there will be more high-paying jobs available.” While Tumi Holdings, Inc., an upscale luggage manufacturer, experienced growth during the recession, the company has had to deal with the rising costs of health care. According to Michael Mardy, CFO and executive vice president, passing on some of the higher costs of benefits to employees is unavoidable. “Every time we get hit with an increase, we share the hit with the employees. We have a lot of retail employees and their health insurance costs can’t be greater than 9.5 percent of their pay,” said Mr. Mardy. Culture and Motivation Walter Cirillo, vice president and treasurer of AeroGroup International, footwear manufacturer, has many years of experience working with several international corporations. He pointed out that we, as Americans, often overlook the subtleties of culture when comparing regions. “There’s a difference in dealing with employees and … staff in other countries,” said Mr. Cirillo. “A lot of people think in Western Europe the way they do business is very similar to the way we do business [in the United States]. It’s not. They have a different way of looking at pay scale. They have a different way of looking at vacation. Vacation to them is very sacred. It doesn’t matter that your organization is bringing out a new product in the pharmaceutical industry in August. For them, it will be in September.” While agreeing, finance executive Michael Rist expanded on this. “Europe is a big place and there’s a big difference between doing business in Scandinavia and Central Europe and the Middle East,” he said. Mr. O’Connell described Lenox’s experiences with a global workforce. “We find motivating employees in Europe and China is completely different than in the U.S. In Europe, the focus is on stability and prestige in terms of what they’re managing, what their title is, and how they are viewed. In China, we’re seeing significant wage pressure. We’re looking at 25-50 percent increases in compensation requirements for skilled managers. It’s becoming increasingly expensive to do manufacturing over there.” Many multinational organizations face the challenge of integrating expats and citizens from two very different ethnic Philip Ferrigno Chief Financial Officer Bijoux International, Inc. Neil Glasser Chief Financial Officer Michael J. Hennessy Associates Curt Allen Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Subaru of America, Inc. Gideon Naim Chief Financial Officer Centrak Discussion Leader Steve O’Connell Chief Financial Officer, Lenox Corporation William Craig Chief Executive & CFO, Tarantin Industries, Inc. Walter Cirillo Treasurer AeroGroup International, Inc. David Eatwell Chief Financial Officer Genmab, Inc. Michael Rist Finance Executive Andrew Savadelis Chief Financial Officer Angion Biomedica Lisa Strassman Director of Financial Services and Corporate Controller Daikin America, Inc. Ronald Tassello Chief Financial Officer Bardwil Industries, Inc. Nicholas Visco Chief Financial Officer SEAL Consulting, Inc. Michael VanPatten Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President SmartCenter Companies Joseph Budd Vice President Finance Elementis Specialties, Inc. Lalit Ahluwalia Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Inc. William Baldwin Chief Executive and Financial Officer Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. Michael Mardy Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Tumi Holdings, Inc. Meeting Participants