CFO Studio Magazine - CFO Innovation Award Winners

2nd QUARTER 2015 WWW.CFOSTUDIO.COM 33 communicating to the parent company.” Fred Guerra, vice president of finance for flavors and fragrance producer Takasago International Corporation, noted that the relationships American executives have with expats could impact their own career. “I’ve had interns come over from the parent company and come back 10 years later as the head of a business unit.” Montgomery Emmanuel, vice president of finance and IT for food ingredient supplier Mitsubishi International Foods, commented that expats sometimes come back to the U.S. subsidiary in leadership roles and achieve greater success than executives without prior stateside experience. “In the minds of many companies, having that U.S. experience trumps everything when you work globally.” “You have to hope that when you explain to the parent company how the U.S. market is different than markets in other countries, they listen,” added Jon Alpert, Chief Financial Officer of Universal Survey Center, Inc. Barry Eckenthal, partner at Friedman LLP, said that communication with his firm’s Chinese partners took time to establish. “Over time, they learned how Americans do business and we learned their style.” Claude Draillard, vice president and CFO of business jet manufacturing subsidiary Dassault Falcon Jet, is from France, where the company is headquartered, but has been in the U.S. for more than 10 years. “[In the U.S.] there’s a lot of building the trust and working as a team, which is unheard of in France,” he said. Andrew Zezas, publisher of CFO Studio magazine and CEO of Real Estate Strategies Corporation, asked the group to share some specific challenges of running a global business from an operating perspective. Nicholas Visco, CFO of SEAL Consulting, an SAP solutions provider, said. SEAL Consulting is a relatively small company with about five hundred employees worldwide. “I find that in a smaller company, I’m sometimes the chief fire fighter. I’m also a sounding board for the CEO.” Holli Gabler, CFO of arts-and-crafts company Horizon Group USA, voiced a thought many if not all shared, saying she finds working at a global company to be “more challenging and more interesting than the basic finance job.” C Vincent Tuzzio Chief Financial Officer Samaserve, LLC Michael VanPatten Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President SmartCenter Companies Nicholas Visco Chief Financial Officer SEAL Consulting, Inc. Curt Allen Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Subaru of America, Inc. Holli Gabler Executive Vice President & CFO Horizon Group USA, Inc. Meeting Participants William Flynn Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Sharp Electronics Corporation Walter Cirillo Treasurer AeroGroup International, Inc. Lisa Strassman Director of Financial Services and Corporate Controller Daikin America, Inc. Albert Caamic Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Mitsui Foods International Elizabeth Miller Vice President Finance & Treasurer Mauser Corporation Sandra Clarke Vice President Finance and CFO Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. Ronald Tassello Chief Financial Officer Bardwil Industries, Inc. Claude Draillard Vice President, Finance Dassault Falcon Jet Corporation John Breeman Chief Financial Officer Voltari Barry Lederman Chief Financial Officer Eisai, Inc. Jonathan Alpert Chief Financial Officer Universal Survey Center, Inc. Montgomery Emmanuel Vice President of Finance and IT Mitsubishi International Food Ingredients Thomas Bongiorno Vice President, Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer, Quest Diagnostics Inc. Fred Guerra Vice President of Finance Takasago International Corporation (U.S.A.) Discussion Leader Promotional Partners Michael Cohen Partner Friedman LLP Barry Eckenthal Partner Friedman LLP