CFO Studio Magazine with Alison Cornell

EVENTS EXECUTIVE DINNER SERIES 24 WWW.CFOSTUDIO.COM Q1 2017 All Together Now THE CFOCAN BE THE DRIVING FORCE BEHINDCOMPANY ALIGNMENT, EVENWHENONE AREAOUTPERFORMS ANOTHER K eeping everyone in an organization on the same page with all eyes on a common prize can be quite an undertaking. But it’s an even heftier effort when running a business with two similar, but very distinct, high-end products that are directed toward separate consumer markets with similar characteristics, but varying demands. “This has been a challenge at every organization I’ve ever worked for,” says David Chambers, Vice President Finance and CFO of Jaguar Land Rover, North America. Mr. Chambers, who appeared in the cover story of the Q3 2016 issue of CFO Studio magazine, spoke on “Driving Growth: Two Luxury Brands at a Time!” at a World-Class Companies CFODinner, part of CFO Studio’s Executive Dinner Series, held recently at Blue Morel in Morristown. CFOs from select New Jersey–area companies attended the invitation-only dinner. Mr. Chambers began the discussion with a rhetorical question: “How do you manage growth vs. profitability with two luxury brands that could be somewhat divergent in terms of their targets and performance?” Interviewed later, Mr. Chambers said, “There was a pretty strong view in the room that margin comes first, and you should always manage to profitability instead of volume at any expense.” Although this “refusal to sacrifice profitability” was the answer he expected from his fellow CFOs, Mr. Chambers noted that it often results in ongoing tensions within an BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS