Crain's Detroit Business - 2011 Book of Lists - (Page 67)

December 27, 2010 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Page 67 CFO of the Year CFOs don’t often receive the spotlight, but their work often makes them uncelebrated heroes. In our fourth annual CFO of the Year awards, Crain’s honored seven winners and six finalists. A panel of judges chose the winners and finalists, who were celebrated June 16 at The Henry Ford in Dearborn. UM Health System CFO Dave Morlock was put in charge of developing a plan and negotiating the deal. UM bought the entire site for about $54 per square foot, compared with the estimated $400 per square foot it would have paid to build new structures. Morlock’s other accomplishments include initiating the management strategies to contain costs and increase productivity, which helped the health system with a financial turnaround in 2010. He also led the team that sold MCare HMO to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in 2007, integrated the hospital and medical school finance departments into a single group responsible for the health system’s finances, and worked on the integration of the hospital and professional revenue cycle departments, which include billing and collections. ing bankruptcy, the companies changed their schedules for paying suppliers in the area. For Urban Science — which does data analysis for original equipment manufacturers, car dealers and retailers — a cash crisis occurred. Then the companies filed bankruptcy, making the payment schedules even worse. A cash-management process was put in place, spending controls were imposed and some payments were delayed. The outcome: 60 employees’ jobs were saved and vendors were returned to normal cycles. The company ended 2009 with an increase in sales. Finalists Nonprofit Karen Belans, CFO, Detroit Regional Chamber, Detroit. Private company over $250 million Andy Wozniacki, CFO, Roush Enterprises Inc., Livonia. Public company Matthew Simoncini, executive vice president and CFO, Lear Corp., Southfield. Private companies $51M-$250M Greg Gallagher, CFO, Awrey Bakeries LLC., Livonia. Nonprofit Anne Beck, vice president for administration and finance College for Creative Studies, Detroit Anne Beck spearheaded the creation of a complex financing package for the $145 million transformation of the 760,000-square-foot Argonaut Building in Midtown into a classroom, residence hall and charter school building for the College for Creative Studies, now called the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education after a $15 million donation by shopping mall mogul and philanthropist Al Taubman. The package included $70 million in net project financing from investors attracted by a package of tax credits constructed by Beck’s finance team. She also secured $10 million in bond financing underwritten by BMO Capital Markets and a $75 million credit facility from Chase to fund construction and bridge financing. Private company over $250M Daniel Muldowney, senior vice president and CFO, H.W. Private company under $50M John Cavanaugh, CFO, Automotive Credit Corp., Southfield. Private company under $50M Mike Twarozynski, CFO, Plex Systems Inc., Auburn Hills Under Mike Twarozynski’s oversight, the company recently changed from up-front license fees to subscription payments for its software service. The change was driven, in part, by the economy, Twarozynski said, but it offers the company new growth areas. The change coincided with the development of a new product, Plex Online, a version of the software that clients connect to online. “(Subscription payments) provide huge growth opportunity in that this is really where the software industry is moving to.” Public companies Roger Cregg, executive vice president and CFO, PulteGroup Inc., Bloomfield Hills Among the lessons Roger Cregg has learned from 14 years as CFO at Pulte is to pay attention to the cycle and adapt as the market goes up and down. “Pulte had $2 billion in revenue in 1998, then $15 billion in 2005,” he said. “Then the market turned down again, and our revenue dropped by 80 percent, and our costs had to be reduced by 80 percent.” Cregg also pushed for long-term debt earlier in the decade when many companies were using shortterm debt that was cheaper. Most recently, Cregg was at the center of Pulte’s $3.1 billion takeover of its competitor Centex Homes Inc. It was a two-year effort to complete the acquisition, with Cregg in charge of keeping all the executives up to speed. Government Laurie Van Pelt, director of management and budget, Oakland County Laurie Van Pelt helped keep Oakland County’s finances ahead of the curve when regional property values began plummeting in 2009 by leading the county to adopt its first three-year rolling budget. If all goes well, she said, the planning will leave Oakland with the same budget reserve fund balance in fiscal 2013 that it had at the end of fiscal 2009 — around $106 million — despite a falloff of nearly $40 million in property tax revenue over the same period. “I can’t take all the credit,” she said. “We have a great team here.” The county maintains a budget task force that meets regularly and consults with County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, the treasurer, prosecutor, sheriff, clerk and others about the status of their reorganization plans. Department heads are assigned target budget-reduction figures, but have incentives to keep funds for future years if they beat their cost cuts. Private company, over $250M Shankar Kiru, CFO, Diversified Machine Inc., Wixom Shankar Kiru and three colleagues quit Plymouth-based Metaldyne Corp. in 2005 to create Diversified Machine Inc. The company has grown to more than 1,400 employees and acquired seven operations across the U.S., Mexico and Spain. Diversified Machine generated $335 million in revenue in 2009 and had projected $450 million this year. Kiru’s implementation of an aggressive benchmarking strategy has led Diversified to new contracts and increased revenue. Kiru is working on a companywide succession plan and maintaining the company’s financial liquidity to expand operations in Europe. Growth Capital. Financial Wisdom.® Hennessey Capital offers factoring and asset-based lines of credit to entrepreneurial companies to help them grow. Our experienced team provides guidance and the cash ﬂow management tools small businesses need to realize new opportunities. Let us put our growth capital and ﬁnancial wisdom to work for you. Health care Dave Morlock, senior associate director and CFO, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor When the opportunity arose in 2008 for the University of Michigan to buy the recently vacated 2-million-square-foot former Pfizer campus in Ann Arbor, Private company $51M-$250M Richard Widgren, vice president, treasurer and CFO, Urban Science, Detroit In 2009, as thenChrysler LLC and then-General Motors Corp. were on the brink of fil- 248.658.1100 HennesseyCap.com PEOPLE Kaufman Financial Group, Farmington Hills. http://www.catherinelarive.com http://www.catherinelarive.com http://www.HennesseyCap.com http://www.HennesseyCap.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's Detroit Business - 2011 Book of Lists

Crain's Detroit Business - 2011 Book of Lists
The Big Picture
10 things to watch in 2011
10 things to remember about 2010
Private 200
Fastest-growing companies
Public school districts
Top-compensated CEOs
Top-compensated non-CEOs
Metro Detroit employers
Wayne County employers
City of Detroit employers
Livingston County employers
Washtenaw County employers
Macomb County employers
Oakland County employers
Publicly held companies
Hispanic-owned businesses
Native American-owned businesses
Asian-owned companies
Black-owned businesses
Woman-owned businesses
The Motor City
Airlines Serving Detroit Metro
Professional Sports Teams
Auto Suppliers
Auto Dealers
Aftermarket Suppliers
Divisions
Defense Contractors
New Economy/Health Care
Family-owned companies
IP law firms
Group health plans
Hospital companies
Physician organizations
Graduate business degrees
Engineering companies
Environmental companies
IT companies
Biotech companies
People/Awards
Salute to Entrepreneurs
CFO Awards
40 Under 40
Best Lawyers
20 in their 20s
Women to Watch
M&A Awards
Most Connected
Finance
Capital campaigns
Accounting firms
Banks and thrifts
Money managers
Business insurance agencies
SBA Lenders
Real Estate/Services
Office furniture dealers
Nonprofits
Meeting facilities
General contractors
Architects
Property managers
Residential brokers
Staffing companies
Logistics firms
Law firms
Classifieds
Index of Companies

Crain's Detroit Business - 2011 Book of Lists