When the opportunity to help lead Expedia’s corporate travel business arose, Regi Vengalil knew that this was exactly the role that he had been seeking in order to put his CFO career on a new and better track. Stepping into this CFO position meant overseeing a business unit with $600 million in revenue and $120 million in EBITDA—and Vengalil was eager to take on the challenge. Prior to this, he had been leading a team of strategy and M&A professionals, but the new position would offer a much broader scope of responsibility.
As Vengalil recalls: “This was a way for me to jump with both feet into an opportunity to use many of my skills, as it wasn’t just a pure FP&A role. I had had experience in commercial finance, accounting, systems, and financial operations—so, here was a full CFO role with a global team that I still knew very well because I had led strategy for the company.”
Read MoreThis transition marked a critical point in his career. It had been only 2 years earlier that upon joining Expedia’s corporate development arm, Vengalil had immediately became thrust into high-level decision-making, including one particular meet-up with Barry Diller and Dara Khosrowshahi, for which Vengalil had been tasked with providing input on a strategic deal. After Khosrowshahi expressed support for the proposal, Diller turned to Vengalil, who was new to the room, and asked, “Hey, new guy! What do you think?” Vengalil, although only in his first week, was still able to confidently lay out the reasons why he thought that the deal posed more risk than reward, despite its appeal.
Reflecting on their relationship, Vengalil benefited by observing a deep mutual respect between the two business leaders, forged during years of close collaboration. Khosrowshahi had worked closely with Diller on many deals, and Vengalil noted the rapport that they shared, particularly with regard to how they approached complex issues.
Diller, known for his sharp insights and high standards, preferred discussions to be clear and lucid. “If you don’t understand the complexity of something,” Vengalil observes, “you won’t be able to communicate its essence simply.” This self-demand for clarity has continued to push Vengalil to deliver concise, well-reasoned perspectives, an expectation of himself that has both challenged and strengthened his leadership capabilities. To be sure, such an early exposure to Diller’s precision thinking has had a lasting impact on Vengalil’s strategic mind-set. –Jack Sweeney
“Always be clear about what is most important, since things can change quickly [e.g., COVID]. Ruthlessly prioritize your time, since everyone will want a few minutes. And trust your voice. You deserve to be here, and your judgment and experience can make a difference. –Regi Vengalil, CFO, Trax Retail
Made Possible By
CFOTL: Tell us about Trax Retail … what does this company do, and what are its offerings today?
Vengalil: Seen from a high level, Trax’s solution can be understood as capturing real-time images of shelf conditions in order to convert them into data that firms such as the largest CPG brands in the world—like Diageo, Mondelēz—can use to make better-informed decisions in order to drive incremental sales by knowing what is happening at the shelf level. We’re the global leader in providing these types of image-recognition solutions to brick-and-mortar CPG companies.
CFOTL: What are your priorities as a CFO during the coming 12 months?
Vengalil: First, we need to prepare our company for any future surprises. This means ensuring that we have the right compliance measures and controls in place, with regard not only to enterprise systems but also to core financial controls.
Second, this is really all about continuing our business partner journey.
Read MoreIt’s ensuring that we’re embedded in all of these conversations, that we’re delivering on the timelines to which we have committed, and that, quite frankly, we’re more proactive than reactive regarding the types of needs and questions that we’re assessing for the business.
As the saying goes, “last but not least” is continuing to optimize our working capital. In the short term, this means managing payments, but in the medium to long term, it will be all about how to design new business models that are more attractive to the market. When you work with large CPG companies, they tend to think about and ask for very long-term strategies, philosophies, and plans. So, how do we design new approaches for partnering with them that are advantageous for all?
Trax Retail | www.traxretail.com | Boston, MA