“We have daily, weekly, and monthly metrics. On a daily basis, our operations managers see everything from volumes as far as how much material we are moving, throughput at our facilities. We take a look at our labor and overtime on a daily basis. On a weekly basis, I’m looking at my cash and my receivables, payroll and head count. On a monthly basis, what’s key is that we have 19 distinct operating units and we have detailed P&Ls for each one of them.”

My “A-ha!” Moment

“Typically, when you join a middle-market company, you have to implement systems and you have to capture data and come up with some metrics. What I was pleasantly surprised by — and what became my A-ha! moment — was learning that we had data, and a lot of data for a midmarket-size company. … Now, the follow-up was how to convert this data into information and disseminate it into the organization so that the operations managers have it in a timely fashion to make critical business decisions.”

Mentoring Round

“When working in the private equity world, what you as a CFO need to understand is that there is always an exit strategy. Private equity invests in businesses to build them and then do something with them. When the private equity guys come in, there is a 3- to 5-year (or 5- to 7-year) horizon. From a CFO’s perspective, you have to be comfortable with that.”

Favorite Applications

Book Pick

Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm
By Verne Harnish