Of all of the places future CFOs could have been employed in the late 1990s, the printing division of RR Donnelley might seem to have been among the least likely.
However, what’s important to note is that this period predated the wide deployment of EDGAR, the database system that electronically automates the collection, validation, and acceptance of financial documents by the government’s SEC division.
Hence the printing division of marketing communications giant RR Donnelley remained one of the country’s largest hubs of activity surrounding the creation, printing, and submittal of financial documents.
Read More“For time-sensitive documents, there would be a deadline to be met each afternoon in order to enable documents to be flown and then hand-couriered to the SEC’s offices,” recalls Celeste Ackert, who tells us that in order to better accommodate any clients who might drop by, the office space that she occupied with others featured a half-door whose bottom was closed and top always open.
For Ackert, who had become an eagle-eyed project manager inside Donnelley’s printing bullpen, the endless flow of financial documents served to satisfy a growing operations appetite before morphing into a portal from which to observe future career possibilities.
“I would be flipping through these SEC documents and thinking to myself, ‘You know what?—perhaps I’d like to see myself in a prospectus someday,’” remarks Ackert, who after 6 years of serving Donnelley clients segued into a series of corporate finance jobs first by leveraging her printing operations expertise and subsequently by climbing the ranks as an FP&A all-star.
Before leaving Donnelley, Ackert—much to her credit—decided to balance her “prospectus ambitions” with some added ballast for the journey ahead: an MBA degree.
Comments Ackert: “I wasn’t really certain how I was going to get there, but these two things equipped me with some fire.” –Jack Sweeney
“Continue to operate with the key skills that got you here: incessant analytical curiosity, exceptional business partnering, and continuous process improvement. Hire and develop a diverse and tenacious team around you—and lead with unwavering authenticity.” –Celeste Ackert, CFO, Fairmarkit
Made Possible By
CFOTL: Tell us about Fairmarkit … what does this company do, and what are its offerings today?
Ackert: At Fairmarkit, we are on a quest to revolutionize the way that all organizations buy and sell. Fairmarkit is an intelligent sourcing platform that enables organizations to more efficiently purchase the goods and services that they need.
By equipping procurement and supply chain teams with automation and data, we promote competitive bidding while reducing the manual work within existing processes. In this challenging macroeconomic climate, enterprises across all industries are faced with harsh realities. Cost savings and supply chain continuity are front-and-center as strategic priorities. We hear this repeatedly on earnings calls.
Read MoreCFOs and CPOs are looking for efficiencies. They’re also looking to expand their global supplier ecosystems and perhaps hit some supplier diversity or ESG—environmental, social, and governance—or other goals, while at the same time mitigating risk and avoiding added unit costs. We find that today’s processes in the procurement world are outdated, cumbersome, and inefficient.
The Fairmarkit process is simpler and easier to use because it streamlines all sourcing through AI- and data analytics–based recommendations. As more and more sourcing inquiries are run on it, our platform makes intelligent recommendations that allow companies to make more informed decisions about their spend.
We find that companies that diversify their supply chains are more agile, better able to respond to changing market conditions, and ultimately able to capture more market share. What I love is that, overall, our customers on the platform not only have experienced cost savings of over 11% on purchases but also have achieved a reduction of 60% in manual efforts.
As a CFO, I have three priorities for the coming 12 months.
First, I need to continue to help to maneuver our company toward its strategic and operating goals. The two main metrics there are growth and burn—what are the trade-offs? This is really number one.
Number two is keeping on top of our cash and treasury management through the ongoing banking and interest rate moves and making sure that we’re following the best practices there.
The third centers on continuing to develop and empower my team and our extended teams as we support the business and to encourage them all to continue to make space for growth and learning opportunities.
These are the three main things that are top-of-mind for me.
jb
Fairmarkit | www.fairmarkit.com | Boston, MA