TopGun^® Press

Brendan Wood International Announces TopGun^SM CFOs

February 13th, 2019 by TopGun Press

TOPGUN CFOs

Brendan Wood International Announces TopGun^SM CFOs …
As Rated By Global Shareholders

For Immediate Release – New York, NY, February 13th, 2019 (TopGun^SM Press)

TopGun^SM Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) in the big cap universe are a rare and powerful executive breed, many of whom will number amongst future Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the world’s largest corporations, according to their largest shareholders. Such shareholders are amongst the 2000 member professional investors in the Brendan Wood International Panel who rated over 1400 CFOs in conjunction with their investment assessments of large cap company managements operating in 50 countries. CFOs who consistently score in the top decile of world standards are designated TopGuns.

CFOs in the large cap universe of companies are familiar figures to investors, especially the larger shareholders of their companies who study the CFOs closely enough to confidently rate their performance without exception. The Brendan Wood International Shareholder Confidence data is replete with investor commentary on CFOs. Those at the top of the ratings get credit for a great many achievements such as transparent financial architecture, corporate strategy guided by exceptional planning and oversight, brilliant allocation of resources, hammering down costs, cleaning up balance sheets, engineering exceptional acquisitions and divestitures, reporting wisely with full disclosure and building the trust of the shareholder base. CFOs in the lowest rankings are held accountable for a corresponding number of under achievements which reduce shareholder confidence, even trust.

Coming into 2019 large cap investors report being sharply focused on the personality of the CFO and the financial management culture of the firms they invest in. Why? Investors report that strategy is only as good as its execution and they clearly attribute delivery not just to the CEO’s vision but to the ability of the CFO to deliver earnings numbers and/or asset accumulations which materially underpin their investment conviction. Big ticket shareholders report that they rely on the predictability of results and attribute this outcome in large measure to CFOs with whom they meet often and in whom they have personal confidence. The reader can take from this finding that the individual character and integrity of a TopGun^SM CFO is perceived to be highly influential on the strategy of a company, implicitly meaning that TopGun^SM CFOs are seen to be intimately involved in their company’s strategy decisions and influential over their CEOs. In some cases CFOs receive equal if not higher investor ratings than their CEO partners, although in TopGun^SM ranked companies both executives tend to be rated in the TopGun^SM class. The perceived relationship between CFO and CEO is another less obvious but critical factor in the minds of professional investors who look for consistency of outlook in the two voices. Needless to say, Investor Relations executives who also give frequent voice to corporate strategy amongst shareholders are reflective of the CFOs to whom they most frequently report. CFOs, especially TopGuns, tend to run excellent Investor Relations departments. TopGun^SM CFOs are also seen as exceptional communicators who anticipate the key interests and concerns of their shareholder bases.

“These outstanding professionals, numbering less than 7.5% percent of the candidates on our 1400 name big cap index, are multi-talented, strong-willed and decisive individuals whose personality and drive far outstrip the classical profile of an accountant. In the big cap world, a TopGun^SM CFO is a godsend to management and smart investors recognize that as an investment incentive. It is our privilege to be able to identify and introduce them,” says Brendan Wood, Chairman, Brendan Wood International.

2018/2019 Global TopGun^SM CFOs:
(In alphabetical order by last name):

Aerospace/Defense:
Kenneth Bedingfield – Northrop Grumman Corp
Peter Lynas – BAE Systems PLC
Bruce Tanner – Lockheed Martin Corp

Agriculture and Chemicals:
M. Steven Bender – Westlake Chemical Corp
Wayne Brownlee* – Nutrien Ltd. (*Retired October 2018)
Jez Maiden – Croda International PLC
Vincent Morales – PPG Industries Inc
Dr. Sven Schneider* – Linde AG (*Promoted to Spokesman of the Executive Board)

Automotive and Engineering:
Daniel Bergeron – RBC Bearings Incorporated
Ronald Hundzinski* – BorgWarner Inc. (*Moved to Tenneco Inc January 2019)
Wolfgang Schäfer – Continental AG
Bodo Uebber – Daimler AG
Jan Ytterberg – Volvo AB

Banks:
Rod Bolger – Royal Bank of Canada
Paul Donofrio – Bank of America Corporation
Marianne Lake – JP Morgan
Robert Reilly – PNC Financial Services Group Inc
Kathy Rogers* – US Bancorp (*Retired July 2018)

Building and Construction:
Christian Labeyrie – Vinci SA
Philippe Marien – Bouygues SA
Senan Murphy – CRH PLC
John Sznewajs – Masco Corp

Consumer Products:
Jean-Jacques Guiony – LVMH Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA
Adrian Hennah – Reckitt Benckiser plc
Florian Ollivier – Christian Dior

Financial Services:
Mike Santomassimo – Bank of New York Mellon

Financial Technology:
Martina Hund-Mejean – Mastercard Inc.
Jeffrey Campbell – American Express Company

Food & Beverage:
Richard Dufresne – George Weston Limited
Felipe Dutra – Anheuser-Busch Inbev NV
William Kalutycz – Premium Brands Holdings

Forest Products:
Andrew King – Mondi Group
Robert Mundy – Packaging Corp of America

Hardware:
Christopher Collier – Flex Ltd.
Rafael Lizardi – Texas Instruments Inc
Ron Pasek – NetApp Inc
Kris Sennesael – Skyworks Solutions, Inc.
Robert Swan* – Intel Corporation (*Promoted to CEO January 2019)

Healthcare:
John Rex – UnitedHealth Group Inc.

Heavy Industry:
Paul R. Jewer – Toromont Industries Ltd.
James Frias – Nucor Corp

Hospitality:
Scott Maw* – Starbucks Corporation (*Retired November 2018)

Insurance:
Christa Davies – Aon PLC
Douglas Howell – Arthur J. Gallagher & Co
Philip Mayers – Genworth MI Canada Inc
Louis Marcotte – Intact Financial Corporation
Mark McGivney – Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
John Sauerland – Progressive Corp

Internet:
Brian Olsavsky – Amazon.com Inc.
Ruth Porat – Alphabet Inc
Wei (Maggie) Wu – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd

Manufacturing:
William Burke – AMETEK Inc
Nicholas Gangestad – 3M Co
Michael Larsen – Illinois Tool Works Inc
Scott Morrison – Ball Corp
Dr. Ralf Thomas – Siemens AG

Medical Technology:
Daniel Comas – Danaher Corporation (*Transitioning to Retirement January 2019)
Christopher Reidy – Becton Dickinson & Co.

Mining:
Marie Inkster* – Lundin Mining Corporation (*Promoted to CEO September 2018)
Grant Isaac – Cameco Corporation
Chris Lynch* – Rio Tinto PLC (*Retired September 2018)

Oil & Gas Exploration:
Corey Bieber – Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.
P. Van Dafoe – ARC Resources Ltd
Richard Dealy – Pioneer Natural Resources Company
Teresa Dick – Diamondback Energy Inc
Kenneth Fisher – Noble Energy
Robert Gwin* – Anadarko Petroleum (*Promoted to President November 2018)
Timothy Driggers – EOG Resources
Sadiq Lalani – Kelt Exploration Ltd

Oil & Gas Integrated:
Alister Cowan – Suncor Energy Inc.
Patrick de La Chevardière – Total SA

Oil & Gas Services:
D. James Harbilas – Enerflex Ltd
Simon Ayat – Schlumberger Ltd.
Jon Faber – Pason Systems Inc.

Pharmaceuticals:
Dominic Caruso* – Johnson & Johnson (*Retired September 2018)
Dr. Alan Hippe – Roche Holding AG

Pipelines and Utilities:
Scott Burrows – Pembina Pipeline Corp
John Chandler – Williams Cos Inc
John Ketchum – NextEra Energy, Inc.
Bahir Manios – Brookfield Infrastructure Partners
Donald R. Marchand – TransCanada Corporation

Precious Metals:
Gerard Bond – Newcrest Mining Limited
Gary Brown – Wheaton Precious Metals Corp
Mike Cinnamond – B2Gold Corp
Jamie Porter – Alamos Gold Inc.
Sandip Rana – Franco Nevada Corp.
David Smith – Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.

Real Estate/REITS:
Vlad Volodarski – Chartwell Retirement Residences
Louis Forbes* – CT REIT (*Retired December 2018)

Retailing:
Michael Ross – Dollarama Inc
Richard Galanti – Costco Wholesale Corporation
Stuart Burgdoerfer – L Brands Inc

Software:
François Boulanger – CGI Group Inc.
Allan Brett – Descartes Systems Group Inc
Elie Girard – Atos SA
Mark Hawkins – Salesforce.com
Amy Hood – Microsoft Corp.
Richard Monkman – Kinaxis Inc.

Telecommunications:
J. Braxton Carter – T-Mobile US Inc
Steven Childers – Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc
Thomas Dannenfeldt* – Deutsche Telekom (*Left Firm December 2018)
Anthony Staffieri – Rogers Communications Inc.

Telecommunications Equipment:
Kelly Kramer – Cisco Systems Inc.
Luca Maestri – Apple Inc.

Transportation:
Paul Jacobson – Delta Air Lines Inc
David Mee – JB Hunt Transport Services

About Brendan Wood International:

A private partnership formed in 1970, the firm independently conducts performance audits throughout the capital markets world. Relying on real time intelligence, the firm advises public companies, institutional and activist investors, investment banks and broker dealers on strategy, performance and recruitment of TopGun^SM talent. The firm’s partners have formally presented at 1000+ C level strategy meetings and corporate off sites in fifty cities. Brendan Wood founded the exclusive TopGun^SM Club through which the firm provides value add career management services to TopGun^SM professionals and introduces ‘game changer’ recruitment solutions to the firm’s clients.

Brendan Wood International Announces TopGunSM CFOs

Brendan Wood International Announces TopGun^SM CFOs