Increasing profitability during one of the worst recessions ever to hit the American economy is a steep uphill battle for businesses.

Beyond cost cutting, what can chief financial officers really do?

Fairfield University Dolan School of Business advisory council member Christopher Stephens, who has more than 20 years of experience with Fortune 500 companies, will tackle that question and more when he facilitates a CFO Alliance breakfast roundtable on Wednesday, September 15, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. The event is hosted by and will take place at Fairfield University's Charles F. Dolan School of Business, an academic partner of The CFO Alliance, an exclusive peer group of accounting and financial leaders.

During this interactive roundtable, chief financial officers of area corporations will gather to brainstorm on what works and what doesn't when it comes to increasing profits in tough financial times. Discussion will center on identifying and sharing strategies and tactics developed to promote growth and enhance corporate performance. The CFO Alliance restricts attendance to actively employed CFOs and other Senior Finance Professionals.

As a way to facilitate what promises to be a lively discussion, Stephens will offer his personal experiences on what he and the companies he has worked for have done to drive profitability with respect to challenges posed by past and present economic, capital and job market climates. In 2009, Stephens was appointed senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer of the Barnes Group, Inc., a diversified global components manufacturer and logistical services company based in Bristol, Conn. Prior to that post, he served as president of Honeywell Consumer Products Group (CPG), and he was the CFO of Honeywell's Transportation Systems business before then. He also held senior leadership roles at Boeing Company and Allied Signal after launching his career at Ingersoll-Rand.

Stephens will drive discussion with these questions:

• When do you start to reinvest to drive profitable growth?
• How long do you leverage a 'temporary workforce?'
• How do companies maintain financial flexibility?

The ticket price for non-members and basic CFO Alliance members is $30. For CFO Alliance all-inclusive members and first time attendees, there is no charge.

The Dolan School of Business became an academic partner of The CFO Alliance last year in a move Dr. Norm Solomon, dean of the school, sees as a great opportunity to engage regional corporations on the Fairfield campus. "Fairfield can give something back in an educational way to the corporate community via these roundtables."

The partnership with the Dolan School comes as The CFO Alliance expands its organization into Connecticut. It was founded by finance and accounting executives to provide themselves with a networking platform to discuss critical opportunities and challenges. Alliance members serve either in management or executive-level positions in publicly traded or privately held companies around the globe.

For more information about the Dolan School of Business, visit http://www.fairfield.edu/dsb/index.html .

Posted On: 09-10-2010 10:09 AM

Volume: 43 Number: 41