About much more than numbers

ON THE COVER: Roger Williams University's Jerome Williams keeps the school's finances in order. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
ON THE COVER: Roger Williams University's Jerome Williams keeps the school's finances in order. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Bean counters. Isn’t that what we’re talking about here?

As anyone in business knows, that is most definitely not what this year’s winners in PBN’s Chief Financial Officers Awards program are.

The nine awardees are not just key executives for each of their respective organizations. They are the difference between success and failure for strategic goals set forth by their CEOs.

For example, this year’s winner for career achievement, Jerome Williams, the executive vice president for finance and administration at Roger Williams University, is the reason the school can offer all incoming freshmen a four-year freeze on their tuition payments, all while paying down debt and growing the school’s endowment. He is, according to RWU President Donald J. Farish, “simply the best [CFO] I’ve ever worked with.”

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Deborah M. Thomas, Hasbro Inc.’s executive vice president and CFO, has built a team that helped lead what she called a “mindset shift,” an internal change that was needed in order to succeed at the external remaking of Hasbro from just a toy and game maker to a global brand builder, connecting its often revered products to new paths of entertainment.

In fact, all of this year’s awardees have stories that prove just how important they are to their organizations, helping them serve more homeless families, put more people in affordable housing, integrate new employees and business lines through acquisition, or helping ensure that state workers’ pensions perform as they are designed to do. They are, in fact, not bean counters.

As with all of PBN’s recognition programs, sponsors play a most important role. This year’s presenting sponsor is KPMG, while partner sponsors include Bryant University’s Graduate School of Business and Executive Development Center, along with Gencorp Insurance.

Mark S. Murphy?

Editor

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