Balancing Current Challenges with Future Opportunities
In today’s uncertain business climate, there is a focus on cost containment to weather the storm, but also a need for executives position their organizations for future growth. The CNBC @Work CFO Spotlight will examine how top finance leaders are successfully striking this balance. We’ll discuss: lessons learned during the current crisis that can be applied permanently; the strategies, data and automation tools that can be leveraged to help manage uncertainty and lead to a stronger post-crisis posture; how to effectively engage employees, customers, and investors; and much more.
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Ms. Washington joined Gilead in 2008 as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer where she oversees the Global Finance and Information Technology organizations. Ms. Washington was promoted to Executive Vice President in 2014. Ms. Washington was previously Chief Financial Officer of Hyperion Solutions, which was acquired by Oracle Corporation in March 2007. Prior to that, Ms. Washington served in a number of executive positions with PeopleSoft, most recently in the role of Senior Vice President and Corporate Controller. Ms. Washington previously served on the Board of Directors of Tektronix, Inc. (acquired by Danaher), the Board of Directors of MIPS Technologies Inc. (acquired by Imagination), and currently is a member of the Board of Directors of Honeywell International, the Board of Directors of Salesforce.com, and the Board of Visitors, Graziadio School of Business and Management, Pepperdine University.
Ms. Washington is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and a MBA from Pepperdine University.
Harmit Singh is executive vice president and chief financial officer of Levi Strauss & Co. He is responsible for managing the company’s finance, information technology, strategic sourcing and global business services functions globally. This includes: financial planning and analysis, strategic planning and corporate development, accounting and controls, tax, enterprise risk management, treasury, internal audit, and investor relations.
Harmit is a seasoned financial executive with more than 30 years of experience in driving growth for global consumer brands. Throughout his career, he has worked at companies that serve consumers in the hospitality, restaurant, travel and financial industries.
Prior to joining LS&Co. in January 2013, Harmit served as chief financial officer of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, where he successfully established a global financial structure, took the company public, built a strong balance sheet, and drove growth by supporting capital deployment for acquisitions and investments.
Before Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Harmit held various global leadership roles at Yum! Brand foods, the world’s largest restaurant company, including CFO of Pizza Hut U.S. and CFO of Yum Restaurants International. Early in his career, Harmit also worked at American Express India and Price Waterhouse in India.
Harmit holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University, and is a chartered accountant from India. In 2019, he joined the Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) project, helping to establish the U.S. Chapter of the organization and mobilize other prominent financial leaders to promote the business case for sustainability. He is also a proud member of the CNBC Global CFO Council and the Wall Street Journal CFO Network and World 50 (a private community for C-level executives at globally respected organizations). In 2018, Harmit was named to the board of OpenText, a global enterprise information management software company. He previously served on the board of directors for Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc.
Annie Duke has leveraged her expertise in the science of smart decision making to excel at pursuits as varied as championship poker to public speaking. Annie’s latest book, How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices, is available on September 15, 2020 from Portfolio, a Penguin Random House imprint. Her previous book, Thinking in Bets, is a national bestseller. In the book, Annie reveals to readers the lessons she regularly shares with her corporate audiences, which have been cultivated by combining her academic studies in cognitive psychology with real-life decision making experiences at the poker table.
For two decades, Annie was one of the top poker players in the world. In 2004, she bested a field of 234 players to win her first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet. The same year, she triumphed in the $2 million winnertake-all, invitation-only WSOP Tournament of Champions. In 2010, she won the prestigious NBC National HeadsUp Poker Championship. She retired from the game in 2012. Prior to becoming a professional poker player, Annie was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study Cognitive Psychology at the University of
Pennsylvania, where she earned her master’s degree.
Annie now spends her time writing, coaching and speaking on a range of topics such as decision fitness, emotional control, productive decision groups and embracing uncertainty. She is a regularly sought-after public speaker, addressing thousands in keynote remarks at conferences for organizations ranging from the Investment Management Consultants Association to the Big Ten Conference. She has been brought in to speak to the executive teams or sales forces of organizations like Marriott, Gaylord Resorts and Ultimate Software, among others. She is a sought-after speaker in the financial sector, with clients such as Susqehanna International Group and CitiBank. Annie regularly shares her observations on decision making and critical thinking skills on her blog, Annie’s Analysis, and has shared her poker knowledge through a series of best-selling poker instruction and theory books, including Decide to Play Great Poker and The Middle Zone: Mastering the Most difficult Hands in Hold’em Poker (both co-authored with John Vorhaus).
Annie is a master storyteller, having performed three times for The Moth, an organization that preserves the art of spoken word storytelling. One of her stories was selected by The Moth as one of their top 50 stories and featured in the organization’s first-ever book. Her passion for making a difference has helped raise millions for charitable causes. In 2006, she founded Ante Up for Africa along with actor Don Cheadle and Norman Epstein, which has raised more than $4 million for Africans in need. She has also served on the board of The Decision Education Foundation. In 2009, she appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice, and raised $730,000 for Refugees International, a charity that advocates for refugees around the world. In October 2013, Annie became a national board member for After School All-Stars. In 2014, Annie co-founded The Alliance for Decision Education to build a national movement that empowers teachers, school administrators and policymakers to bring Decision Education to every Middle and High School student. In 2016, she began serving on the board of directors of The Franklin Institute, one of America’s oldest and greatest science museums. In 2020, she joined the board of the Renew Democracy Initiative.
Annie currently resides in the Philadelphia area. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or LinkedIn and visit her website.
Kathy Waller is a Chief Financial Officer and Board Member with over 35 years of broad financial and operational leadership experience within the consumer and retail sectors. She has a proven track record of success in driving transformations, delivering strong financial performance and forming strong relationships with investors and industry analysts. She has extensive knowledge across all areas of finance, including financial planning, investor relations, M&A, accounting, treasury and tax. She also serves on several public and private company boards.
Waller retired in March 2019 after 32 years with The Coca-Cola Company where she was the Chief Financial Officer and President, Enabling Services. In these roles, Waller led the company’s global finance, technical and shared services organizations, and represented the company to investors, lenders and rating agencies. Waller also serves as a Board member for Delta Airlines (NYSE: DAL), CGI Group (NYSE: GIB), Cadence Bancorporation (NYSE:CADE) and Beyond Meat.
Waller joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1987 as a Senior Accountant, and assumed roles of increasing responsibility, including Principal Accountant for the Northeast Europe/Africa Group, Marketing Controller for the McDonald’s Group, Vice President, Chief of Internal Audit and Vice President, Controller.
She was named Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in 2014 and added the role of President of Enabling Services in 2017. In addition to her c-suite role, Waller was the founding chair of The Coca-Cola Company’s Women’s Leadership Council.
Along with her public board responsibilities, Waller is a member of the Board of Trustees of The University of Rochester, Spelman College, The Woodruff Arts Center, The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, The Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta and Achieve Atlanta. Prior to her retirement she served as Vice Chair of the Advisory Board of Catalyst, a global nonprofit working with some of the world’s most powerful CEOs and leading companies to help build workplaces that work for women.
Waller holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Rochester and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Agenda subject to change
11:45am EDT
12:00pm EDT
A Rulebook for the New Reality
That businesses will continue to face economic and social headwinds is certain. Less certain is how these headwinds will manifest and play out. Hear tactics from leading executives on building and executing a game plan amidst uncertainty, while remaining nimble enough to adapt to change as it comes.
Matthew Schuyler, CHRO, Hilton
Harmit Singh, EVP and CFO, Levi Strauss & Co.
Interviewer: Jon Fortt, “Squawk Alley” Co-Anchor, CNBC
Strategy Session: What are the Odds?
Bolster your decision-making tools to achieve successful business outcomes by using strategies from the world of high-stakes poker.
Annie Duke, Decision Strategist and Poker Champion
Interviewer: Dom Chu, Senior Correspondent, CNBC
Concurrent Sessions
Silver Linings: Learnings From COVID and the New Finance Imperative
Sponsored Session
The Covid-19 pandemic was an eye-opener for many CFOs. While it exposed fault lines in the office of Finance’s current operating model, it also proved that bold change can happen quickly and effectively. Examine ways where finance is using this opportunity to reemerge as a more agile and digitally enabled function.
Christa Davies, CFO and EVP, Global Finance, Aon plc
Robynne Sisco, President and CFO, Workday
Interviewer: Shibani Joshi, Business Journalist
The Finance/Tech Collaboration: A CFOs Role in a Digital Agenda
The onset of the pandemic forced companies across industries to accelerate or re-prioritize their digitization efforts. How do CFOs best coordinate with tech leadership to execute successful, evolving digital strategies while avoiding undue financial strain? Explore solutions with an executive who sat in the seats of both CIO and CFO during his tenure at Goldman Sachs.
R. Martin Chavez, Fmr. CIO and CFO, Goldman Sachs
Interviewer: Jon Fortt, “Squawk Alley” Co-Anchor, CNBC
Leading with Empathy: Balancing the Needs of a Company and its People
A top priority for CFOs in today’s uncertain environment is financial stability, but there are two sides to every decision: where the money flows and where it doesn’t. Sometimes the tough calls have broad and potentially lasting workforce impacts. How do finance leaders navigate these tough waters while positioning for solid footing and seizing opportunities for future growth?
Kathy Waller, Fmr. CFO, Coca-Cola Company
Robin Washington, Fmr. CFO, Gilead
Interviewer: Sharon Epperson, Senior Personal Finance Correspondent, CNBC
A Workforce-First Agenda
Our COVID-19 reality took work-life balance and thrust it head-on into a world of ongoing work-life integration. However, this new reality has the potential to substantially impact an employee’s productivity… and affect an organization’s ability to thrive. Hear how top leadership at one company successfully met this challenge and adopted sustainable changes to get through these tough times and beyond.
Margaret Keane, CEO, Synchrony
Brian Wenzel, EVP and CFO, Synchrony
Interviewer: Tyler Mathisen, Co-anchor, “Power Lunch”; Vice President, Events Strategy, CNBC
1:30pm EDT
Learn from game-changing organizations who are using powerful new technologies to prepare their employees for the future and enhance their bottom line.
CFOs and other top executives who play a critical role building the teams of tomorrow that will leverage tech at scale.
Companies are only just beginning to leverage technologies that we now know are the most critical to thrive in changing times. Gather insights and be at the forefront of transformative discourse about the new convergence of technology and driving better outcomes, with an unmatched audience of peers.
Workday is a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources. Founded in 2005, Workday delivers financial management, human capital management, planning, and analytics applications designed for the world’s largest companies, educational institutions, and government agencies. Organizations ranging from medium-sized businesses to Fortune 50 enterprises have selected Workday.
To learn more, visit www.workday.com.