byline: Joan Tupponce

2016 Virginia CFO Award winner
PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANIES

Dave Keltner
^{Ferguson Enterprises Inc., Newport News}

Dave Keltner soon will become interim CFO of Wolseley plc, the Britain-based parent company of Newport News-based Ferguson Enterprises Inc.

The current Wolseley CFO, John Martin, has been promoted to CEO of the company, which is traded on the London stock exchange and had revenue of about $21 billion last year. It distributes plumbing and heating products and building materials in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

“My goal is to grow both personally and professionally in this role and try to add value to Wolseley during my time overseeing the finances for the group,” says Keltner, who has been CFO at Ferguson since 2006.

The interim CFO appointment is a good indicator of the job that Keltner has performed at Ferguson, which has 22,000 employees nationwide, including more than 3,000 in Virginia.

During his tenure, Keltner has overseen 75 acquisitions and integrations, including 35 during the last six years, adding $1.1 billion to annual sales. Under his leadership the company has consistently outperformed the market and continues to achieve new levels of sales and profitability.

“Dave has a strategic vision and a solid understanding of the industry and types of businesses in which Ferguson operates,” says CEO Frank Roach. “His 23 years of experience in the construction industry provides a solid foundation that has helped to guide Ferguson’s growth.”

Keltner has a balanced approach toward company development, the CEO says. “He has the unique ability to guide the organization to meet its current objective and goals while making sure we do not lose sight of the opportunities for the future,” Roach says.

Christos Xystros, managing partner of KPMG’s Norfolk office, says Keltner has a keen understanding of business. “Dave’s conversations are not just about the numbers but what drives the numbers,” he says.

Keltner is very proud of the way Ferguson’s leadership has “transformed the role of finance from a transactional and reporting function to a business partnering team that is instrumental in helping the business achieve its goals.”

As a leader, Keltner supports both the personal and professional development of his team. “I want Ferguson to be viewed as an employer of choice for finance talent,” he says. “We’ve come a long way in the past few years to attract and retain that talent.”

Doug Granger, partner at Hunton & Williams in the Corporate, Finance and M&A Group, has worked with Keltner and has great respect for his skills and judgment. “He understands the legal, business and people issues,” he says. “He is calm, level-headed, smart and capable of making hard decisions.”

He also appreciates Keltner’s listening skills. “Not all business clients want to hear from an attorney, let alone listen,” he says. “Dave seeks advice, takes it in, weighs the risks and issues and makes a decision. He welcomes the advice and asks great questions.”

Keltner also believes it’s important to give back to the community. He serves on the board of directors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Virginia Peninsula and was instrumental in bringing the club’s new $1.5 million multisport complex to life.

“I recognize that I am very fortunate to be where I am today, and that is a result of a lot of people helping me along the way,” he says. “It is now my turn and my responsibility as a leader to give back to the community and help others.”

2016 Virginia CFO Award winner
SMALL PRIVATE COMPANIES

Mike D. Griffin
^{Tucker Griffin Barnes PC, Charlottesville}

Everyone at the Charlottesville-based law firm Tucker Griffin Barnes PC knows Mike Griffin’s favorite saying: “It’s each attorney’s job to fight for justice; it’s my job to keep everyone focused on generating profits.”

“I’m the finance guy, and that’s my number one priority,” Griffin says. “I have to keep lawyers focused on the fact that it’s a business as well. Most attorneys don’t come out of law school knowing how to run a business. They come out knowing how to be an attorney. I spend a lot of my time helping the attorneys understand the business side of their law practice.”

The law firm’s president, William D. Tucker III, sees the inability to manage  profit as the biggest problem facing law firms today.

“Law firms have been consumed with the billable hour,” he says. “Due to Mike’s insight on law-firm business models, profitability ratios, his ability to create consensus among firm partners and his unique experience, our firm is now structured around layers of profit-and-loss statements.”

Since joining the firm in 2003, Griffin has created P&L statements for the overall firm and each branch (in addition to Charlottesville, it has offices in Harrisonburg and Palmyra), department and attorney. The result has been a significant increase in profitability at all levels.

“Mike has brought it to a point where lawyers understand the business of a law practice,” Tucker says, noting that Griffin’s wife, Yvonne, is one of the firm’s senior partners.

Griffin enjoys working with business models. “I put together a series of management reports that we call dashboards to assess where the company stands so the partners can make decisions very quickly about finance,” he says.

One of the Georgia native’s strengths is his even-keel demeanor, Tucker says. “He handles problems without a lot of stress,” says the law firm president. “Mike’s definition of chaos is the area that lies between the task required and the level of experience available. He is constantly training and updating office protocols with attorneys and staff. He is focused on reducing complexity and that has reduced chaos.”

The firm has benefited from Griffin’s 20-plus years as an Army finance officer. “You would be surprised how much of the Army finance skill set you can bring to the business world,” he says. “In the military you learn how to manage chaos because you could find yourself in a fluid situation. You have to make a lot of decisions under pressure. There is a lot of room for misunderstanding … We had to learn to manage chaos there for the unit and move in the right direction.”

Since joining the law firm 13 years ago, Griffin has instituted a rolling strategic planning process. Every month the firm’s partners meet and talk about strategy. “He is really good at creating a strategic plan for the firm,” Tucker says. “He is planning for the future.”

Bryan Thomas, senior vice president and market president for BB&T in the Charlottesville area, appreciates Griffin’s ability to foresee the firm’s needs.

“He has always been quick to ask when he needs help,” he says. “He will say, “We have this situation. How can we address it?’ Then we come up with a solution.”

Griffin also helped develop a policy allowing mothers employed by the firm to bring their babies to work after their maternity leave ends. “We are not the typical high-pressure law firm. We are more relaxed,” says Tucker.

The  babies-in-the-workplace policy was highlighted on NBC’s “Today Show.” “It made our law firm a better place to work,” Tucker says. “It was a great addition.”

2016 Virginia CFO Award winner
LARGE PRIVATE COMPANIES

René Chaze, CPA
^{Edelman Financial Services, Fairfax}

René Chaze, a CPA, believes he does his best work when he is building a team to solve problems. “I try to listen, guide and coach,” he says. “I try to be a good leader and bring humor when needed. I want to make sure the team feels rewarded and appreciated.”

He joined Fairfax-based Edelman Financial Services in 2011 in part because of the investment advisory firm’s mission. “I like this type of business because it helps people achieve their financial goals,” he says.

Chaze’s relationship with the Edelman organization actually began many years before his hiring. His wife, Kristine, has been a financial planner at the firm for 22 years. “That is a tremendous side benefit for us,” says company CEO Ric Edelman. “René has had decades of experience and familiarity with our firm because of his wife’s important role in our firm.”

Edelman Financial Services, founded in the late 1980s, has 42 offices throughout the country. It has nearly 500 employees, including more than 280 in Virginia.

Edelman sees Chaze as a fixer. “He is equally talented at recognizing deep, intrinsic problems and identifying and implementing solutions in an efficient, effective and timely way,” he says. “René has created a world-class finance and accounting function for us.”

A native of Louisiana, Chaze had a long career in public accounting before joining Edelman. “His 20-plus years of experience at Ernst & Young, where he worked with some of the largest companies in the world, enabled him to bring organizational structure and highly talented people to help us manage our rapid growth,” Edelman says.

Chaze revamped the investment firm’s financial reporting and analytics systems and built strong relationships with lenders and its private-equity sponsor. Last year, he helped the company achieve record revenues and profits. Its three-year compound annual revenue growth rate from 2012 through 2015 was 33 percent.

Last September, Chaze was instrumental in spinning off nine businesses that no longer fit the company’s strategic plans. In December, he co-led a deal that resulted in a new private equity firm, Hellman & Friedman, acquiring majority control of the company in December. At the same time, he arranged a $230 million syndicated debt offering to finance the transaction. “To do all that in one year was very overwhelming,” Chaze says.

Chaze has reframed “the role of CFO as one who is much more than a bean-counter but is instead a strategic member of a company’s management team, able to anticipate relevant issues from a high level while also seeing the operational details that will need to be addressed,” Edelman says.

No two days are the same for Chaze because of his varied responsibilities. He wears two hats in the organization. As CFO, he is responsible for accounting, finance, budgeting, forecasting, investor relations, treasury, cash management, and risk and financial analysis. “I also have a chief operating officer role where I manage a lot of other functions as well,” he says. “I am constantly looking for ways we can improve what we do to be better, smarter and faster.”

2016 Virginia CFO Award winner
LARGE NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Jeffrey K. Reed
^{Community Housing Partners, Christiansburg}

Janaka Casper, president and CEO of Community Housing Partners, says Jeff Reed’s leadership has been very important to the nonprofit organization’s growth.

“He is very analytical, but he is also very good at the big picture. To me that is a rare skill set,” he said. “He has the unique ability to blend mission and financial stability. He balances them in a very complex regulatory environment.”

The organization’s mission is to create homes and communities that are healthy, sustainable and affordable. It has three main business segments: real estate development, housing services and energy solutions.

Reed, a Christiansburg native, joined Community Housing Partners 16 years ago. In addition to his financial duties, he is in charge of asset management and real estate development.

During Reed’s time with the organization, its assets grew from $80 million in 2000 to $388 million in 2015 while revenue rose from $29 million to $93 million. During the same period, the nonprofit’s rental portfolio has increased from 1,812 units (33 properties) in 2000 to 6,087 units (107 properties).

In 2013, Reed played a key role in the acquisition of a $38 million nonprofit, Florida Low Income Housing Associates, which had 500 multifamily units. The deal resulted in a return on investment of more than 20 percent.

“Their business model wasn’t working through the recession,” Reed says of the Florida organization. “They were struggling and interested in partnering with us. We stepped in and took control of that company. We brought expertise on the property ownership side that they didn’t have.”

Nathan Hockersmith, vice president and commercial lender at Union Bank & Trust in Christiansburg, believes Reed brings unusual attributes to the nonprofit sector. “He is very ‘business/profit’ oriented, which has enabled them to expand their business regionally through organic growth and acquisitions as well as be a preferred development partner,” he says.  

Hockersmith had limited experience with affordable housing programs before he began working with Community Housing Partners. “Jeff took the time to educate me on the intricacies of their model, which varied from my more conventional lending background,” he says.

Reed says obtaining financing for multifamily affordable housing is a bigger challenge than with conventional multifamily housing. Affordable housing requires juggling loans, grants and tax credits, he says.

On the asset management side, he works with a variety of affordable housing communities using project financing from sources such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Reed describes himself as “high energy and goal-oriented. I see a project, and I do what it takes to get it done.”

Casper, the nonprofit’s CEO, says Reed is a leader who inspires people but at the same time is modest and very comfortable working in the background.

“Jeff has not until very recently been a very public leader in our organization,” Casper says. “More recently he has become a coach and a teacher in the community development field. Now he’s in great demand in his peer group. He is always asked to be presenter.”

Reed thinks of himself as an “average person that works hard.”

“Our growth comes by serving more people,” he says. “That is what excites me.”

2016 Virginia CFO Award winner
SMALL NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Julie Hovermale, CPA
^{Better Housing Coalition, Richmond}

Julie Hovermale is passionate about the mission of Better Housing Coalition. The nonprofit provides housing options and support services throughout the Richmond region to about 3,000 modest-income families and senior citizens.
“I live in the city, and I believe everybody should have a safe place to call home,” she says.

The Illinois native, who is a Certified Public Accountant, brings to the organization experience working for for-profit and nonprofit ventures. 

“She is setting a high bar of accountability and transparency for an industry that sometimes hasn’t had that much rigor all the time,” says Greta Harris, the organization’s president and CEO. “She brings that rigor. She believes if we are stronger financially, we are in a better position to have an impact on the community. The balance between financial strength and our ability to advance our mission is one of the greatest gifts she brings to Better Housing Coalition.”

Hovermale was faced with a big challenge when she joined the organization in 2012. It was struggling to recover from the 2007-09 recession and resulting downturn in the real estate industry.

Wheat McDowell, portfolio manager at Richmond Capital Management, is finance committee chairman on the organization’s board of directors. He says the Better Housing Coalition needed someone like Hovermale “to come in and save the day. At that time we had a lot of projects underway and some debt that was burdensome to the organization. We had outgrown what we were doing from a control standpoint.”

Hovermale spent a lot of time getting “her arms around a very complicated organization,” which has many companies and subsidiaries, he adds.  Her findings led a two-year series of changes that included wholesale organizational restructuring and new accountability for all business lines.

The organization now has a new focus that balances corporate sustainability with community impact. The corporate turnaround has resulted in a new nonprofit structure that generates 85 percent of its $15 million annual budget.
“From my standpoint, she did what a good CFO does,” McDowell says. “She allowed us to understand our own or­­­­­gan­­­­ization, and from that we were able to make a lot of good decisions as a board.”

One of Hovermale’s biggest strengths is her analytical nature. “Some people look at numbers, and they get scared. I look at numbers, and I see a story,” she says.

She had to make tough decisions that aren’t always popular with others. “I can leave my emotions on the outside and think more from a business standpoint,” she says. “I do have strong beliefs, and I don’t have a problem voicing my beliefs.”

Hovermale is “not scared to ask tough questions or to make recommendations to the board,” says finance committee member Neil Amin, CEO of Shamin Hotels. “She is also very down-to-earth, friendly and supportive of her colleagues. She is trustworthy and helpful to the whole organization.”

Admittedly introverted, Hovermale feels she has grown considerably since coming to the Better Housing Coalition.

“I have learned a lot about myself,” she says. “It feels good to do something for your community and for others. It makes me feel good going to work every day knowing I am helping people. Not everybody has an affordable place to call home. My goal is to continue to help my community and help through any way I can.”