Chorus chief financial officer Andrew Carroll was named the CFO of the Year at the 2017 CFO Awards.
A media release from the organisers says Carroll took out the top honour for his work successfully addressing the local fibre company’s significant funding gap and navigating the complex regulatory challenges and market concern to effectively rebuild the confidence of Chorus.
Judges Jonathan Mason (former CFO of Fonterra), David Stewart (Foodstuffs North Island general manager of merchandise), and independent director Julia Hoare selected long-running CE of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Adrian Orr, to receive the Outstanding Contribution to Finance and Business award.
Recognised for his significant impact to the greater business community over the course of his career, Orr has been chief analyst at NZ Treasury, economist for the OECD, a member of the Expert Advisory Committee of World Bank Treasury and deputy governor of Reserve Bank of NZ.
Summerset Group Holdings took out the honour of Finance Team of the Year, the judges noting the team clearly demonstrated how increasing the quality of business information led to the business’ improved performance over the year. This new approach thoroughly impressed as it delivered an estimated 60 percent increase in profit, created significant shareholder returns, and increased its syndicated bank facility to support the continued profitable growth of the business.
Other winners on the night included PlaceMakers, which took out the Financial Innovation Project of the Year award for a large scale transformation programme, 90 Seconds as the SME Financial Team of the Year award for its work in raising capital and continuing high revenue growth for the innovative cloud sharing video platform. Casey Blatch of Synlait Milk was named the Young Financial Manager of the Year, with Jessie Watling of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts awarded Highly Commended.
“We were incredibly impressed with the calibre of the winners and candidates,” says head judge Jonathan Mason. “It is fantastic that we have had this opportunity to celebrate and recognise the range of fundamental work these financial experts do every day and to acknowledge the key leadership role that is a CFO.”
The NZ CFO Summit and Awards is managed by Fairfax Media and Conferenz.
