On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Swiss CFO Day
At the tenth Swiss CFO Day on 14 January 2019, three high-profile CFOs were presented with the "CFO of the Year Award". The CFO Forum Switzerland is an association to which around 600 CFOs belong.
The award ceremony took place as part of the Swiss CFO Day, which was held for the 10th time. The theme of the conference was "Back to the Future 2009 - 2019 - 2029".
Around 300 participants listened to inspiring speeches by Serge Gaillard (Director of the Swiss Federal Finance Administration), Markus Blanka-Graff (Group CFO Kühne + Nagel International AG), Georges T. Roos (futurologist ROOS Trends & Futures) and Oscar J. Schwenk (Chairman of the Board of Directors Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG).
In assessing the candidates for the "CFO of the Year Award", the jury was again guided by the criteria of personality, professional competence, special achievements, familiarity with the company's business and reputation among analysts/investors.
Complex choice
The jury is well aware that the quality and performance of a CFO cannot be measured precisely. It is seldom possible to determine what proportion of a company's financial success is attributable to the CFO. Likewise, many of the potential candidates attach importance to the performance of their team, as only very few of them see themselves as lone warriors.
Because the performance and skills of a CFO are multifaceted, the CFO of the Year Awards jury is made up of high-calibre individuals who are in contact with CFOs either directly or indirectly through their employees, thus covering the CFO community to a large extent.
The heads of auditing at PwC, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte and BDO are on the jury, as are high-ranking representatives of the ZKB, Credit Suisse and UBS, as well as a capital market and corporate governance expert, the editors-in-chief of "Finanz und Wirtschaft" and "Handelszeitung" and a finance professor.
The jury selected the winners of the "CFO of the Year Award" in a multi-stage process. First, all eligible CFOs as well as the members of the CFO Forum Switzerland were contacted and invited to apply for the award - with reasons - or to propose a third person. Each member of the jury also submitted five candidates in each category with detailed reasons.
The winners
The nominated candidates were informed and then each jury member indicated his or her five favourites per category. Finally, the jury discussed the shortlist and drew up a ranking list of the nominees. Interviews were held with the CFOs nominated in the first rank in the SMI and SPI categories and they were then definitively selected as award winners.
In the CFO Forum Switzerland - CFOs category, three candidates were nominated by the jury and put forward for election by the members of the CFO Forum Switzerland. They were Tobias Knechtle (Valora Group), Andreas Wolfisberg (Komax AG) and Ronald Trächsel (BKW Group). With a turnout of 28 percent, the members of the CFO Forum Switzerland then chose Tobias Knechtle.
In the SMIEXP category Adrian Widmer, CFO of the Sika Group, is awarded CFO of the Year.
Adrian Widmer studied economics at the University of Zurich. He then held various positions at Textron Inc. (USA and Great Britain). In 2000, he took over the position of Manager Corporate Finance at Degussa's Construction Chemicals Division and was later appointed CFO of the Swiss company, among other positions. From 2005 to 2007 he was Managing Director Construction Systems Germany/Switzerland and Austria at BASF (Degussa). Adrian Widmer joined Sika in 2007 as Head Group Controlling and was additionally entrusted with responsibility for global M&A activities 2 years later. Since 2014 Adrian Widmer has been a member of Group Management as CFO. Adrian Widmer shaped the company, among other things, through successful financial management, support of the dynamic growth strategy, various acquisitions as well as successful financing measures in connection with the resolution of the shareholder conflict.
In the SPI category excluding SMIEXP, Stephan Zehnder, CFO of Bossard Group, was named CFO of the Year.
Before joining Bossard, Stephan Zehnder worked in various international companies in different functions in the finance area. He joined Bossard in 1996 and initially worked as a controller in the Corporate Finance team. From 1998 to 2004 he took over the management of Group Controlling. Since 2005 he has held the position of CFO of the Bossard Group and has successfully contributed to the development of the company. During this time, he supported the company in, among other things, the successful capital increase as well as a number of smaller and larger acquisitions as part of Bossard's growth strategy.
In the CFO Forum Switzerland category, Tobias Knechtle, CFO of the Valora Group, was named CFO of the Year.
After studying business administration at the University of Bern, Tobias Knechtle worked in international roles at Nestlé, The Boston Consulting Group and the private equity firm Cinven. Between 2009 and 2014, he was Senior Vice President Finance at the Kudelski Group, responsible for M&A and controlling, among other things. Tobias Knechtle has been a member of Group Executive Management and CFO of the Valora Group since 2014. In this role, he is also responsible for Business Transformation, Human Resources, Investor Relations and the Group's M&A activities. Tobias Knechtle made a significant contribution to Valora's focus on its core business, its expansion as a leading food convenience provider and its repositioning in the financial markets.
More information on the 10th Swiss CFO Day can be found at here
