Today we’ve got another COVID-19 special focused on cash liquidity. I’m joined by Casey Kernan from EY. EY has just produced a really great white paper around cash and liquidity.   In this episode: What Casey can see coming from a treasurer’s perspective in the short term Where do treasurers start - what’s the first thing to tackle How can people make sure on the accuracy of the forecast  Short term cash position - funding side Market volatility from a financial market’s perspective  Clients' response to work from home situation - is it a challenge from a treasurer’s perspective? CFOs’ expectation as of the moment Does Casey see job losses or hear anything from a treasurer's perspective   Links Casey Kernan LinkedIn

The Treasury Talent Podcast

#87 Crisis Special - Cash: Casey Kernan - Principal Global Treasury Services at EY

Today I’ve got a COVID special for you around treasury systems. Whenever I’m working from home, I thought it would be really a good idea to have a little chat around what treasury folks may be feeling. I am joined today by Bob Stark. Bob is the VP of Strategy of Kyriba Corporation. We chat through what we can be doing around working from home and getting some ideas on treasury in this environment.   In this episode: What Bob hears from his client Is there an issue with technology when working remotely Feedbacks from clients around remote working. Is it working from a functional treasury perspective? Making WFH work  Working effectively despite the challenges of working from home Is Bob seeing if any of his clients have downsized their treasury function during the process 

#86 Tech Special - WFH: Bob Stark - VP Strategy at Kyriba

Today I’ve got a special episode for you. Covid has turned the world upside down, the mass unemployment - the world has changed dramatically overnight. I’m joined today by Amol Dhargalkar from Chatham Financial. Amol’s going to give us some good insights to what his clients are seeing specifically around risk management, derivative, hedge accounting - there’s a lot going on there. Market volatility is back and all of a sudden things changed dramatically.   In this episode: What does Amol hear from his clients about liquidity and cash Can everyone get hold of their cash if the banks work remotely The pre-issuance hedging side The loss aversion’s significant impact on people’s decision making The trend happening on hedge accounting point of view Market volatility for the clients Record investment bond issuance Focus on liquidity Opportunities from a treasury perspective   Links Amol’s LinkedIn Profile

#85 Crisis Special: Amol Dhargalkar - Managing Director at Chatham Financial

Today on the podcast we have Will Sawitz who is the Assistant Treasurer at The Heico Companies which is a conglomerate that own a number of various businesses. Will has worked across a lot of different industries and has some really good insights on how those industries relate and how you can make a move across the different industries.  In this episode: Why Will chose a career in Treasury Will's experience moving across industries from a treasury perspective  Advice if you are looking to move industries How he would advise hiring managers where someone doesn't have the right industry experience Some of Will's biggest achievements in his career  Advice to young treasury people How Mentors played a role  Will's approach to networking The role of the treasurer in the coming years in advances in tech Links The Heiko Companies website Will Sawitz LinkedIn

#84 Will Sawitz - The Heico Companies

#84 Will Sawitz - Assistant Treasurer at The Heico Companies LLC

Today on the podcast we have Paul Choi who is currently working at Fifth Third Bank Bank. Paul has moved through different areas during his career and has moved from treasury to banking. Paul is here to talk with us about making the move between the different areas of finance and the treasury space.   On the episode: After starting his studies in an accounting major, Paul was introduced to the treasury space in his senior years. He then began an internship that helped him make an informed decision on where he wanted his career to go. The differences between corporate and retail treasury differs a lot when it comes to the size and scale of the businesses. Career development opportunities are higher in the retail space. Moving into the advisory space, Paul spends a lot of time on the road and suggests that others in similar roles should be ready for spending a lot of their time on the road. Working in the corporate side of treasury means that you are able to own the tasks from the start to finish, where when working in advisory you don’t have the ownership of the task and normally only complete up to 80% of the task – such as a project manager. Now that Paul is working in the banking sales side of things, he has gone through one of the bigger changes of his career. The day to day shows a lot of differences in the tasks that he completes and works through. There is a lot of unpredictability that needs to be managed in the sales side of the business. It can result in long days at times and others when you are left waiting to hear from clients. Sales and trading is the area that Paul finds to be the least forgiving. In the corporate side of treasury there are a lot more focus points that you have to work with. You need to focus on more than just the transactions and have some consultant type skills behind you as well to help with growing the business. When looking for a position, look forward and whether there are future barriers that you may need to work through and what the growth for you and the business would be. When transitioning from one position or one business to another, it is important that you have a reference behind you to help with the move forward. If you are choosing to move forward into he advisory space there are life changes that come with he job including a lot of travel and time away from your family. Networking and speaking with specialists in the field you are in will help with furthering your career and finding new positions. Paul’s advise for others is to make sure you have good mentors through your career. Networking will help you to find the mentors you need throughout your career. Across all three areas that Paul has worked, he finds that capacity for growth is one of the most important things when hiring someone to work with. Your level of character comes in very importantly for those who Paul would recommend to work with. On the technology side of things, Paul believes it will help to remove a lot of tasks that take up the time of the treasury team. 

#83 Career Advice Special: Paul Choi - Director of Foreign Exchange at Fifth Third Bank

Today we have Michael Braude back for the economic forecast. There have been a lot of changes recently to the market and Michael talks us through these and what to look out for in the coming months.   On the Episode: The volatility of the market right now is similar to the GFC however it differs as it started as a health pandemic but is now also having an impact on the financial side of the economy as well. The Corona Virus is now affecting and reaching people and businesses all around the world and is causing a lot of changes for businesses where there is grounding of flights, closing of schools and businesses. With a workforce that is made up of a lot of employees that are employed on a causal basis it means that there is now a lot of people who are either out of work or are now at risk of loosing their job. We have gone into the current pandemic in a very different position than we were in during the GFC. Although the prices of oil are dropping, households are still having to pay a large amount per litre at the pump. Initially there was a collapse in the yield of bonds, however in the last few days yields have gone up despite interest rate cuts. The commodities are changing dramatically during this time and many of the food based commodities have dropped in the past few weeks. As we are in unchartered territory it is hard to say what is going to happen next. It is important to keep an eye on the Australian Dollar and how it is comparing against the US Dollar. There is many changes that are still to come and it could be ongoing for a number of months. The important thing is to make sure that there is not too much panic and to remember resilience and that we will bounce back. 

#82 Michael Braude – Economic Update Monthly #11

Today on the podcast I have decided to do an episode on Treasury Talent and the story behind it. I thought I would spend a bit of time giving a bit of a background on the business and how it came about.   On the episode: I started my career studying commerce and business, from there I moved into accounting before realising it was not the area that I was suited to. I then moved into recruiting. After starting a family I decided that I wanted to start my own business so that I could work around my family. I began working as a specialist in the area of recruiting in the treasury space. After working in the Australian and Asian countries I decided to branch into the US. It took around 3 years to set up the US side of the business and it is now successfully set up along the East Coast. I wanted a business and a model that focused on a niche market and be able to provide the market with the information they needed and help professionals to find the right people for their businesses. The key difference with talent pooling is that we are speaking with people, finding out what they want and then approach the clients that would benefit from these people. It is a more direct approach by putting the right people in contact for the position. We are able to provide analytics by demographic and geographic areas. We work alongside the internal recruiting team so that you are able to see a range of different candidates from both us and the internal recruiting team. Our aim is not only to find the right person but also to save you time in the long run by using our processes to find the right fit. It is a long-term game. 

#81 Simon Lynch & Treasury Talent Story

The podcast today is another techonolofy special and we have Bob Stark chatting with us today. Bob is the VP of Strategy at Kyriba. Bob is here to chat with us about TMS implementation and the insights into getting it done correctly and efficiently.   On the episode: When choosing to implement a TMS in your business it is important to firstly understand what it is that you need and if the program will be right for you. Look into the things you are currently doing, what you would like to be doing and where the gaps lie. The TMS systems have changed in the last 18 months and have become a lot more module based where you can choose what modules will be beneficially for your business which helps with your ROI. The systems, requirements and modules have all changed and become easier to integrate between different programs making it a lot easier for a treasury team to put together the necessary program that is needed for them. It was once that only the larger companies would look at implementing a TMS however it is becoming a lot more beneficial for the smaller companies to also use a TMS due to the modular approach, smaller businesses are also seeing the benefits of a TMS. Bob explains a business who has a handle on their requirements and what they need are able to choose what they need without the need for outside help. However there is also the help available to help you to determine the best way forward and the best modules or TMS that will work best for the business. Your RFP is a formality that is not as important if you are already aware of your requirements and what you need. The RFP can help you to see other perspectives and make you change your thinking and make changes or help to validate the thinking you have been following. The implementation process as a few stages. The first stage is the organisation and preparation. The second step includes knowing what it is that you want to change and things that you want to improve. Knowing these upfront will help you to be more productive and efficient during the implementation process.  It is important when starting a project such as TMS implementation that you have dedicated resources for the project and not just people within the team giving a small amount of their time as this can get messy and cause issues with the implementation as their attention is not dedicated to the project. There are a number of benefits of using a TMS and in most cases they can be grouped into one of three categories. Productivity is the main one and a TMS can increase the productivity of everyone in the team. Visibility is another big area of benefit and the TMS can help you have full visibility of all your accounts at once. And the third is control. Control has taken on a new meaning now that fraud has become more prominent and having a higher level of control and process lowers your financial risks.  The TMS can also help with the checking and understanding of the different data within the cash and management side of things. It can help you to see where you need to make improvements of change things. After the implementation process it is common to find areas of the team or processes that were not running efficiently and are pulling the department backwards. It can help you to then go through and update these to be more efficient for the business. It is important that you continue to look to improve and not sit back and become stagnant. By continuing to improve and find more effective ways forward it will make you a compelling employee and member of the team. 

#80 Tech Special - Bob Stark

Today on the podcast I am chatting with Agnes Handayani. Agnes is the treasurer at Mastronardi Produce.  Agnes is based in Detroit and has made the switch from the car industry across into the food industry. She has a good understanding and insight into working in different industries.   On the episode: Agnes spent the first 20 years of her career in many different finance roles before she took a project assignment that saw her move towards treasury at the end of the project. Agnes loves working in treasury and the fact that within treasury she is able to stay connected to all aspects and departments within a company. The different industries that Agnes has worked in has given her a range of experience. She has found that the growth potential and cash flow between the different businesses can be very different. From a technical perspective the different industries are similar within the treasury department. When it comes to the cash management side of things can be different along with the exposure.  The change from one industry to another was not difficult for Agnes and she was able to adapt to the change well. It is simply getting use to the different focus in the different companies. Agnes finds that building highly performing teams is the thing she is most proud of in her career. When hiring for a team, Agnes looks for someone who can adapt and continue to reinvent themselves. The requirements of the staff member does change based on the company and the company needs. Resilience is also important when choosing a team member. Agnes would recommend that those coming into the industry take opportunities and take the risk with something new.  A successful treasurer in the eyes of the CFO would be someone who is well immersed in the business and the projects within it. Also someone who is innovated and keeping up to date with the changing of technology. With technology advances, Agnes foresees that the role will change with processes being put in place and technology being able to assist with the tasks created from the processes. Mentors have played a big role in Agnes career and she has had a lot of them throughout her career. Networking has always been a natural part of Agnes and her career and has been very useful at different times within her career. 

#79 Agnes Handayani - Treasurer at Mastronardi Produce

Today on the podcast we welcome Marie Myers. Marie is the CFO at Ui Path and has an advisory type role within the business. She has had a long career in finance and is here to chat with us around the technology side of things and moving forward with technology in the industry.   On the Episode: Marie looks for great people when she is hiring for her team. It involves finding someone who is able to bring innovation to the role and want to bring as much as they can to the role moving forward. Subject matter expertise is what Marie feels brings the person to the interview, however the softer skills are what are looked at more once you make it to the interview stage. The softer skills are very important for Marie. When it comes to hiring someone in the treasury department, Marie believes that the softer skills are very important and play a big part in choosing the right person for the role. Technology is becoming a large part of the industries of treasury and finance and bringing digital to the industries is disrupting the industries at present but will be a good thing for them. Marie sees a successful treasurer as a person who is able to bring everything to the table. Someone who has both the subject matter expertise and the softer skills and can adapt them into the role. The use of technology within the treasury department will help to remove the mundane tasks, leaving the treasury staff to focus on the more technical skills. The advice that Marie would give to the younger generation of treasurers is to get out there and give it all a try. She believes that it is important to take advantage of the different options and opportunities that are out there. 

#78 Marie Myers - CFO & Board Advisor

The podcast today features Jussi Nunes who is the CFO at B & K Bank.  B & K is a start-up bank and Jussi is part of building the bank from scratch.  There is a lot of different aspects that Jussi helps with in order to help the business to succeed and grow.    On the episode: Jussi when looking to hire for his team looks for a number of things. He wants to find someone that not only fits in with the current team but also someone who as diversity and can help the business to succeed.  The core capabilities and experience are important factors when hiring his direct reports and someone who will help achieve the objectives. The softer skills and core technical capabilities are both important went Jussi is trying to find the right fit for the team. The treasury view within the bank is starting to change. It use to be seen as a simple structure of the business, however it is now becoming a more strategic role and working with the CFO is important to the business. Jussi is actively involved with the treasury team and they speak on a daily basis in order to keep everything open and everyone on the same page. There are times when the whole business need to work together to ensure smooth running of the different processes as they are not always straightforward and able to be completed by just one team. Jussi believes that a successful treasurer is showcased by a person who is able to combine all the technical skills along with communication and responding to the different problems in a positive and effective way. Mentors have played a part throughout Jussi’s career and have helped him to grow and succeed throughout different roles that he has been in. Listening to the experience of others has helped Jussi a lot and helped him to understand the different aspects of the industry. Networking is an important part of your career and Jussi recommends to network with others when necessary, without networking just for the sake of it. Attending forums as a guest and also as a speaker is a great way to network and get to know others in the industry. Technology is becoming more prominent in the treasury field, Jussi doesn’t foresee a lot of change to the role of the treasurer however the overall department can see changes with the introduction of technology and different technological advancements. 

#77 Jussi Nunes - CFO Perspective

On the podcast today I have Michael Braude for our monthly economic forecast. We discussed the impact of the current Corona Virus outbreak and what it means for the economy and the different areas within it. There are a number of different commodities being affected and there are risks of further impacts into the future.   On the episode: The Corona Virus is in full swing and the number of cases has increased dramatically since our last economic forecast. This is starting to impact the economy and the effects are starting to be seen globally. Michael explains different impacts that are happening and that there may be further effects into the future. The Corona Virus is also affecting the commodities and Michael explains the different commodities that are being impacted currently. Equities are up at the moment in Australia, despite the virus and the recent bushfires that have gone through many parts of the country. The Australian Dollar has moved a bit of late and it hit he 70c point before dropping again. The FX market is currently being affected as well and both the euro and Australian dollar are the two that have been hit of most. Moving forward it is wise to keep an eye on the Corona Virus and whether it turns into a pandemic. This can cause large effects on the economy. Economically speaking the virus came at a bad time for China as it was already starting to have market concerns heading into this. The banks are also an area that we need to watch especially in the first half of this year, along with their interest rates, housing and investment. The next monetary statement and budget will come out in May and will help us to understand the position a lot more and how the response has been to economic stimulus over the first half of the year. The second half of the year will provide us with the US election which may also have an impact on the economy. 

#76 Michael Braude – Economic Update Monthly #10

Anita Bubna joins me on the podcast today. It was lovely chatting with Anita and learning about her career, views on the industry and the technology side of treasury and how it is helping change the way things are done. Anita is the senior director of treasury at Flex Group. Anita was recently awarded the Adam Smith award for innovation. She has been involved in a number of different projects and has been involved in a lot of innovation throughout the industry.   On the episode: Anita started her career in the IT sector and over time decided to move across from IT to finance before transitioning into the treasury industry. The transition from finance to treasury was one that Anita enjoyed and learned a lot from. It helps her to see the link between the two and how much finance is needed and used within treasury. Anita was awarded the Adam Smith award for innovation and has been involved in a number of different projects that have helped with the innovation of the industry and helping it to move forward. During the process of these different projects, Anita has learned a lot of different skills and have helped her to achieve amazing results. Her time in finance has helped her to innovate and change the way things are done within the treasury industry. Anita was able to tailor their treasury management system to benefit the business better and provide them with additional results. There are a number of projects that Anita is working on presently that are innovating the software being used and making it more beneficial for businesses and the needs that they have. After experimenting with RPA, Anita has found that this is not a long term solution however can help businesses in the interim.  Anita has worked with supply chain finance and asset back securitization, she explains the benefits and difficulties with the programs and how she helped push through resistance from others.  Anita is proud of the different projects she has been a part of and treats each of them as an accomplishment of her career. Anita gives her advice for those looking for a career in treasury and how they should not focus on just getting results. Anita has not relied on a particular mentor throughout her career and has used various resources to help her to further her career, however does wish that she had the opportunity earlier in her career. Networking was also not a focus earlier in Anita’s career but as her career has progressed she has been able to network better and she has found them very helpful. When hiring Anita looks for someone who has curiosity and empathy. When looking at a treasurer from the eyes of a CFO, Anita believes they are looking for someone who can communicate well. Anita is aware of the innovation and technology growth within the industry and can see it helping to move the industry forward in a positive way. 

#75 Anita Bubna - Senior Director of Treasury at Flex Group

Today on the podcast I am chatting with Seth Cohen. Seth is Assistant Treasurer at Gartner. Gartner is a subscription type business that works within IT and has changed its approach a lot in the recent years. Seth talks about his time at Gartner and how it differs from other businesses he has worked in.   On the episode: I ask Seth how he came into treasury and what made him decide to stay in the industry. I ask Seth what some of his biggest achievements in his career have been. Seth talks about the differences between the businesses he has worked in when it comes to treasury. Seth talks about the business model at Gartner and how it is working for the business. I ask Seth what advice he would give to the younger generation of treasurers. I ask Seth what he recommends and has learned himself from the different size and models of businesses. I ask Seth about networking and what advice he would give to people around networking. Seth talks about mentoring and how it can help your career and help you in different businesses. I ask Seth what he looks for when he is recruiting for his team. I ask Seth how he sees the treasury role changing in the coming years with the introduction of technology. I ask Seth what he thinks makes a successful treasurer in the eyes of the CFO. 

#74 Seth Cohen - Assistant Treasurer at Gartner

The Treasury Talent Podcast aims to share the wealth of knowledge within the treasury and finance community and inspire diversity. We live and breath everything that goes on in the world of treasury and are always on the look for fascinating people who can share their experience, thoughts and future predictions. We speak to treasurers, CFO’s, Analysts and thought leaders all around the world who have a story to tell and have a passion for this wild and risky side of business. The show is presented by Simon Lynch, who is known to have helped treasury professionals build successful teams by providing insight, value & knowledge within the treasury community. Simon partners treasury talent at all levels from treasurer to analysts in Australia, Asia & the US. He advises & provides deep insights to ensure that both Treasury departments & the talent are an ideal and perfect match. Please support the show by subscribing and rating the show. If you have a story to tell or want to get in touch, please email us: simon@treasurytalent.com

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The Treasury Talent Podcast

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