VEGAS INC and FEI celebrate the top financial executives in Southern Nevada

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Dani Kwasniowski

Lisa Manning and other financial executives were honored at the CFO Awards at Veil Pavilion at the Silverton on June 22, 2017. Manning is flanked by Aric Graham of Umpqua Bank and Gary Vecchiarelli, president of FEI Las Vegas.

Mon, Jun 26, 2017 (2 a.m.)

Opportunity Village's Lisa Manning took home the top prize at the inaugural CFO of the Year Awards.

Hosted by the Las Vegas Chapter of Financial Executives International, the CFO of the Year Awards aim to celebrate executives who have helped their companies reach new pinnacles of success and whose leadership stands out as exemplary.

Manning, the CFO of Opportunity Village, brings more than 25 years of experience in operations, financial management and business consulting to OV. More than six decades old, the not-for-profit serves adults in Southern Nevada with intellectual and related disabilities with the goal of enhancing their lives and the lives of the families who love them.

Lisa Manning

Lisa Manning

Manning has served the Las Vegas community as a business and financial consultant since 1997 in both commercial and nonprofit sectors across a variety of industries ranging from construction and real estate to medical. She previously worked at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, where she served six years as the chief operations officer. She has been a licensed CPA since 1992, with a degree in business administration from the University of Washington. She also plays tennis in the USTA Nevada and enjoys singing.

Opportunity Village, Manning said, is a unique organization with a very diverse operation.

“It requires wearing many hats throughout the day, as we provide human services, comply and adapt to a changing regulatory environment, compete against for-profit businesses in order to obtain contracts in various lines of business in order to provide jobs for people with intellectual disabilities, and obtain donations through fundraising and signature events such as the Magical Forest,” she said.

Among Manning’s impressive list of accomplishments during fiscal year 2017: the implementation of organization-wide centralized purchasing; cross-departmental participation for Magical Forest to improve operational and financial efficiencies; and interim management of a Resource Development Event Team. “The emphasis has been on team building, interdepartmental collaboration, and implementation of sound financial and business practices,” she said.

Through interdepartmental collaboration, Manning and her colleagues found ways to increase operating efficiencies and implement cost reduction strategies — for instance, through centralized purchasing — without compromising the quality of care provided. “This allowed us to implement a significant pay increase for all OV Direct-care staff.”

A CFO is “a strategic, goal-oriented leader possessing strong business acumen and analytical skills,” Manning said, “carrying out their duties with the highest level of honesty and integrity. A collaborative team builder who communicates with passion, enthusiasm and transparency. Inspiring the team through leading by example.”

Manning said that her top goal every year is “that we are on the cutting edge in our industry, continuing to develop best practices, and following sound business principles so that Opportunity Village will be here to serve our community and provide job opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities for another 60-plus years.”

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CFO of the Year Finalist

Sandra Beaver

Vice President / CFO

IGT’s North America Gaming and Interactive

Colleagues call her an inspiring role model. After joining GTECH 14 years ago, Sandra Beaver has become an integral component of the organization as it evolved into IGT. Some of her most significant contributions have involved working on the sale of DoubleDown Interactive and developing Lottery Manager Agreements in Illinois, Indiana and New Jersey. She was also a key member of the teams that renegotiated the net income commitment terms with all three contracts and part of the initial bids for Indiana and New Jersey.

Sandra Beaver

Sandra Beaver

Prior to the acquisition of IGT, Beaver was a part of a team that restructured GTECH by geography — including its related P&L structure — within a six-month period, driving the organization to new levels of financial efficiency and operational excellence.

Beaver has extensive global financial experience. She worked with business partners in India, for example, to manage the contracts for a large outsourced software service team that delivered products worldwide.

“Successful leaders within large organizations are highly dependent on the quality and engagement of their teams,” Beaver said. “Being a top CFO is not just about being able to analyze numbers and make complex financial decisions, but also about surrounding oneself with smart, talented people and enabling them to be their best.”

Being a CFO at any company is challenging and complex, she said. “IGT is a large, publicly traded, global company that offers a broad range of gaming and lottery solutions. In this environment, it is critical to communicate often, effectively and across all levels of the business. In a large company this notion is paramount to success — above and beyond the core competencies of a CFO.”

Beaver said that one of her greatest accomplishments in 2016 was helping navigate IGT’s gaming business in an intense environment of change, integration and improvement. “As IGT evolves, and as I evolve in my role, continuous self-improvement and knowledge acquisition remain constant opportunities and challenges.”

Beaver’s plans for the future are ambitious. “The full integration of two very large companies takes many years to achieve” she said. “This year will continue to be a year of intense evolution for our gaming business. To achieve success, it is critical that we continue to focus on the objectives of our customers, our product portfolio and our employees. At the end of the day, happy customers buy more products, and happy employees produce the best for our customers.”

The role of the CFO continues to expand beyond the pure financial statements of the company, and into the operating principles of the business, Beaver said. “I believe CFOs continue to become more influential in driving a business, not just managing its financial health.”

— Howard Riell

•••

CFO of the Year Finalist

Kim Forbes-Daniels

Market Chief Financial Officer

Universal Health Services

Kim Forbes-Daniels’ work in The Valley Health System, as well as Universal Health Services, has been profound. It has led to extensive growth and profitability for the region, making it a valuable asset to the UHS Corporation as a whole.

Kim Forbes-Daniels

Kim Forbes-Daniels

For more than 13 years, Forbes-Daniels has led the financial progress and success of the facilities in this market. She has overseen the growth of the system from five to eight hospitals, including the addition of several physician practices, and an ambulatory surgery center.

Along with providing oversight to the eight hospital-based CFOs, she also initiated the consolidation of, and oversees, accounting, business office, admitting, centralized scheduling, health information management, PBX, materials management, information services, case management, and laboratory services. She currently manages more than $12 billion in gross revenue across the facilities in Nevada.

“In addition to financial acumen, there are several qualities outside of finance which are important to the CFO role,” Forbes-Daniels said. The first is integrity. “Demonstrating integrity in all aspects of your role, whether this is financial reporting, contract negotiations or being straightforward with staff regarding difficult topics, is an important quality for a CFO.”

Another is leadership development, which she called “the ability to recognize and develop leaders within your organization. These are the same individuals with success in their specific fields, but as a team can accomplish seemingly impossible projects.”

CFOs, she added, need to be able to explain complex financial analysis or projections to a wide range of audiences.

Forbes-Daniels called the expansion of The Valley Health System with the opening of Henderson Hospital — on schedule and on budget — her top accomplishment in 2016. The strategic plan was developed in 2014 “and we moved quickly into the planning stages, utilizing the wealth of knowledge locally from our previous hospital openings and expansions.”

This addition to The Valley Health System “has allowed us to expand health care services into the southeast portion of the valley for UHS. We feel it is important to grow with the greater Southern Nevada community as well as looking for opportunities throughout the state. This enables consumers to choose their acute-care hospital provider within their own neighborhood.”

Her goals for the months to come are built upon previous ones; primarily, to continue to develop a fully integrated health care network in Nevada. “We continue to evaluate opportunities to build upon the UHS success in the hospital provider community. The expansion of services provided to our community might include more sub-acute care services or partnerships with physicians. This will enable us to care for our patients throughout their entire episode of care.”

— Howard Riell

•••

CFO of the Year Finalist

Paul Soth

CFO

Companion Animal Practices North America Inc.

For Companion Animal Practices North America Inc., Paul Soth manages financial accounting and IT. He is responsible for directing daily cash between all operating entities as well as corporate overhead, which includes IT department projects. The number of entities? It’s grown from 28 to 58 over the past 12 months.

Paul Soth

Paul Soth

Beyond these, Soth oversees due diligence and integration for acquisitions, with 32 practices acquired over the past 12 months. He also oversees the development and implementation of policies and procedures for internal accounting processes and the company’s financial reporting. Further, he is responsible for all IRS exam and tax reporting issues, and has developed and oversees business profitability process.

By all accounts, Soth did an outstanding job taking a team of 10 in a decentralized culture with antiquated systems and building it into its current size — 54 people — with updated systems and a centralized accounting process. At the same time, he was able to challenge and provide major opportunities for the people who were there when he started. He also brought in a higher level of talent and provided staff members with opportunities to grow their skill sets.

CAPNA, Soth said, was formed in 2010 as part of a number of small companion animal veterinarian practices that traded stock ownership but were allowed to continue as individual practices acting on their own behalf.

What is unique about being its CFO, he continued, is the continued support offered by its president, Dennis Law, and CAPNA’s board of directors “and their willingness to support the implementation of the many policies and procedures required to centralize accounting functions while working with the practice personnel to ensure local autonomy exist.”

While the primary role of the chief financial officer “is still centered on the finance and accounting function,” Soth said, the CFO “continues to improve business partnering between the finance operations and all other units and functions of the organization.”

Developing the right skill set within the finance functions is important. “These skill sets constantly evolve toward individuals being able to data-mine efficiently, and (enhances) their ability to analyze the data accurately and in a timely fashion for the organization. As the skill set within the finance operation continues to evolve to the current needs of the organization, building innovative finance leaders is critical in years to come.”

Soth’s desire going forward is to ensure CAPNA’s value and profitability. Among his personal goals for 2017: to continue to mainstream the financial reporting process, which will allow his team to formalize the budgetary process and work with operation to build additional reporting. Also, he has plans to assist operations to analyze the operational information to increase profitability throughout the organization and implement a standardization commission compensation structure.

— Howard Riell

•••

Gaming/Hospitality

Walter Bogumil

Senior Vice President/CFO

Affinity Gaming

Growing up in Florida, Walter Bogumil was unsure of his career path, but one thing was for certain:

He was no rocket scientist.

Walter Bogumil

Walter Bogumil

“My parents wanted me to be an engineer and work at Cape Canaveral, but I just didn’t enjoy the work,” said Bogumil, who holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from University of Central Florida and an MBA from Rollins College. “So I switched my focus to biology, then HR, then finally took a basic finance course and the logic of it just made sense to me.”

Bogumil previously held key financial and management positions with Walt Disney World Co., Sun International Resorts, Microsoft Corp. and Penn National Gaming.

Bogumil joined Affinity Gaming as CFO in March 2015. Affinity operates 11 casinos in four states, including Silver Sevens, Primm Valley, Whiskey Pete’s and Buffalo Bill’s in Southern Nevada.

Tasked with getting the company’s

finances in order, Bogumil’s efforts resulted in increased recurring free cash flow from zero to $50 million in 18 months.

He was also instrumental in growing recurring EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) 25.4 percent in 2015 and 17.4 percent in 2016. Affinity Gaming — privatized in January of this year — is now one of the fastest-growing gaming companies in the United States.

Looking ahead, Bogumil is investing capital back into the company with a focus on improving food and beverage quality and a room-remodeling initiative. By the end of 2018, nearly two-thirds of the company’s 2,200 rooms are expected to have a new look.

— Danielle Birkin

•••

Services/Other

Paul Huether

CFO

Go Wireless

CPA Paul Huether has more than 30 years of diversified management and accounting experience, launching his career at Price Waterhouse and working in various capacities at Page–Net, Garrett Aviation and Impact Sand & Gravel prior to joining cell phone retailer Go Wireless as CFO in 2004.

Paul Huether

Paul Huether

“I entered accounting because I enjoyed working with numbers and quickly realized that the profession was about much more than just numbers,” said Huether, a New Jersey native who holds a bachelor of science in business administration with a focus on accounting from Seton Hall University.

In his current role, Huether has seen Go Wireless grow from 18 stores in 2005 to more than 730 today, and played a significant role in growing the company through the economic downturn.

“We have done this through organic growth as well as bank debt,” Huether said. “I have successfully raised over $500 million since 2011 via various markets: mezzanine debt, traditional bank debt and syndicated bank debt. Our interest expense has stayed the same while our debt level has tripled and our revenue has doubled, with store growth doubling in four years. 2017 will bring more of the same. We’ve had eight acquisitions so far this year.”

Huether has been instrumental in keeping the finance cost of operations constant and also helped to reduce medical insurance premiums to employees two years in a row while significantly lowering per-store insurance costs. Huether was also instrumental in integrating the new stores into the POS, inventory and accounting systems, and maintaining stable margins and a low leverage position.

— Danielle Birkin

•••

Construction/Real Estate

Scott Seegmiller

CFO, Nevada West Development & WestCorp Management Group

Managing Partner, Ascent Multifamily Accounting

Scott Seegmiller confessed he’s been destined for the financial arena since age 10, when he began keeping records of his earning from mowing lawns and digging weeds in his St. George, Utah, neighborhood.

Scott Seegmiller

Scott Seegmiller

“Then, when I was 14, I began keeping track of everything I made or spent, and served as statistician for the high school basketball, baseball and football teams,” said Seegmiller, who holds a bachelor of arts in accounting from Southern Utah University, and has nearly 30 years of experience in property-management accounting.

He launched his career locally with Deloitte in 1977, and also worked at Laventhol & Horwath and Realty Management Inc. prior to co-founding WestCorp Management Group and its sister company Nevada West Development in 2008, serving as CFO for both entities.

WestCorp Management Group manages operations and/or accounting services for more than 14,000 multifamily units in 10 states. The company has renovated more than 10,000 multifamily units, converted more than 4,500 apartment units to condominiums and helped sell more than $600 million in units.

“I think the key to our growth and success has been our ability to streamline the accounting function for property management through web-based software that we efficiently apply to each community,” said Seegmiller, who was also instrumental in making WestCorp Management Group completely paperless.

In 2016, Seegmiller also founded Ascent Multifamily Accounting, a paperless company that provides outsourced accounting services for multifamily projects.

— Danielle Birkin

•••

Manufacturing/Technology

Randy Taylor

Executive Vice President / CFO

Everi

Las Vegas native Randy Taylor has been immersed in the financial arena for almost two dozen years, launching his career at the Showboat as vice president of taxation and assistant treasurer, and also working in various capacities at Aladdin Gaming Holdings and Bally Technologies before switching gears and joining Citadel Broadcasting Co., where he served for almost 12 years, including three years as CFO.

Randy Taylor

Randy Taylor

In 2011, Taylor turned his attention back to the gaming industry, joining Global Cash Access (now Everi Holdings) as senior vice president and controller, ascending the ranks in 2014 to CFO, executive vice president and treasurer of the company, which produces slot machines and provides financial equipment and services to casinos. This includes providing video and mechanical reel gaming content and technology solutions; integrated gaming payment solutions; and compliance and efficiency software.

Everi is the result of a rebranding and merger of Global Cash Access and Multimedia Games in 2014/2015. Taylor was instrumental in integrating financial statements, increasing the talent pool without growing overhead, securing new financing and achieving overall synergies with the two companies.

“All of our services are casino-related, and Multimedia Games produced gaming machines on a smaller scale, so since the acquisition we’ve been working to streamline our sales and service teams as well as manufacturing,” said Taylor, who holds a bachelor of science in accounting from the University of Denver. “Most recently, we shut down a warehouse in Las Vegas and moved the operations to Austin, saving significant manufacturing costs.”

This year, the company refinanced its secured debt, resulting in about $8 million in annual interest savings, and also introduced wide-area Class II progressive games.

“Like Megabucks but on a smaller scale, and we’ve also brought out new licensed games like Casablanca and Penn & Teller,” Taylor said. “We’re constantly trying to expand our offerings to our casino clients, and are starting to see the financial benefits of our efforts.”

Colleagues say that Taylor’s leadership is inspiring.

“One of the best qualities he possesses is the art of listening and understanding,” said Olga Wisnicky, senior vice president/relationship manager of Well Fargo Commercial Bank. “Randy has the fortitude and discernment to read people and situations and do so correctly. To find a leader that is compassionate and fair, while being extremely intelligent, experienced and yet so empathetic and sympathetic is certainly unique and worthy of recognition.”

— Danielle Birkin

•••

Other than FEI and VEGAS INC, the event, held in the Veil Pavilion at the Silverton, was sponsored by Umpqua Bank, KPMG, Fusch Commercial Interiors and Design, and Intelligent Technical Solutions. Helix Vodka provided beverages. Honorees were chosen by a selection committee that included Don Snyder, UNLV presidential advisor for strategic initiatives; Len Jessup, UNLV president; and Thomas Elmer, executive president and senior state credit administrator for Nevada State Bank.

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