Wim Van Der Smissen, VP Finance at Bemis spoke at the CFO Event in Frankfurt 2013

1. Wim Van der Smissen
VP Finance & IT Bemis Europe
Growing Future Finance Leaders

2. What would happen if ?
Only 32% of US companies have a CEO
succession plan in place

3. Presentation Outline
• Introduction
• Today’s Challenges for finance
– Internal
– External
• Growing Future Finance leaders
• Conclusions
• Q&A and discussion

4. Introduction
 Founded 1858 as a packaging company
 $5.3 billion 2011 net sales
 Fortune 500 Company
 Barron’s 500 Company
 S&P 500 Company
 NYSE: BMS
Bemis Headquarters
 80 facilities; 12 countries
 Global Headquarters: Neenah, Wisconsin
 Over 20,000 employees worldwide

6. Business Segments
Flexible Packaging Pressure Sensitive
Materials
$4.7 billion $575 million
2011 Net Sales 2011 Net Sales

8. Bemis in Europe

9. Wim Van der Smissen
• Unilever 1983-2006
• Reynaers Aluminium 2007-2009
• Bemis 2010-now

10. Wim Van der Smissen

11. Today’s Challenges for finance
• Internal challenges :
– From a bean-counter to a multi-faceted Finance role
– From an integrated finance department to a network of service providers
• External challenges :
– Managing different generations of managers
– The talent shortage

12. From bean counter to multi-faceted finance role
Implications for Talent Development :
-Only good finance skills will probably not
get you to the top
-Much broader training needed :
- Multiple Finance skills
- Other functions
- Other skills and competences
-Risk of loosing people to other functions
in the process
Deloitte-model

13. From an integrated finance department to a network of service providers
Implications for Talent Development :
-Need for a completely different skill set
(from managing local team to managing a
network of external partners)
-Natural training ground lost
-Future finance persons will never have worked
day to day in accounting department

14. Managing different generations of managers
Implications for Talent Development :
-Sensitivity for completely different
needs of the different generations
-Do we need different tools/approaches
for different age groups ?

15. The talent shortage
Implications for Talent Development :
-Make sure you are attractive on the
market when recruiting (Employer
branding)
-Retention of employees becomes
a vital element for companies

16. Today’s CFO
KPMG : The future of Finance leadership (2011)

17. Building future finance leaders
What skills do
they need to have ?

18. Building future finance leaders
Building blocks
•Gain a breadth of finance expertise Diversity is more important than vertical focus
•Develop commercial insight Temporarily step out of finance
•Seek out M&A experience Get post- as well as pre-deal exposure
•Obtain a balance of traditional and Traditional finance skills remain critical,
non-traditional skills but will not differentiate
•Develop leadership skills Build teams with diverse skills
•Get international exposure An understanding of emerging market dynamics
is important
•Gain experience of finance transformation Get big project experience
initiatives
•Get exposure to the market and its stakeholders Communication and networking

19. Building future finance leaders
Guiding principles
•Talentful finance people are identified early and groomed for future positions
Succession planning is strategic and purposeful, it can’t be left to chance
•Finance leaders are well rounded, they know the business inside out
Future executives should be given cross-functional experience
•Consistent talent reviews and better communication improve succession mgmt
A well-organized succession management program is paramount for success
•The weakest succsion pipeline is in tax and functional finance
Proactive recruitment and training strategies are needed to close the gaps
•The retention of finance talent becomes a challenge as the economy gets stronger
A combination of the leading practices can keep a pipeline intact

20. Building future finance leaders
The tools and processes
Performance evalution
Individual development
Succession planning
programmes
Training programmes Job Rotation
Coaching/Mentoring

21. Conclusions
Homework : a check-list
•Do you have a formalized succession program for finance talent ?
•Do you have talent identification and communication of talent across the whole of finance ?
•Do your high-potentials gain cross-functional experience ?
•Do you have visible participation of finance in cross-functional assignments ?
•Is business knowledge an essential element for a successful finance career ?
•Is your talent pipeline heavily dependent on external hires ?
•Are you effective in building a culture of active mentorship and self-driven career development?
•Is management of external providers a key building block in a finance career path ?
•Is there a risk that your top talent will leave for better career opportunities ?
•Have you thought through the different aspirations of the different age groups within your
finance organisation and how to link them into the overall finance talent strategy ?

22. Questions and answers

23. A final thought
In preparing for battle I have always found that
plans are useless, but planning is indispensable
(Dwight D. Eisenhower)