IMA Bellevue Eastside Chapter
Bellevue WA

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Newsletter November 2009

Newsletter

Welcome to the IMA Bellevue Newsletter!


BEST 2009 - Leadership & Ethics Conference, What Makes the CFO a Great Leader

IMA Bellevue Chapter presents BEST 2009 (Bellevue Education and Training Seminars)

Saturday, November 14, 2009 from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Topics: Leadership & Ethics Conference, What Makes the CFO a Great Leader

Speaker: Ron Rael, Leadership Coach (About Ron Rael)

CFO Panel: Ron Rael, Moderator
Judy Sorenson, CFO, Slam Brands
Oscar S. Lewis, CFO, FVA Incorporated
Rick Davis, CFO, formerly of Cascade Natural Gas

Location: Coast Bellevue Hotel

Time: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

CPE Credits: 6, including 4 credits that meet the CMA ethics requirements

Price: $100 Early Registration paid by October 31, 2009, $115 after October 31, 2009.

Registration: Please register via our RSVP form by Tuesday, November 10, 2009. Registration is required for this event.

Payment can be made via Amazon Payments, via check mailed to our mailing address, or via cash and checks at the event.


Conference Schedule

10:00 - 10:20 - Registration and Continental Breakfast

10:20 - 12:00 - Leadership Starts with Accountability, Part 1 with Ron Rael

12:00 - 1:00 - Lunch - Choice of Broiled Top Sirloin Steak or Vegetable Fettuccine

1:00 - 2:40 - Leadership Starts with Accountability, Part 2 with Ron Rael

2:40 - 3:00 - Afternoon Break - Cookies, Fudge & beverages

3:00 - 4:40 - What Makes the CFO a Great Leader, Panel Discussion


Leadership Starts with Accountability

Ron Rael

Ron Rael, Leadership Coach, is an award-winning speaker and facilitator who uses advanced learning techniques to deliver measurable, bottom-line results.

Ron’s highly customized training systems shape existing and emerging leaders. Based upon his accomplishments as a business executive, Ron helps companies turn their drive for success into real results of employee satisfaction, customer retention, and internal cooperation. About Ron Rael

Ron’s unique perspective serves to: make the invisible, visible in your leadership program, open your eyes to what you don’t see, bring forth wisdom you have yet to uncover, tell you the truth about your business’s personality, and he coaches, counsels, guides, supports, and finally keeps you accountable for your integrity.

Ron will address the following:


What Makes the CFO a Great Leader

Ron Rael will moderate this panel discussion focused on leadership in organizations as provided by the CFO.

Panelists include: Judy Sorenson, Oscar S. Lewis, and Rick Davis

About Judy M. Sorenson:

Judy M. Sorenson has served as Chief Financial Officer at Slam Brands, Inc. since September, 2008. Slam Brands is a designer and importer of audio/visual, small office and game furniture selling to mass market retailers. At Slam Brands she is responsible for treasury, accounting, financial forecasting, human resources, legal, and information technology as well as assisting with operational improvements in both the U.S. and China. Previously Ms. Sorenson has served in a variety of publically traded and private organizations ranging from $15 million to $635 million in annual sales. She served as Chief Operating Officer at an early stage game company and Chief Financial Officer for a water bottling company, promotional merchandise manufacturer and distributor, and a publically traded global game-based entertainment company. Previous to that she held senior management positions at a commercial music provider, publically traded nuclear engineering firm and a publically traded barcode equipment manufacturer.

Significant accomplishments include:

Ms. Sorenson is a member of Financial Executives International, the Washington State Society of CPAs and serves on the University of Washington Bothell Business Program Advisory Council.

About Oscar S. Lewis:

Oscar S. Lewis, MBA, CBM is an author, educator and corporate financial officer who spent much of his career with large medical device manufacturers such as Johnson and Johnson, CooperVision, William H. Rorer, and others. He spent time as Chief Financial Officer of a large Japanese holding company, as well as CFO, Controller and Risk Manager of two international companies before joining a corporate training and education group.

Oscar has a BS in Business Administration with majors in Finance and Management from the University of South Carolina, and an MBA in Finance from the Robinson School of Business at Georgia State University. In addition, he has his Certificate in Business Management from the Association of Professionals in Business Management. He currently teaches with the University of Phoenix, as well as City University and Ashford University.

He has authored several articles on risk management and internal controls, as well as taught at several colleges and universities on finance and accounting. He has also spoken at national symposiums such as the Global Risk Management Summit and the AICPA broadcast of ERM for small businesses, as well as the IMA National Conference. In 2002, he was selected as Financial Executive of the Year in the Pacific Northwest by Accountants on Call and the IMA.

About Rick Davis:

Rick Davis has served as the financial leader in a number of private and public companies ranging from $50M to over $1B in sales. He typically enters businesses needing organizational and/or business performance improvement. His change leadership includes large- and small-scale organizational work in Fortune 100 companies, the reengineering and turnaround of a medium sized business, assisting in revitalizing businesses ranging from $50M to over $1B, and helping a startup achieve its first earnings. He has been involved in several M&A transactions both buying and selling, including the sale of two public companies. His board-related experience includes directorships on non-profit and private company boards and as CFO supporting the boards and committees of public companies. Rick typically leads finance, IT and other activities, assuring reliable, well aligned support while also contributing, as a proactive leadership team member, to each business’s overall success. He has led finance and other organizations at Criton (now Esterline), Westwood Shipping, Weyerhaeuser, Cascade Natural Gas and two private companies.

Rick graduated from the University of Washington (BA-Accounting) and the Harvard Business School (MBA), earned his CPA while at a Big-4 firm and is a member of the AICPA, NACD and FEI. Rick lives with his wife and daughters in Bellevue, where they enjoy each other, sports, travel and the performing arts.