Honoring Tech-World CFOs

By George N. Saliba, Managing Editor On Jun 8, 2018

At the New Jersey Technology Council’s CFO Awards Breakfast, held yesterday at the Princeton Westin, keynote speaker/Marketsmith’s Founder and CEO Monica C. Smith told the audience that today’s business world is different than that of only three to five years ago, with consolidating business categories and “fast-moving consumerism,” for example.

“This now requires a whole new level of entrepreneurial agility and talent,” she said. “Quite simply, companies expect more from their employees, and shareholders expect more from their investments.  Overall, the business world is far more aggressive, and far less friendly.  And even though this environment is difficult, the talent in this room is what makes the difference between winning and losing.”

Smith founded Marketsmith in 1999, and the company is focused on data-driven direct marketing.  She said, “The bedrock of my success in marketing and advertising has been the evolution and adaptation, and focused application, of financial data into our products, services, and automation.  We have spent the last two decades leading marketers and brand advertisers on how to properly use financial and other data to monitor their ad purchasing decisions, in real time, so that they can make the best decisions when it comes to their marketing.  In essence, we use financial models to write the successful marketing stories that create the profitable brands that we love, today.”

Smith’s keynote speech was as much personal as professional, as she regaled the audience with her life story of being born in New Jersey and raised with six brothers, and playing school softball for many seasons. “It taught me how to be tough, and to play hard, and how to push myself,” she said.  Among an array of achievements, she also won an award for resurrecting her college newspaper before rising to great heights in the business world.

Of her company, she stated, “As we approach our 20th anniversary, it is only in the last decade that we have found extraordinary success.  We were pioneers in successfully using financial data to its fullest marketing potential, and we have since grown to use a variety of data sets that we have created as a series of linked data warehouses, to infuse marketing information with algorithms, to help companies predict and manage their growth.  In the late 2000s, as other agencies struggled, we flourished.”

The Winners

Unlike some award programs, NJTC did not reveal its winners until yesterday morning. The organization’s President and CEO James Barood told the audience, “This is the only event that recognizes both CFOs, investors, financiers, dealmakers – people who make ideas into reality.  And that’s what this is all about.  We need great superstars to really turn ideas into reality.”

CFO of the Year (presented to a Chief Financial Officer of a technology firm for outstanding contributions to his/her company’s performance and accomplishments from January 2017 until present).

David Pearson, Vonage – Winner

Neil Glasser, NJH Associates, Inc. – Honoree

Salil Ravindran, Marlabs – Honoree

Andrew Astor, Nephros – Honoree

Deal of the Year (presented to the CFO who successfully completed a merger, acquisition, buyout, buyback, or large round of funding in 2016/2017, resulting in increased revenues and growth for company).

James Mastakas, Amneal Pharmaceuticals – Winner

Flint Lane, Billtrust – Honoree

Ray Cardonne, Velosio – Honoree

Financier of the Year (presented to a VC, CRFO, investment, merchant or commercial banker who has contributed to the economic development of state/region’s tech/life sciences communities, including, but not limited to the following: responsible for attracting new capital to state/region; invested in, or loaned capital to local tech/life science companies; and recognized for accomplishments in community education/leadership).

Tom Wisniewski and Dan Borok, Newark Venture Partners – Winners

Michael Wiley, Foundation Venture Capital Group – Honoree

Bert Navarette, Beta Bridge / Tigerlabs – Honoree

Caren Franzini Hall of Fame (presented to a current or former CFO for multiple achievements over an extended period of time, in one company or several, which have elevated him/her to a level of recognition among peers).

Kent Herring, OSG Billing Services – Winner

Dave Huber, Horizon BCBS-NJ – Honoree

Tom Siegert, IEEE – Honoree

 

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