Agent for change and transformation
Anita Bubna is Senior Director of Treasury at Flex, a multinational technological manufacturer and a leader in hi-tech manufacturing supply chains. She has been with the company for eight years. A large part of her experience in treasury has been focused on global cash management and developing innovative global working capital solutions. In addition to her experience as a treasury professional, she has also held roles in software project management, FP&A, credit and operations finance. Anita is a real agent for change and has transformed Flex’s treasury landscape. She has standardised and automated processes and brought the previously fragmented stakeholders to the same table.
Originally from India, Anita trained as a software and systems developer and went on to launch her own successful web design and development company. After marrying, she moved to the US and initially worked as a project manager in a web design and development firm. Following the dot-com crash at the end of the last century, Anita made a decision to change career paths and transition to finance. She obtained a degree in finance, balancing raising a young family with studying and went on to launch a new career as a financial analyst at a bank.
Anita joined Flex in 2010 as a Treasury Analyst. Her management rapidly recognised her potential and commitment to her craft and she has been working her way up the ladder ever since. Today she is Senior Director Treasury and Flex’s point person driving digitisation and globalisation in the Treasury group. In her current role she manages global cash and strategic cross-functional team projects.
Anita was one of just 20 female leaders selected for the Flex She Leads invitation only programme which focuses on career growth, leadership, sponsorship and best practice. Anita’s efforts have been recognised by a Flex CFO award. She is an innovative treasurer who isn’t afraid of change and is deeply committed. With her attitude and skillset, she is a real inspiration to treasurers around the globe.
Anita approaches everything she does with a uniquely analytical attitude and consistently exhibits an ability to learn, develop new strategies, adapt to evolving processes and to challenge the status quo. In addition, her own IT background has been a major asset in developing customised systems to compliment third-party solutions. Each time Anita has been given a new or extended portfolio she has exceeded expectations. At Flex, she has established herself as a versatile professional, regardless of the role she is placed in, and has prospered by utilising her ability to adapt and overcome challenges.
Since joining Flex, Anita has been given increasing levels of responsibility in quick succession and been promoted several times. She has a proven track record of completing several complex cross functional team projects that had high levels of ambiguity and were met with resistance to change.
On several occasions she has been required to step into roles with short notice and without a proper transition period or training, to deal with the sudden exit of a key employee or a deterioration in performance levels. Several of these roles required high levels of technical proficiency for which Anita had no experience or background. In all these scenarios, not only did Anita learn the new roles quickly, she also made several process improvements that made a lasting impact.
Tony Kwee, Assistant Treasurer, Flex says the following of Anita Bubna: “Anita is a key, senior leader on the Flex corporate treasury team. She is the consummate professional, whose determined focus enables her to quickly understand the key factors of complex new subject areas. Her organisational and collaboration skills enable her to organise constituencies with differing interests and lead project teams toward targeted solutions.
“She has completed a number of projects to streamline corporate finance and cash management processes and provide near real-time balance reporting for our accounts around the world. Her success has generated recognition and accolades from Flex’s executive management team, yet she remains humble.”
When it comes to the broader community and giving back, Anita has helped to mentor several associates either directly or indirectly by giving them opportunities to grow their skills, work on challenging projects and keeping abreast of the trends in the industry. Several of the associates that Anita has mentored have won awards in the organisation and are grateful to her for inspiring them to realise their full potential. Overall, Anita’s accolades as a professional who transitioned into treasury and has achieved great things in a short space of time whilst also epitomising the spirit of the Women in Treasury initiative, make her a most worthy recipient of our Highly Commended Woman of the Year award. We look forward to seeing what she will accomplish next.
“Treasury is in a very strategic position in the company and naturally connected to the different parts of the business on an ongoing basis. At Flex, we have been able to redefine the role of treasury. Treasury has the business acumen, understanding of technology, and the right partnerships externally and internally to drive change, innovation and better decision making for the company.
“People have been surprised when I have told them that it was treasury that initiated projects to rethink the procure to pay process or work on streamlining the flow of information and standardising processes upstream that may not seem to have anything to do with treasury at first. In the future, I see treasury as the organisation that will be the stewards of data, insight and the glue that will bring all the other organisations together to drive strategic decision making,” says Anita.
