Episode 23: Best New Technology Solution

LAST EPISODE IN THE SERIES: This new category for 2021 addresses the emergence of digitisation. We have heard much about the fintech revolution, open banking, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, robotics, APIs, blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies. We look at companies which have moved beyond the ‘proof of concept’ stage and are now using one or more of these emerging fintech/digital solutions.

Overall Winner – TriNet Group, Inc., Ryan Yeager, Executive Director & Assistant Treasurer.

Highly Commended Winner – ACCO Brands, Agata Przezdziecka, AR Manager, in partnership with Bank of America.

Highly Commended Winner – Norsk Hydro ASA, Per Christian Lindgård, Head of Cash Management and Erik Snersrud, Manager Cash Management, in partnership with J.P. Morgan.

Episode 22: Best in Class Treasury Solution in the Middle East

Any company that has implemented a treasury solution, or is in the process of being implemented, in the Middle East and/or UAE qualified, including Shariah compliant/Islamic banking solutions. This could be a single country solution or span several countries across the region.

Overall Winner – International Company for Water and Power Projects (ACWA Power), Abdul Majid Syed, VP Financial Reporting, Controls and System, in partnership with J.P. Morgan.

Highly Commended Winner – Delivery Hero, Christian Schmahl, Director Treasury, Gerald Taylor, Senior Treasury Manager and Khaled Al Faqsh, CFO.

Episode 21: Best Supply Chain Finance Solution

Trading internationally can be challenging and the past 12 months or so have really shone the light on supply chains. The buyer/seller relationship has never been more important and we have seen a number of innovative solutions emerge from distributor finance, pre-shipment finance and receivables discounting to forfaiting, factoring and payables finance.

Overall Winner – Bridgestone, Julle Pedersen, Treasury Director for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMIA).

Highly Commended Winner – Tetra Pak International, Fabrice d’Agostino, Director Business Control Supply Management, in partnership with Citi.

Highly Commended Winner – Halliburton, Richard Whiles, Assistant Treasurer, in partnership with Citi.

Episode 20: Best in Class Treasury Solution in the Americas

In this new category we showcase any treasury solution across our broad range of mainstream categories that has been implemented, or is in the process of being implemented in the Americas. This could be a US or Canada only solution or perhaps involve Central America, Latin America or the Caribbean.

Overall Winner – Marathon Petroleum Co, Kevin Kachur, Treasury Operations Supervisor and Jon Martin, Treasury – Cash & Banking, Adv. Financial Analyst.

Highly Commended Winner – Baker Hughes Company, Varun Wadhwa, Deputy Treasurer, in partnership with Bank of America.

Episode 19: Treasury Today’s Top Treasury Team 2021

Our most prestigious and always fiercely-contested category. Here we recognise a corporate treasury team that has made an outstanding contribution to its organisation over the past 12-18 months.

Highly Commended Winner – NTT Data, Meredith Vance, Senior Vice President Treasurer.

Episode 18: Harnessing the Power of Technology

Technology is a key component in many of the submissions we receive and is always a hotly contested category. We see projects ranging from the use of APIs and RPA to full-blown treasury technology transformation involving TMS and ERP integration and much more.

Overall Winner – HCSC Blue Cross Blue Shield, David Deranek, CTP – Director, Enterprise Treasury Operations and Julie Qualiato, CTP – Senior Director, Enterprise Treasury Operations.

Highly Commended Winner – Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Stacy Liparidis, Associate Director, Treasury, in partnership with ICD.

Highly Commended Winner – Unilever Finance International AG, Gerard Tuinenberg, Director Systems, Innovations and Transactional Banking.

Episode 17: First Class Relationship Management

This category incorporates any relationship (internal as well as external) managed by the treasury function, such as investor relations, employee relations, ratings agencies and procurement, in addition to the core bank and service provider relationships. Economic turmoil and the coronavirus pandemic have certainly focused minds on the value of relationships.

Overall Winner – Elanco Animal Health, David Pugh, Treasurer, in partnership with J.P. Morgan.

Highly Commended Winner – Tesco plc, Pritesh Vadolia, Head of Treasury – Risk

Episode 16: Lifetime Achievement Award

In 2021, for just the second time in our awards history, we have awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. This recognises an individual who has made a phenomenal contribution to both the treasury profession and the industry as a whole. This year we are delighted to award George Zinn with our Lifetime Achievement Award. This is in honour of his remarkable tenure at Microsoft and of his lasting, positive impact on the global treasury and corporate finance community.

Overall Winner – George Zinn.

Episode 15: Best Cash Management Solution

Any solution which demonstrates how the company manages or forecasts its cash is recognised here. At the heart of treasury sits cash management and “Cash is King” is a frequently used phrase. This is therefore a consistently popular category amongst our nominees.

Overall Winner – Dana Inc., Michael Lenaerts, Senior Manager of Finance, in partnership with J.P. Morgan.

Highly Commended Winner – Cooke Seafood, Rob MacNeil, Group Treasurer.

Episode 14: Best Crisis Management Solution

This new category recognises the challenges specifically posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We wanted to showcase the Herculean efforts that have been demonstrated in response to the demands of the new normal. There have been some extraordinary examples of best practice that we feel deserve special recognition this year.

Overall Winner – Avis Budget Group, David Calabria, Treasurer and SVP of Corporate Finance and Tina Daroszewski, Assistant Treasurer, in partnership with J.P. Morgan.

Highly Commended Winner – Microsoft Corporation, Neil Doyle, Group Finance Manager, in partnership with Accenture.

Highly Commended Winner – Kimberly-Clark Brazil, Denilson Da Silva, Credits & Collections Manager Brazil, in partnership with Citi.

Episode 13: Best in Class Treasury Solution in Africa

Any company that has implemented a treasury solution, or is in the process of being implemented, in Africa qualified for this award. This might be a single country solution or perhaps span several countries across the Continent.

Overall Winner – MultiChoice Group Ltd, Jan Beukes, Group Treasurer, in partnership with Citi and Finastra.

Highly Commended Winner – Microsoft Corporation, Rahul Daswani, Group Manager, GTFS.

Episode 12: Treasury Today Woman of the Year 2021

Our Woman of the Year category recognises a leading corporate treasury woman who demonstrates real innovation and professional achievement. Typifying the essence of Treasury Today’s Women in Treasury initiative, this award goes to those who, alongside their career journey, also dedicate themselves to inspire others, giving back and using their privilege and access to help other professionals along their journey, opening up the profession to more diverse talent.

Overall Winner – Phung Ngo-Burns, Chief Accounting Officer & Treasurer, NexTier Completion Solutions.

Highly Commended Winner – Nandini Mongia, Senior Vice President and Treasurer, Prudential Financial, Inc

Episode 11: Best Card/e-Cash Solution

This is another new category in 2021 to not only encompass cards but to recognise the emerging cash replacement solutions such as e-cash, digital currencies (crypto-currency/bitcoin) and e-wallets. Winning solutions, including virtual cards, can cover any aspect of corporate cards and how they are being used to improve the T&E processes.

Overall Winner – NexTier Completion Solutions, Bernie Liu, Treasury Manager, in partnership with Citi.

Highly Commended Winner – Royal Palace Furniture, Suman Ghosh, CFO.

Episode 10: Best Cyber-Security Solution

Cyber-security continues to be a major issue for companies of all shapes and sizes, with most household names having been victims of cyber-crime past, present and future. We look here at how organisations are mitigating the threat of a cyber-attack.

Overall Winner – Hyundai Motor Europe GmbH, Heeyong Kwon, Regional Treasurer, in partnership with Citi.

Highly Commended Winner – TÜRKİYE ŞİŞE ve CAM FABRİKALARI A.Ş., Baris Gokalp, Global Head of Treasury and Cihan Catakli, Corporate Finance Specialist

Episode 9: Best Investing Solution

This category is extended this year to include short, medium and long-term investments to showcase how organisations have optimised and/or diversified their investment portfolio, particularly important in a low/negative interest rate environment. We look at how they have addressed the trade-off between yield, liquidity, cash preservation and counterparty risk or perhaps considered ESG factors when investing.

Overall Winner – Farfetch, Alexander Krenitskiy, Group Treasury Manager, in partnership with J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

Highly Commended Winner – International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Malcolm Grant, Head of Treasury and Marion Barré, Senior Treasury Officer.

Highly Commended Winner – Whitbread Group, Becki Carroll, Front Office Treasury Dealer, in partnership with Goldman Sachs Asset Management and ION.

Episode 8: Best Risk Management Solution

Risk continues to be top of every treasurer’s agenda. From foreign exchange risk, counterparty risk, commodity risk and interest rate risk to cyber risk, reputational risk and supply chain risk, all are covered here. It feels like corporates have never had more risks to manage, making this an ever- increasing critical responsibility for the treasury function.

Overall Winner – Wärtsilä, Jarmo Nurmi, Corporate Treasurer and Erik Snersrud, Manager Cash Management.

Highly Commended Winner – Microsoft, Priya Shenoy, Senior Finance Manager

Episode 7: Best Working Capital Management Solution

Efficient working capital is a key challenge for corporates of all shapes and sizes. This is all about improving key performance indicators (KPIs) of DPO, DSO, DIO, DWC and the cash conversion cycle.

Overall Winner – RHI Magnesita, Felix Warmuth, Head of Treasury and Rodrigo Guerra, Head of Corporate Treasury, in partnership with Bank of America.

Highly Commended Winner – Medtronic, John Murray, Director Americas Enterprise Excellence & Business Transformation.

Highly Commended Winner – Atlas Copco, Dilan Narin, Business Controller, in partnership with Citi.

Episode 6: Best Foreign Exchange Solution

This category looks at the foreign exchange solutions that corporates are deploying to tackle the continuing challenges of currency volatility. From technology to new processes, change to a hedging strategy or a new FX requirement as a result of entering a new market, or dealing with a new currency and/or client or supplier could drive the solutions here.

Overall Winner – Tesco plc, Lynda Heywood, Group Treasurer.

Highly Commended Winner – Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Michael Ben Moshe, Senior Director, Head of Financial Risk & Cash Management, Corporate Treasury, in partnership with Finastra.

Episode 5: Best AP/AR Solution

Payments and receipts are key to any business. How do companies negotiate improved payment terms with their suppliers? We have seen an increase in the use of shared service centres and payment factories in recent years and Payment-on-Behalf-of (POBO) structures are a lot more common now. We also look at how companies manage their collections, including reconciliation and, as with payments, we are now seeing Collection-on-Behalf-of or COBO structures emerging.

Overall Winner – Dubai Municipality, Lubna Khamis Almazrouie, Senior Accountant, Finance Department – General Budget Section.

Highly Commended Winner, Best AP Solution – The Hut Group, Ian Armstrong, Group Treasurer, in partnership with Citi.

Highly Commended Winner, Best AR Solution – CDK Global LLC, Kirti Talwar, Senior Director, Finance Shared Services.

Episode 4: Best Funding Solution

Many corporates are exploring alternative sources of funding, diversifying and/or refinancing their funding sources. With an increase in M&A activity, we have seen many different types of funding submitted, whether a single transaction, or as part of a company’s overall debt strategy.

Overall Winner – Phoenix, Hana Harrison, Assistant Treasurer & Head of Funding.

Highly Commended Winner – Rolls-Royce plc, Ed Prince, Head of Corporate Finance, in partnership with Citi.

Episode 3: Best ESG Solution

Here we look at sustainable projects including the finance related to the mitigation of and/or adaptation to climate change/CO2 emissions as well as investment strategies which incorporate ESG/CSR factors.

Overall Winner – Etihad Aviation Group, Daniel Tromans, Group Treasurer.

Highly Commended Winner – Holcim, Nicolas Vaniet, Head Financing & Treasury Front Office.

Highly Commended Winner – Royal Schiphol Group, Tom Gerritsen, Head of Treasury and M&A, in partnership with BlackRock.

Highly Commended Winner – Dürr AG, Christian Aue, VP Corporate Finance.

Episode 2: Corporate Treasurer of the Year

We have created this new category to recognise an individual corporate treasurer who has made a real difference to their organisation, who demonstrates innovation and achievement and who is an inspiration in their current role.

Overall Winner – Martin Schlageter, Head of Treasury Operations, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

Episode 1: A Rising Star 2021

This category recognises talent coming through the corporate treasury ranks. The individual may have excelled in a professional qualification or may be a future Finance Director or CFO.

Overall Winner – Angela Brown, Assistant Treasurer, Continental Tire the Americas, LLC.