It was not surprising to me when Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal selected Jenny Cray of Calabrio as the winner of 2019 for the prestigious “CFO of the Year” award. The only thing that confuses me is why it took so long!
That’s because in just two years, Jenny was the driving force behind some big projects that helped shape Calabrio into today’s leading productivity software (WFO) company.
I mean this
Jenny helped accelerate Calabrio’s hyper-growth mode, altering a business model. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) at a glance.
As CFO, Jenny (of course) hopes to help Calabrio grow. Difference? Calabrio’s SaaS business model accelerated changes to it – decisions had a profound impact on forecasting and financial reporting and product and business decisions.
Despite the challenges, this is what Jenny did. Under his guidance and watch, and with his extensive mother-in-law experience, Jenny flawlessly implemented the framework and many processes that Calabrio needed to operate as a scalable global company.
For example, it helped accelerate Calabrio’s transition to cloud-based software deployment and SaaS-based pricing models using new enterprise resource planning (ERP), human capital management (HCM), and applications.
Expands Calabrio’s Salesforce Customer Relationship Management (CRM) implementation to support automated reporting and automation and scaling of Calabrio’s business processes.
Jenny also provided her pragmatic view on Calabrio’s platform integration and buy-to-build merger strategy, enabling us to double our revenue from 2016 to 2019.
Which brings me to my next point …
Jenny helps Calabrio grow strategically through more global acquisitions and thinking and acting.
If all of the above accomplishments were not enough, Jenny is also the finance leader of the due diligence and operational consolidation efforts for the two major acquisitions made by Calabrio over the past two years: Telopti.
2019 Swedish Workforce Management Software Provider and Contact in Vancouver. Provider of Symmetrix Software in Business Intelligence (BI) 2017
The acquisition of Teleopti alone increases Calabrio’s workforce by 50 percent, increasing its workforce from 400 to 600 at a time, and significantly expanding Calabrio’s international customer base.
In addition to these two acquisitions, Jenny helps all of us develop a strong international mindset at Calabrio. For example, it introduced Calabrio’s product development team to our first international integration framework.
He also attended a special event sponsored by the London mayor’s office, where he and 14 other finance and technology leaders mentored Imperial College graduates, who now run their own technology companies.
Jenny has become a reliable source of information both inside and outside Calabrio.
Jenny’s interesting thoughts and insights have been shared through articles and videos such as “CFO Thought Leaders Podcast: The Race for Real-Time Data” and “Calabrio CFO Jenny Cray’s Advice and M&A Advice”.
But what Jenny really likes to do is share her expertise with her fellow Calabrio team members, students and colleagues. This is why he:
Establish an internship program at Calabrio and their previous companies to provide hands-on experience to college students in their field.
Join the collaborative CFO Workgroup, a platform where Minnesota’s top finance executives come together to share, learn and solve problems – financial best practice.
It is a supporter of Calabrio’s Women in Technology (WIT) group, which offers technology training and exercise, interaction with women leaders, lunches and a wide range of learning activities for Girl Scouts. The field and tour of WIT seminars and other WIT groups are set to develop the role of women in technology.
Advisors who want business owners to run the business
Prepare taxes based on low-income homes.
Advising female MBA students at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota and
Serves as an executive sponsor and is heavily involved in Calabrio’s annual “Bring Your Child to Work”.
Jenny maintains comfort, confidence and serenity at all times, presenting an indomitable look despite the inevitable chaos she presents to someone in her role.
As the top CFO I know, Jenny is literally in her class. Every day I am so excited that he decided to join Calabrio two years ago. And I can’t wait to see what will happen in the next two years.