Jack Seaver
CCS Presentation Systems Inc.
Chief Financial Officer

“In all aspects of life, including business, I have a strong competitive desire to excel and be the best I can be.”

Jack Seaver’s impact on CCS Presentation System’s goals and performance is so significant, the CEO says the company simply wouldn’t be where it is today without him. Seaver is described as a stabilizing influence and the sound, level-headed conscience of the company.

During his 11-year tenure as chief financial officer at Scottsdale-based CCS, Seaver has been responsible for all operations, finance and human resources. Working with an operations staff of 10, he has established policies, procedures, controls and audit checkpoints necessary to the audio-video integration company’s success. As a testament to Seaver’s professionalism, CCS has had eight formal audits with no adjustments to financial records. In the human resources area, Seaver is responsible for the firm’s extensive employee handbook.

“As a result of my dual role, I develop compensation plans and formulate incentives for managers and employees. I structure compensation plans/incentives to encourage managers and other employees to achieve financial and other performance goals. I also have responsibility for making CCS an enjoyable place to work,” Seaver says. “I try to put each employee in the best position for achieving their individual goals and that in turn leads to CCS achieving its goals.”

Seaver encourages both internal and external growth at CCS, and has been instrumental in the company’s expansion to several states over the past 10 years. One of the largest audio-video integrators in the U.S., CCS serves customers in the corporate, government and education sectors.

Colleen Shannon
Lumesion Security Inc.
Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer

“Being a CFO isn’t all about accounting or finance, but I do enjoy that aspect about my job. I think enjoying what you do is part of the key to doing a good job.”

If one word could describe Colleen Shannon’s performance at Scottsdale-based Lumension Security it would be “versatile.” As senior vice president of finance and administration and chief financial officer, Shannon oversees accounting, legal, human resources, facilities, operations, corporate governance, compliance audits and shareholder relations.

Lumension develops, integrates and markets security software worldwide to help businesses protect their vital information and manage risk across networks and computer-system endpoints. Shannon joined Lumension three years ago and literally had to start from scratch.

“When I first started with the company, there was no formal accounting close process and no financial reporting to the executive team for over a year,” she says. “With limited resources and working with the existing systems, my team rebuilt the accounting function at headquarters and formalized the accounting policies and practices for the company.”

As CFO, Shannon also has guided three strategic acquisitions — one global firm in Luxembourg and two in the U.S. This involved integrating information systems, employees, corporate cultures, processes and policies. She also implemented financial-impact programs, such as automated expense reports and travel booking, to ensure new employees were seamlessly integrated into the company.

Lumension has grown more than 3,000 percent over the last four years. To manage that growth, Shannon helped expand the company’s Galway, Ireland, research and development hub.

Debbie Shumway
Hospice of the Valley
Associate Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer

“We’re very much a team-oriented organization and I think the key is having really solid working relationships with each other that are built on trust.”

As chief financial officer and associate executive director for Hospice of the Valley, Debbie Shumway has the opportunity to exert a positive influence beyond finance. She has not let that opportunity slip away.

Under Shumway’s 15 years of financial leadership, and at her encouragement, the hospice has made significant investments in expansion. In 1994, the agency had one small administrative office and one palliative-care unit. Today, it has a square-block administrative campus, four clinics, 16 palliative-care units and two resale shops. Hospice of the Valley has grown from caring for a few hundred patients a day to 3,000. “Really understanding the needs of the community for me is the most important function,” Shumway says. “I could sit and look at numbers all day long, but they are really meaningless unless I know what we need to do.”

The hospice also invested in technology at Shumway’s urging. Operations were paper-based when she started. Today, Hospice of the Valley has an IT team of 30 employees that she assembled. Shumway also launched a point-of-care clinical documentation system and partially rebuilt the computer hardware infrastructure. Now, the hospice’s facilities are linked to high-speed communications that allow rapid sharing of critical patient information. All of this was accomplished with internal funding, thereby keeping the hospice’s balance sheet debt free.

Shumway has logged other major accomplishments. She has facilitated five mergers — two in the last three years — and formed partnerships with other health care providers and nonprofit organizations.

Joanne Solomon
Amkor Technology Inc.
Chief Financial Officer

“There is only so much I can do as an individual, but our employees working together can create significantly more value for all of Amkor, our customers, investors and other stakeholders.”

Joanne Solomon is more than the manager of all things financial at Amkor Technology; she is leading the global company through transformative change.

In addition to her regular duties as chief financial officer, Solomon is executive sponsor of a major program that will essentially change the way business is conducted at Amkor, a Chandler-based provider of semiconductor assembly and test services for semiconductor manufacturers. Under her steady hand, the program implementation team is enhancing the company’s information technology capabilities, strengthening efficiencies across departments and far-flung locations, and positioning the company for future growth.

“My ability to influence the organization is largely by inspiration, keeping the organization aligned and to make sure I provide the resources that the teams need to achieve their goals,” she says. In her role as CFO over the past two years, Solomon has been a key player in Amkor’s continuing success in a challenging global economy. Specifically, Amkor had a 20 percent gross profit margin the second quarter of 2009, compared to a 12 percent margin in the first quarter. Operating costs were trimmed by $55 million and $39 million in the first and second quarters, respectively. She also has raised $250 million in capital, thus expanding the company’s cash reserves. In addition, she has championed Amkor’s efforts to rebuild its debt structure by refinancing existing debt, lowering borrowing costs, laddering debt maturities to generate stable liquidity, and reducing overall debt by increasing cash flow.