I was born in Haiti, and for the first twelve years of my life, my parents had one preoccupation – not for each week or each month, but each day: “How are we going to feed our children?”
My parents were not alone. Haiti is a beautiful country, but very poor and often hit by natural disasters that contributed to these challenges. We were not the only ones for whom every day began with that basic question, and for whom every day was dominated by the need to find an answer.
- Advertisement -
Today, I am in a very different position. I spend my days helping to answer that question – “how are we going to feed our children?” – for billions of people around the world.
As EVP and CFO of Zoetis, I contribute to a company that is the world leader in animal health and rallies around nurturing the world and humankind by advancing care for animals. It’s a purpose that resonates with me for very personal reasons. Our medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics are essential to providing safe, sustainable nutrition to so many around the world, as well as comfort and companionship through the pets we bring into our lives.
It has been quite a journey, from Haiti to here, with hardships, victories, and lessons that have contributed to who I am today.
When I first graduated from college, I felt I needed to accumulate as much experience as possible, so that it could never be taken away from me. In my first job at the accounting firm PWC, I went to my manager and said that if there were any special projects, anywhere in the country that he was looking for someone to do, I’m in.
This allowed me to gain experience very quickly. But as I moved up into other roles, I still felt as though I wasn’t ready. It always took someone seeing more in me than I could see in myself to give me a push and confidence.
I was fortunate that this happened again and again for me because it has shaped how I view my role as a leader today and how I invest in my team. When I moved into my first management position, I committed to continually supporting and empowering my team as past mentors had done for me. I’ve come to view my team as my “multiplier effect.” I can only do so much on my own, but if I’m able to truly support and empower my team, we can deliver a huge impact on Zoetis’ purpose. And in return, they create more capacity for me to expand my role beyond its initial scope.
My commitment to colleagues is equally as crucial as my commitment to our customers. I have always felt the best way to understand what makes a company value is to look at ourselves through the eyes of our customers. Finance people may like charts and spreadsheets of data, but there’s simply no better way to get to know your customers and their needs than by spending time with them. Whether it’s getting out in the field or making industry events a priority, these are the connections that give me the rich context for understanding why they value our company today and what they’ll need from us in the future.
This approach requires a Finance function that is actively involved in all facets of the broader business. To many outsiders, the Finance organization can seem disconnected from the “more exciting” parts of the business like strategy. But, I would say that when strategy meets execution, Finance is making the introduction, and that is a very exciting and important place to be a partner.
There is a common misconception that Finance is restricted to “scorekeeping.” How did you do against the forecast? How did you track against the budget? But I view my role and my team’s purpose as the “coordinator,” who understands the trends in execution, the competitive landscape, and how we need to adjust the plan to still meet strategic objectives. It’s understanding the strategy, market conditions, customer needs, and supply chain constraints, and bringing all of these together to enable execution and accountability.
We can be the glue that keeps all the elements intact to deliver on the strategy for today and enable the innovation needed for tomorrow – including the sustainable and healthy growth of animals to feed the world.
In 25 years, there will be 2 billion more people in the world than there are today. Many, I fear, could grow up like my family did—going to bed early some days to avoid their hunger. As part of Zoetis, I am proud to be part of the team that is working hard to ensure that they don’t have to.
