Awards honor FAO trail-blazers at a gala dinner in Atlanta at the ONE Conference.

by FAOT Staff

On November 16, FAO Today presented its first FAO Awards at a gala dinner during the ONE Conference on Finance and Procurement Globalization. Here’s a roundup of the nominees, and the happy winners, as recognized by FAO Today CEO Elliot Clark and publisher Jay Whitehead.

CFO or Finance Executive of the Year

Company: SKF
Executive: Tore Bertilsson, Group CFO
Reason: Worked with Capgemini to move F&A processes, saving the company more than 25 percent per transaction.

Company: Sodexho
Executive: Garen Azoyan, Director, Finance & Info Systems
Reason: Outsourced six F&A processes and simultaneously moved SAP hosting to an external model.

Company: Unilever US
Executive: Jay Hughes, VP & Controller
Reason: Primary architect of Unilever’s mega partnership with IBM on F&A
processing and management.

Company: State of N.J. Office of Child Support Services
Executive: Alisha Griffin, Assistant Director
Reason: Oversaw groundbreaking public sector deal between New Jersey and ACS to manage bills and notices for key family support governmental agency.

Company: British Petroleum
Executive: Alan Eilles, VP Group Financial Infrastructure
Reason: Pioneer in outsourcing, signed first partnership in 1991 with Accenture. The program has renewed five times in 16 years, making it a model for the industry.

Company: Deutsche Bank Corp. Real Estate
Executive: Jeff Baer, Managing Director, Global Head of Sourcing
Reason: Multi-tower deal moving all of accounts payable and procurement to Accenture in 2004, establishing a commitment to external process management and outsourcing partnership.

Company: Williams
Executive: Steve Malcolm, President & CEO
Reason: Committed to a 7.5-year program including HRO, FAO, and ITO under a multi-tower contract with a single provider, Accenture.

Company: British Columbia
Executive: Rick Thorpe, Director, Finance & Information Systems
Reason: Successfully outsourced six F&A processes and simultaneously moved SAP hosting outside the company.

Company: Centrica
Executive: Stuart Beeston and Betsy Bassis, Co-Directors
Reason: Outsourced several F&A processes to WNS and EXL, including billing processes for 15.8 million customers during a massive overhaul of its SAP infrastructure.

Company: BBC
Executive: Mark Thompson, Director General
Reason: BBC saved more than £68 million using FAO as a strategy to reduce general accounting expenses.

Company: British Petroleum
Executive: Russell Taruscio, FC&A Procurement Director
Reason: Another member of the team that made the decision to initiate one of the largest multi-tower deals in history.

Company: Alcatel-Lucent
Executive: Len Rinaldi, CFO and Chief Business Officer
Reason: Generated a 53 percent reduction in cost by outsourcing the Accounts Payable processes globally.

Company: P&G
Executive: Fillipo Passeri, CIO and Global Services Officer
Reason: Accounts Payable outsourcing pact with HP migrated the entire shared services infrastructure, saving millions.

WINNER! Company: International Paper
Executive: Jim Martin, Head of Shared Services (retired)
Reason: Worked with Capgemini to move F&A processes for Accounts Payable to a global service center in Krakow, Poland, and then moved General Ledger functions.

Company: Office Depot
Executive: George Bryan, VP Financial Services
Reason: Outsourced Accounts Payable workflow four years ago, with such success that the deal was increased in scope and extended for seven years.

Global Executive of the Year

Company: Infosys BPO
Executive: Ritesh Idnani, VP and Global Sales Head
Reason: Leads a winning sales team that made Infosys BPO a global force in the FAO space and structured groundbreaking risk-sharing programs.

Company: HP
Executive: Gary Budzinski, SVP
Reason: Driving innovation in multi-tower programs at HP.

Company: OPI Global
Executive: Clarence Schmitz, Chairman & CEO
Reason: Proving that OPI can provide the global business model for FAO in both enterprise and middle markets.

Company: WNS
Executive: Eric Selvadurai, CEO
Reason: Led the way for first IPO of a pure play FAO provider and helped build the first $1 billion+ market cap public company in FAO.

Company: Morgan Lewis
Executive: Akiba Stern, Partner and Practice Leader
Reason: For thought leadership and building a practice that is leading the legal providers in successfully managing FAO, HRO, and ITO deals.

Company: Genpact
Executive: Tiger Tyagarajan, EVP
Reason: Is part of a team that generates enormous growth and great performance leading to the largest IPO in the FAO space.

Company: ICG Commerce
Executive: Carl Guarino, CEO
Reason: Built the largest procurement outsourcing provider and defined one of the hottest areas of global outsourcing.

WINNER! Company: Accenture
Executive: Kevin Campbell, Group Chief Executive - Outsourcing
Reason: Unified the world’s largest BPO operation, leading the industry in multi-tower deals and defined the enterprise and middle markets with vision and performance.

Company: EXL Services
Executive: Vikram Talwar, Founder, President, CFO
Reason: Provides leadership in multiple roles at one of the world’s fastest growing companies while redefining specialty high-value performance in outsourcing of F & A processes.

Company: ACS
Executive: Rebecca Scholl, EVP
Reason: Leads a team that is redefining the vision for the FAO marketplace, leading to customer wins in a complex market environment.

Company: SAP
Executive: Christian Baader, VP, BPO Strategy & Market Development
Reason: Is the BPO industry’s biggest promoter of technology automation as the constant path forward for better service and better outcomes for customers.

Provider of the Year

Company: ACS
Executives: Elizabeth Bufo (EVP), Marcus Holloway (SVP), Rebecca Scholl (VP)
Reason: Led the industry in development of multi-tower programs and was strongest in the public sector, as well as generating big wins in the enterprise sector.

Company: Capgemini
Executive: Hubert Giraud, CEO - Global BPO Services
Reason: Generated great customer wins and great results such as landmark partnership with Dairy Farm, a leading Pan Asian retailer and food supplier, which achieved a 55 percent savings on personnel and $3 million on procurement.

Company: WNS Enterprise Services
Executive: Eric Selvadurai, CEO
Reason: The acquisition of Marketics in 2007 signaled a new level of FAO service by marrying analytics to financial outsourcing. True strategic decision support paved the way for the next generation of F&A moving beyond transactional processing.

Company: Genpact
Executive: Tiger Tygarajan, EVP
Reason: A recent enterprise win at Kimberly Clark has extended an impressive client list, which includes Nissan, Wachovia, Penske, and Genworth.

Company: Accenture
Executive: Kevin Campbell, Group Chief Executive – Outsourcing
Reason: Market penetration in multi-tower programs and the mid-market, coupled with impressive earnings, have made Accenture the model all big outsourcing firms want to emulate.

Company: Accenture
Executive: Jeff Bizzack, CEO Accenture BPO Services for the Middle Market
Reason: Unprecedented growth and customer wins in multiple industries demonstrate that Accenture is a nimble player in a rapidly growing sector.

Company: EXL Service
Executive: Vikram Talwar, CEO
Reason: Unprecedented performance at Centrica British Gas shows that early successes build stable platforms for long-term relationships.

Company: HP
Executive: Gary Budzinski, SVP, HP Business Services
Reason: Award-winning programs for global giants such as Proctor and Gamble demonstrate comprehensive support for customers.

WINNER! Company: Infosys BPO
Executive: Ritesh Idnani, VP and Global Sales Head
Reason: Infosys was the fastest-growing FAO provider in 2007 with groundbreaking and innovative approaches to deal structure, technology, and implementation.

Company: OPI Global
Executive: Clarence Schmitz, CEO & Chairman
Reason: Winning in both the enterprise and middle markets, OPI is a powerful market leader with great customer relationships.

Company: Wipro BPO
Executive: Azim Premji, Chairman
Reason: Key programs, such as providing F&A services to Delta Air Lines, have demonstrated the ability to improve operations and reduce costs.

Company: IntelAccount
Executive: David Crane, CEO
Reason: Such innovative solutions as the Accounts Payable management program for the Huntington Learning Center show the flexibility and capability of IntelAccount.

Company: SourceNet Solutions
Executive: Leon Busch, President and CEO
Reason: SourceNet is one of the industry’s pioneering firms and among the most capable at handling such large global clients as Adecco, Europe’s largest employer, for whom it manages multiple processes globally.

Relationship of the Year

Buyer: SKF
Provider: Capgemini
Reason: Was able to substantially reduce internal staff and generated 40 percent savings through the outsourcing strategy.

Buyer: Thomas Cook UK & Ireland
Provider: Accenture
Reason: By outsourcing eight F&A processes, the deal achieved savings of $140 million in only 18 months while increasing operational effectiveness.

Buyer: Carin Energy India PTY (CEIL)
Provider: Wipro BPO
Reason: Outsourced 11 F&A processes and generated first-year savings and productivity improvement.

Buyer: DHL Excel Supply Chain
Provider: Accenture
Reason: Outsourced all F&A and HR processes, resulting in a 20 percent overall savings over prior cost models for these functions.

Buyer: Centrica
Provider: EXL Service
Reason: Transitioned 1,500 employees in service organization in one year and outsourced four processes.

Buyer: Alcoa India
Provider: Infosys BPO
Reason: Outsourced six F&A processes and saved 19 percent on F&A costs.

WINNER! Buyer: Trinity Industries
Provider: OPI Global
Reason: Outsourced six F&A processes generating 20 percent or more cost savings. The client has become an outspoken advocate for FAO and accelerated adoption by many other companies.

Buyer: Unilever U.S.
Provider: IBM
Reason: One of the largest multi-tower outsourcing programs and a bellwether FAO deal.