January - Madison Magazine

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FRONT&CENTER INPERSON Hometown: Milwaukee COREY CHAMBAS CEO First Business Bank, president & COO First Business Financial Services Education: BBA Finance, Investment, and Banking UW – Madison, 1984 Family: Wife Kris, son Matthew (21), daughter Ally (18), yellow lab Murphy (13) What attracted you to your current position The niche focus of First Business Bank, as well as the quality of the employees and board. Both their business expertise, and probably even more importantly, that they were just good people. I knew this would be an enjoyable environment to work in, and a place where I could better serve my clients. How does your background help you lead your organization forward As a commercial lender for most of my twenty-plus-year career, I’ve been fortunate to work with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of different businesses. A big part of my job is to get to know the business owners and managers, and find out what makes those companies succeed or fail. I’ve been able to learn what’s worked for them and what hasn’t, in all areas—from sales and marketing to hiring practices and compensation. This is invaluable, because it allows me to bring the best practices and most successful strategies back to First Business. I’m always learning. What is your vision for First Business Bank To be the premier financial services provider to businesses and professionals in the greater Madison area. What that means is that, if someone asked a businessperson where they should bank, First Business would consistently be at the top of the list. How would you describe your philosophy for doing business Basically just the golden rule: treat coworkers, clients, and vendors the way you’d want to be treated. What financial services issues should area businesses be paying most attention to Rising short-term interest rates and the flat yield curve. The rising short-term rates may be problematic for folks who took out adjustablerate mortgages. When their rates reset higher, their personal cash flow could be significantly impacted, which could negatively affect some industry segments. Also, with the flat yield curve, where longer-term rates are almost the same as floating rates, it may be time for businesses to look at locking in fixed rates on their borrowings if they haven’t done so already. ◆ GOT THEBEAT Responses by: Michael Gerner, partner in charge Address: 2 East Gilman Street Madison, WI 53703-8100 Phone: 608-257-6761 Fax: 608-257-6760 Web site: www.grantthornton.com Your organization’s current leaders: The CEO of the U.S. firm Grant Thornton LLP is Ed Nesbaum. In Madison, we are led by Mike Gerner as the partner in charge. The other Madison partners include Deron Curliss, Neil Lonergan, Ed Maginot, Mike Mathews, Jim Possin, Bill Schultz and Dave Zimmerman. Year established: Ronald Mattox founded the Madison practice in 1924, the same year Alexander Grant & Company was founded in Chicago. Mattox grew his firm to a position of prominence in Wisconsin before it merged with Alexander Grant and Company in 1975. Alexander Grant joined with other international accounting firms to form Grant Thornton International, and in 1986 we changed our name to Grant Thornton LLP to recognize our international reach and to be known under a single name world-wide. Number of employees: Grant Thornton has over 4,400 employees in 50 offices across the United States. In Wisconsin we have four offices with 225 professionals. Our Madison office is currently staffed with more than 100 employees. Who is your customer Grant Thornton serves clients in a focused group of industries, including consumer and industrial products, construction, technology, real estate, financial services, health care and not-for-profit sectors. The company is committed to serving mid-cap and small-cap public companies and middlemarket privately-held companies. What’s something interesting people probably don’t know about your organization Globally, Grant Thornton International has over 20,000 employees in more than 500 offices in 111 countries. This allow us to bring a depth of resources to our clients anywhere they need us. What achievements are you most proud of J.D. Power and Associates ranked Grant Thornton LLP: “Highest performance among audit firms serving companies with less than $1 billion in revenue.” What are your 2006 goals for your organization Grant Thornton will strive to build on our reputation for delivering high levels of client service. Over the past 80 years, we’ve developed a service model that delivers our clients a high level of local personalized service, and easy access to the quality resources of the entire Grant Thornton worldwide network. The Grant Thornton Experience enables us to focus all our efforts toward delivering unequaled value to our clients. Grant Thornton has experienced approximately 30 percent growth each year for the past three years. What are the key issues affecting the financial services industry today The corporate failures of companies like Enron and Global Crossings have sparked significant changes in the oversight of public companies and their independent auditors. The Sarbanes- Oxley legislation, which focused on corporate governance and internal controls, has greatly expanded the financial auditing and reporting requirements for many Grant Thornton clients. Grant Thornton is active in guiding our clients in mergers, acquisitions, federal and state tax issues and profitability consulting. Favorite GMCC benefit The community involvement and networking opportunities available to GMCC members. ◆ PAGE 10 JANUARY 2006
AMBASSADORACTION ATTENTION ALL GMCC MEMBER BUSINESSES WITH UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENTS! by Chad W. Koplien, Lee, Kilkelly, Paulson & Younger, S.C. The GMCC Business Ambassadors would like share with you the “best kept secret” in Madison. Did you know that your Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce had a “top secret,” extra-special service, specifically designed to maximize the effect of your open house or upcoming business event Yes! The GMCC Business Ambassadors are a hand-selected group of professionals from a variety of backgrounds, consisting of marketing, law, investments, personaldevelopment services, computer services, real estate, printing, job recruiting, event coordinators, comedians, and more. They’re all at your “beck and call,” waiting to assist you and your business with the brainstorming, planning, and yes, even implementation (with chamber publicity) of your special business grand opening, anniversary, or event. Our professionals, working in concert with the GMCC and your business, can help you: • Decide how to make your event publicity-worthy and standout. • Custom-tailor an event to meet your business’ unique needs. • Draw a crowd and increase your turnout, including but not limited to attracting dignitaries, local celebs, politicians, and company execs. • Set the mood. • Generate ideas to help feed your guests and target audience. • Create media opportunities. • Come up with hot ideas to help track your traffic. Our ambassadors, who have been specially trained to be “Event Chiefs,” are at your service. They’ll help you brainstorm, set up, and run your event so it’s the best it can be. We commit to providing you with other ambassadors to assist the chief in servicing your event. We’ll deliver a prepared speech—custom-tailored for your business—to the audience and to the media. We’ll even help you obtain publishable photography of your event, and if possible, draft an article about your event to be included in the Business Beat. “Who ya gonna call” It’s as simple as an e-mail or phone call. We’d be delighted to hear from you—so e-mail info@greater madisonchamber.com or call 608-256-8348 today. The GMCC Business Ambassadors are here and at your service! ◆ Thank yous We thank the Hilton Madison Monona Terrace for hosting the November ambassador meeting. The GMCC sends heartfelt thanks to Land’s End Business Outfitters for its generous sponsorship of the ambassador program. PEERTOPEER EMPLOYEE FINANCIAL STRESS DIRECTLY TIED TO PRODUCTIVITY by Deb Neubauer, administrator, UW Extension Financial Education Center Unless your workforce is unique, at least 25 percent of your employees— regardless of salary or job title—are experiencing financial stress and inevitably costing your company “big dollars” in lost productivity. When employees are distracted by worries about money, it mentally takes them away from the job you’re paying them for. In a recent study, E. Thomas Garman, one of the ten leading academics in the area of personal finance found that, “Depending on their place of employment, 30 to 80 percent of financially distressed workers spend time at work worrying about personal finances and dealing with financial issues instead of working.” Time and concentration that should be spent on the job is re-routed to worrying about paying the bills, dealing with creditors on the phone and arranging payment terms on debt obligations. The study also provided a summary of “Financial Stress Costs” companies incur when their employees are preoccupied by money-management issues: Reduced employee productivity Workplace accidents Health and welfare issues Employee turnover HR department distractions Not surprisingly, the study reveals that up to 50 percent of financiallydistressed employees report that the stress is affecting their health. This leads to higher health-care costs for you as the employer. Improved health is directly associated with positive financial behaviors. Many on-the-job accidents—60 to 80 percent—are stressrelated as well. Stressed employees can be dangerous to themselves, and their coworkers, when they’re not concentrating fully on the task at hand. What can you as an employer do to improve the financial wellbeing of your staff The study’s results suggest that educators, employers, and health and financial service providers need to work together to improve consumer wellbeing. “Employers should know that research shows improved personal finances and improved health go together,” says Garman. Start by taking the lead in providing basic financial education. That doesn’t mean teaching money-management classes yourself. Use trained, unbiased professionals who provide basic knowledge about developing a spending plan, reducing debt, and finding ways to cut back on living expenses. Distance learning is usually not an effective way to teach money-management skills. Using a professional who provides education in small workshop settings is a more advantageous approach, because it allows your employees to participate in practical exercises and ask questions. If possible, use an educator who also provides one-on-one follow-up and $7,000 per employee per year $29,000 per workplace accident $300 per day per employee $8,000 average cost to replace employee 10% of HR department payroll budget ongoing support after the workshop is finished. Empowerment is the key … give your employees the tools to become better money managers and they’ll give back to you ten-fold in productivity, lower absenteeism, improved employee health and lower turnover. ◆ The Financial Education Center, located in the Villager Mall at 2300 S. Park Street, provides free consistent, reliable and unbiased financial education through classes, workshops, one-on-one coaching and resource materials. For more information contact Deb Neubauer, administrator, at 261-5077 or Deb.Neubauer@ ces.uwex.edu. The Financial Education Center is a program of UW Extension-Dane County Family Living. JANUARY 2006 PAGE 11
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January - Madison Magazine

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