The Los Angeles Business Journal Presents - Cbjonline.com

28 AN ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL SEPTEMBER 12, 2011
Los Angeles Business Journal’s
Fifth Annual CFO of the Year Honorees continued
LARGE PUBLIC COMPANY
GIL BOROK,
CB RICHARD ELLIS GROUP, INC.
GIL Borok is CFO of CB Richard Ellis
Group, Inc. (CBRE). In this position, he
has responsibility for global financial
and accounting matters, budgeting and forecasting,
audit committee activities, the tax
function, internal audit, treasury, investor relations
and the financial aspects of mergers,
acquisitions and dispositions.
Borok’s ascent to the CFO role coincided
with the company’s emergence from the most
brutal global economic and commercial real
estate market downturn since the Great
Depression. As the company’s Chief Accounting
Officer, he played a critical role in helping
the company to weather the downturn in
2008 and 2009. This was especially true after
the company’s previous CFO resigned in
November 2008. Borok worked closely with
the CEO, President and senior executives
around the world to bring expenses in line
SMALL PUBLIC COMPANY
ROSS LANDSBAUM,
REACHLOCAL, INC.
Ross Landsbaum joined ReachLocal as
CFO in 2008, just four years after its
founding, as part of the internet services
company’s plans to pursue an Initial Public
Offering. His prior public company experience,
involvement in acquisitions, and building
an effective accounting and finance group
were important keys to his hiring. From the
moment Landsbaum joined, he began to
assist in positioning the company for the IPO,
including detailed modeling on the business
plan and future growth, assessment of
accounting & finance team, and changes in
IT systems for financial reporting.
Landsbaum worked tirelessly for two years
to strengthen the accounting and finance
team. He recruited a new controller with significant
SEC experience, help set expectations
for timely reporting, and supported the expansion
of the accounting & finance function. He
also began to review the internal control structure
with the assistance of outside consultants.
with sharply lower business activity to help
the company emerge from the downturn in
strong position. Thanks to these efforts –
including the elimination of $600 million of
operating expense over two years -- the company
was able to achieve an operating profit
in every quarter except for one throughout
the prolonged downturn.
In early 2011, CBRE announced an acquisition
that will transform one of its smaller business
lines – the approximately $1.0 billion purchase
of ING Group’s real estate investment
management operations in Europe and Asia and
its global real estate securities business, making
the company the world’s largest real estate
investment manager. Along with the company’s
business line leaders and investment banking
team, Borok played a leading role in completing
the ING purchase and explaining the transaction
to the analyst community.
In preparation for the IPO, Landsbaum facilitated
an acquisition of an Australian joint venture,
which was the first foreign operation of
ReachLocal.
Landsbaum successfully led the diligence
process for the IPO, which involved working
with a number of underwriters and legal counsel.
He was also a key member of the road
show, which included US and foreign
investors. The Company completed its IPO in
May 2010 during a period of weeks when the
stock market was volatile and other IPOs were
pulled from the market. He approached issues
head-on with appropriate input and thoughtfulness.
Since the IPO last year, ReachLocal
has completed two additional acquisitions and
expanded into several additional foreign locations.
ReachLocal is now poised for strategic
expansion into new markets in Europe and
Asia in the coming two years, and Landsbaum’s
financial stewardship is helping to
lead that growth.
Continued on page 30