A l u m n i M a g a z i n e - Duke University's Fuqua School of Business

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lessed FUQUA Alumni Profile with By D e b b i e S e l i n s k y To hear Kerrii Anderson tell it, her path from the family tobacco farm in Elon College, N.C., to the CFO’s office at Wendy’s International Inc. in Dublin, Ohio, has been one series of serendipitous events after the other. For example, says Anderson, ‘87, if not for supportive parents and an encouraging employer, she wouldn’t have become a CPA. If she had not become a CPA, she wouldn’t have been hired by a top-tier accounting firm. If she hadn’t worked in audits and taxes there, and then moved to a major corporation’s quick-service restaurant business, she might not have recognized the importance of an MBA nor come to Fuqua, which means she wouldn’t have heard Wendy’s CEO Dave Thomas speak on his company’s corporate culture and goals. And if she hadn’t heard—well, you get the picture. Those who know Anderson say hard work and smarts—not luck—are at the core of her success. She talks about her family and her youth fondly and with good humor. Her family was big on 34I F u q u a / W i n t e r 2 0 0 1 Kerrii Anderson ’87 “The ability to communicate effectively is absolutely the most important trait you can possess. And since people are the most important factor in your company’s success, surround yourself with good people and respect them as individuals.” working hard, excelling and getting a good education. So, in addition to being an honor student, by the time she was in high school, she drove a school bus after school as well as did chores at home on the farm with her father and sister. Inspired by her bookkeeper-mother (the author of Anderson’s unusually spelled first name) and spurred by a long-time interest in business, Anderson attended Guilford and Elon colleges in North Carolina, earning her B.A. in business and economics in 1978. She then went to work as assistant to the president of Carolina Biological Supply, a N.C. company that sells biological supplies to schools across the globe. At her employer’s urging, Anderson studied and sat for her CPA exam. She passed the exam her first time out, and began to look to the “biggest and best” accounting firms for the experience and connections she needed. She was offered a permanent position in Greensboro with Peat Marwick (now KPMG), where she had interned. She stayed there for five years, working as an auditor and supervising senior. “I also really enjoyed working in the tax area, which is a bit unusual because people are usually funneled one way or the other,” Anderson says. “I worked on both, and it was a great experience.” Through her responsibilities for Burlington Industries, Peat Marwick’s biggest client in Greensboro, Anderson also gained valuable international exposure at an early age, she says. Still guided by her career interests and her desire to stay in North Carolina, Anderson moved on to RJR Development Corp., headquartered in Winston- Salem. Ironically, she worked in the company’s quick-service restaurant business. “At that time, RJR was trying to internally develop its own concepts and grow them, rather than going out and paying and creating goodwill for acquisitions,” she says. Her experiences there piqued her interest in going back for an MBA. “In my group, I was one of two CPAs—all the rest had their MBAs. I quickly realized that, when I sat at the table, I had a focused view of the business situation from an accounting perspective,
Fast Facts Kerrii B. Anderson Chief Financial Officer Wendy’s International, Inc. ’87 Dublin, Ohio Weekend Executive Class of 1987 while others would talk about marketing and the social and legal aspects of business. It was a real eye-opener as to how broad the business world really is, and I decided I need an MBA to broaden my perspective,” she recalls. She started her studies in evening classes at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro; at the same time, she worked full time as comptroller of a Greensboro-based homebuilding business. “I gained a lot of experience in different areas there,” she recalls. “I had responsibilities for human resources and risk management and what we called the IT function.” Through corporate sponsorship, she was given the opportunity to go back and finish her graduate degree. Anderson and her friend and former colleague, Ted Chase, who would later become president of Peat Marwick, decided to attend Fuqua. “It was immediately obvious that Fuqua was a topquality organization. They offered me the chance to do the weekend MBA in 20 months, which didn’t seem that long at the beginning,” Anderson grins. “It was a unique opportunity to still work and hold responsibility while attending an excellent school.” She could keep the hectic pace, she says, because she was “high energy and single.” She completed the Weekend Executive MBA program in 1987 and remains a staunch Fuqua supporter. Anderson has served as past co-chair of the Isle Maligne Society and is currently a member of the Alumni Council. She also feels strongly about the importance of the MBA degree. “An MBA in today’s business world is almost a must. But I also think it’s important to get some experience before you go back and get your MBA,” Anderson says. “Some people go through college and right into the MBA program. What you lose by doing that is the understanding of how to really apply what you learn in business school. It’s hard to go back sometimes if you’ve gotten used to a certain standard of living, but your advantage is that you really understand context.” After graduation, Anderson finally bit the bullet and left her family and SUCCESS home state behind to accept a position with Ohio-based M/I Schottenstein Homes Inc. She was with M/I for 14 years before hiring on at Wendy’s. “M/I was an unusual company—publicly held, but family oriented,” she says. “And it has grown tremendously—it was doing $200 million in revenues in 1987 and close to a billion dollars this year in revenues (NYSE). They were savvy people who gave me a lot of insight into different business issues.” She married a Columbus businessman in 1989 (the couple now has two children), and they worked and enjoyed their career successes and family life. The last time Anderson thought much about Wendy’s was when she heard founder Dave Thomas speak at Fuqua during the ground breaking for the David R. Thomas Executive Education Center. But last year when she received a phone call from a search firm about the CFO position at Wendy’s nearby headquarters, it struck a chord. “I had tremendous respect for the quality of Wendy’s products—personal- ly, I’m a good old single-cheese-everything girl,” she says. “I knew that Wendy’s was a very large organization—$7 billion in system-wide sales this year—and I thought it offered a tremendous opportunity to continue to grow. I thought it was a great company, and I was right.” Just a few months into her new job, Anderson says she’s learning a lot and having a “wonderful” time. “I had no idea this would happen when I went to RJR to work in their quick-service restaurant area. It’s surprising how life elements of your past continue to influence your future. I see those ties every day,” she says. Fate notwithstanding, Anderson says that she has worked very hard to attain her goals. “When I make a decision to do something, I put my whole heart and soul into it and intend to be successful. Tremendous things have happened to me, and I’ve had lots of great mentors.” She’s gone after jobs in traditionally male industries, such as homebuilding and major corporate finance. “I’m probably young compared to many CFOs, and maybe I’m a little unusual in being female. But women continue to gain force in all business arenas,” she says. Much more essential to achieving success is strong communication skills, she adds. “The ability to communicate effectively is absolutely the most important trait you can possess. And since people are the most important factor in your company’s success, surround yourself with good people and respect them as individuals. Strong communications is critical at every level and both internally and externally.” She brings to the 350 people whom she closely manages (Wendy’s has 40,000 employees) an important lesson she learned at Fuqua, she says. “The elements of a successful business start with excellent products and services, but it’s not one thing that brings success—it’s great marketing, products, strong leadership, great support functions. The better everybody does their jobs, the more successful the company will be and we will be.” E x c h a n g e / W i n t e r 2 0 0 1 I 35
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Page 15 and 16: a commitment TO DIVERSITY Fuqua stu
Page 17 and 18: P O T L I G H T Reiko Segawa Global
Page 19 and 20: the Faculty Qi Chen Assistant Profe
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Page 23 and 24: lynch RECEIVES BANK OF AMERICA FACU
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A l u m n i M a g a z i n e - Duke University's Fuqua School of Business

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