Preng & Associates Recruits CFO for NAES Corp
April 5, 2023 – The pressure on chief financial officers during the pandemic has been significant. That has made finding the best ones big business for executive recruiters. Houston-based executive search firm Preng & Associates recently assisted in the placement of Arslan Javed as chief financial officer for NAES Corp.
Mr. Javed is a globally experienced financial and business leader with expertise honed from more than 20 years in the engineering, construction, and energy industries. He has a track record in mergers and acquisitions, operations finance, financial reporting and analysis, planning and forecasting, risk management, and project and contract management.
Mr. Javed has a demonstrated history of increasing profits, cash generation, and accelerating business performance. He most recently served as SVP of finance at PTW Energy Services. Prior to that, Mr. Javed spent over 11 years with AECOM, lastly serving as VP of finance and services, energy O&M.
NAES Corp. provides construction services. The company offers operations, maintenance, fabrication, grid management, regulatory compliance, and technical support to build, operate, and maintain both traditional and renewable resources. NAES serves power generation, oil and gas, and petrochemical industries in the U.S. The company was established in 1980 and is headquartered in Issaquah, WA.
Energy-Focused Recruiters
Preng & Associates, founded in 1980, is a retainer-based, international executive search firm specializing solely in the energy industry. The firm’s experience spans the entire energy value chain – from the well head to the wall socket. Its subsector verticals have specific expertise in oil and gas (upstream, midstream, and downstream), oilfield equipment and services, power and utilities, renewables, engineering and construction and industrials. The recruiting outfit has conducted more than 3,800 engagements for over 800 companies and placed highly qualified individuals for board, executive management, and professional positions in 91 countries, according to the firm.
Related: Preng & Associates Recruits CFO for Reabold Resources
David Preng, the firm’s founder, president, and CEO, has worked on over 2,000 energy-related searches during his career, ranging from board and senior executive to managerial and senior technical positions. His current focus is primarily at the board, CEO, and C-suite level roles. Mr. Preng’s industry experience includes financial, managerial, and executive positions with Shell Oil, Litton Industries, and Southwest Industries.
CFO Confidence Crisis
Few roles are as important as the chief financial officer at most companies, but the CFOs today who are thinking about tomorrow are growing nervous about a key talent issue: They worry that no one else in the company can assume their role.
Indeed, according to one Korn Ferry study, 81 percent of CFOs surveyed say they want to groom the next CFO internally, but don’t believe that there’s a viable candidate in-house. Currently, about half of new roles are filled internally.
“The current CFO is the one charged with identifying and developing that talent, and since they know best the skills required to meet what’s coming, they are realizing the internal bench isn’t fully prepared,” said Bryan Proctor, senior client partner and global financial officers practice lead at Korn Ferry.
The lack of confidence is owed in part to CFOs feeling that their firms’ leadership development programs have failed to keep up with the rapidly changing role of CFO, Korn Ferry said. Core functions such as finance and accounting are increasingly being combined under one role, with CFOs citing a lack of resources or skills and career development opportunities as reasons for the merging. Korn Ferry surveyed more than 700 CFOs worldwide, asking them about their own internal talent pipelines. The top abilities CFOs feel their direct reports need to develop are “leadership skills and executive presence” and “strategic thinking.”
As CFOs Gain in Stature, Succession Plans to Replace Them Falter
As with all things in the business world, the role of a CFO has evolved over the past 10 years. Gone are the days of the CFO being the top accountant focused on the timely and accurate recording of transactions to generate a set of financial…
“The tapestry of skills and experiences CFOs of today and tomorrow need are vastly different than what was needed in the past,” said John Petzold, senior client partner and CXO optimization lead at Korn Ferry. “The reason subfunctions are merging is because the focus is less on a role or person and more about the capabilities that need to be covered by a set of individuals.”
In essence, the CFO function is being deconstructed for optimization, according to Korn Ferry. Leaders are breaking down necessary functions based on their organization’s strategy and identifying people with a combination of those skills and piecing them together to get the right set of talent to execute against that plan. Core financial functions such as taxes, capital allocation, and M&A still need to be done accurately and in compliance with regulations, of course. But experts say the CFO role is becoming more about adapting and deploying talent in the most efficient manner possible.
“The leadership profile of the future CFO is less about tactical, direct experience, and more about learning agility, adaptability, and big-picture global perspective,” said Mr. Proctor. “That kind of nimbleness and ability to pivot isn’t naturally ingrained in the typical CPA.”
Related: Preng & Associates Assists Independent Oil and Gas with COO Search
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
