Jim Koleski
CFO
Alto-Shaam
Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
I started my career at KPMG in the Audit group, transferred to Singapore to support IT and other business consulting in South East Asia for U.S. multinational corporations, and returned to the U.S. to focus on audits of international manufacturing companies. The international exposure helped shape my leadership skills working cross functionally across many locations and disciplines.
After leaving KPMG, my focus on manufacturing continued with opportunities at large public companies (what is now Komatsu and Oshkosh Corp.) and family-owned businesses (Elkay and Alto-Shaam). My personal growth journey included attending the Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development in 2018. As CFO of Alto-Shaam, supporting the growth of the business and its strategic plan have been very rewarding.
Learn more about leaders in the Wisconsin CFO community here.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
I use the guiding principle of working with teams to “See It, Own It, Solve It, Do It” in supporting the business. What I mean by that is we really need to get to the root of any objective or problem by “Seeing It” the same way before we move to execution. If we spend the time aligning around the objective, waste is minimized and successful execution is simplified. This approach allows us to inventory all the resources available to bring facts and data to the objective at hand.
With disruption being a key theme of the past year, where do you see your role as a finance executive going in the next 1-2 years?
The role of finance will continue to evolve around simplifying the communication of information for teams to take action. Turning mass amounts of business data into actionable information is a large opportunity to add value to the business and align around strategic actions to amplify successful performance.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in a finance executive role?
My advice would be to engage cross functionally at every opportunity. My day begins with a lean daily walk with operations leadership throughout the business with real time updates on stresses facing the business and how finance and IT can help support short- and long-term improvements. By building these relationships and understanding the opportunities for improvement, potential investments and process changes can be prioritized, funded with needed capital and executed quickly.
Tell us 3 fun facts about yourself.
I enjoy playing pickleball, taking bike rides along Lake Michigan and exploring the beauty of National and State Parks. Looking forward to traveling internationally again soon.
What is the value of participating in a professional community through Evanta?
I enjoy the Evanta professional community as it provides a network to build long-term durable relationships. These relationships allow for continuous learning, building on the experiences they have. The topics discussed are current and leading edge and provide a forum to exchange ideas and anticipate future challenges.
Evanta Governing Body members share their insights and leadership perspectives to shape the agendas and topics that address the top priorities impacting business leaders today.
by CFOs, for CFOs
Join the conversation with peers in your local CFO community.