CFO of the year.

• Author: Little, Candace M.
• Position: Feature - Chief financial officers

Today's CFOs play an increasingly vital role in securing a corporation's future. Our CFO of the Year award recipients take on that challenging role and go beyond it, working side by side their CEOs to ensure their company's short- and long-term success. Join Utah Business as we celebrate 12 of the state's top financial leaders.

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Mitch Tibbitts

Chief Financial Officer | MountainStar Healthcare

Under Mitch Tibbitt's leadership, MountainStar Healthcare tackled the recession head on by improving its operational efficiency and reducing costs--all without affecting the quality of patient care.

Tibbitts has financial responsibility for the company's assets in Utah, Idaho and Alaska including nine hospitals, six surgery centers, three imaging centers and 30 physician practices--representing approximately 7,000 employees.

The economic downturn caused a sharp drop in patient volumes. For example, MountainStar facilities saw fewer births and elective procedures. But in spite of those challenges, Tibbitt's cost-cutting measures ensured that the company achieved earnings growth in 2010. "In addition, we were able to make considerable capital investments in the communities we serve in three states, including a satellite emergency department, two imaging centers and one ambulatory surgery center in Utah, as well as six physician clinics--four of which are in Utah," he says.

"[Tibbitts] has an ability to enlist people in operations to support financial initiatives that can be difficult to implement, such as reducing costs involved with staffing, supplies and other operating expenses. By presenting a business case at the onset and then managing through the change, he gains the support of others in the organization" says John Hanshaw, CEO at MountainStar.

And while the organization underwent some belt tightening, it was not at the expense of patient care. "In fact, many of our patient care initiatives actually improved during the recent period of cost reduction" Hanshaw says. Furthermore, Tibbitts was able to reduce staffing hours without laying off a single employee.

Tibbitts says he finds motivation by drawing on the spirit of caring that permeates MountainStar. "It's rewarding to work with outstanding individuals who do their best to improve patient experiences every day"

Patrick Keenan

Chief Financial Officer | Kennecott Utah Copper

Patrick Keenan began his career with Rio Tinto in 1994 as an accountant for Kennecott Utah Copper. In the intervening years, he served the company in Indonesia, London, Australia, back to London--and then he returned home to Utah to become CFO of Kennecott Utah Copper in 2009.

"My career has been a bit of a geographic whirlwind;' he says.

Now he is deeply involved in Kennecott's Cornerstone Project--an effort to gain approval to widen and deepen the mine in order to extend its life to 2028 or beyond. Keenan has the crucial job of providing the financial data necessary to convince parent company Rio Tinto that the Cornerstone Project will pay off handsomely.

Thanks to his work, Rio Tinto recently approved $238 million to continue Kennecott's preparations for the Cornerstone Project. "Being a native Utahn and second-generation Kennecott employee, I am keen to see the operation successfully continue well beyond my own career," he says.

Kennecott experienced a dramatic dip in copper prices at the start of the recession. But prices quickly rose from about $1.25 a pound to more than $4 per pound. The company's 2010 revenue exceeded $3.3 billion, nearly $1 billion more than the previous year. In fact, the company generates an economic impact of nearly $1 billion in Utah each year.

Despite the volatility, "our business is well-positioned for success throughout the market cycle Keenan says. "We have the financial flexibility to maintain our assets in excellent condition, our approach to operating and capital expenditure is disciplined, robust options have been developed for future developments, we have implemented a structure to advance new technologies, and we have improved our processes and systems for managing business risks."

Brandon O'Brien

Chief Financial Officer | ZAGG, Inc.

Instead of dealing with the challenges of a distressed economy, Brandon O'Brien found himself managing rapid growth, expansion into international markets and--just five months after becoming ZAGG's CFO in 2007--the conversion into a publicly traded company.

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"We're a retail-based company; when the economy is down, retail really takes it hard. We've had the benefit of seeing extreme growth during that timeframe because of the rapid adoption of our product?' he says.

The company's revenue grew from $2.7 million in...