Gregory T. Geswein.

• Author: Rand, A. Barry
• Position: Manage Your Assets - Brief Article

Gregory T. Geswein

Senior Vice President Chief Financial Officer Diebold

As a 145-year-old company with the longest increasing dividend stock in the country, Diebold has always had working capital management at the top of its list. With that said, hoarding cash does not reward shareholders, so we use our own cash. Cash is king for taking advantage of opportunities, such as financing capital projects, stock buy-backs and dividends and mergers and acquisitions. There used to be a time when the financial culture of a company was such that capital was free, and "good" ideas were easily invested in. You won't find that at Diebold. With expectations of minimum returns to our shareholders of 15% on working capital usage, requests for approval of our cash reserves don't come easy. We have replaced operating profit return thinking with return on total...