Cheryl is a CFO who partners with CEOs and Boards to drive sustainable long term growth throughout the organization, by providing a strategic focus and building collaborative relationships with both internal and external customers.

At A Glance

  • Energetic CFO with more than 25 years of experience leading world class finance organizations in public and private corporations
  • Strategic planning - developer of great strategies with hands-on implementation leadership
  • International experience in both finance and asset development functions
  • CFO in multi-division, multi-unit environments
  • Business turnaround partner to CEOs and executive teams
  • Develops high performing talent with the right bench strength and finance structure for your business
  • Consumer Products, Heavy Industry Manufacturing & Services, Healthcare, Education, and Energy & Utilities
  • Finance and ERP systems implementations

Key Leadership Accomplishments

  • Developed brand refranchising strategy that reduced company ownership from 42 percent to zero percent based on sale to strategic franchise partners, and also spurred profit margin growth from 10 percent to 40 percent in three years
  • Drove productivity initiatives that led to G&A reductions of 13 percent in the first year, 17 percent in the second year, and 12 percent in the third year, totaling $15 million
  • Reduced cost of sales volatility by establishing hedging strategy in partnership with purchasing co-op, saving $22 million annually on budget of $144 million
  • Recaptured $14 million in potential lost annual revenue by implementing workout strategies with franchise partners to ensure the right players remained in business

Bio

Cheryl Balkenhol is an “On Fire” CFO who partners with CEOs and Boards to drive sustainable long-term growth throughout the organization, by providing a strategic focus and building collaborative relationships with both internal and external customers. Cheryl builds platforms for success leading to double digit growth. She has a proven track record for building and developing high performing teams with a customer service mentality that deliver financial excellence and continuous improvement solving complex cross functional business issues. Cheryl has enjoyed a distinguished career in finance over the past 25 years in both large public and private multi-division and multi-unit companies. Her success was recognized by Treasury and Risk Magazine as one of their “Women Who Know How to Break Glass” – their top 25 rising women leaders in Finance. Cheryl has a rich knowledge and experience in all core finance functions and disciplines. Her roles have included strategic planning, capital planning, treasury, financial planning and analysis, international finance, control, audit, and corporate finance. She has also led the asset development and IT groups as CFO for two divisions of a large multinational public company. Cheryl gained valuable international experience during her assignment in the London office of the PepsiCo/Yum! Brands and Whitbread UK Joint Venture. Cheryl has always been a key partner with Operational Divisions to achieve a transformation in business results. Cheryl attended UCLA, earning a BA in Economics and an MBA in Finance from Yale University. She is a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP). Additionally, Cheryl recently completed her second three-year term on the Board of Trustees for a multi-billion-dollar large hospital system serving on their Strategy and Finance committees.