Global CFO Excellence Awards 2020

4 Acquisition International - Global CFO Excellence Awards 2020 Apr20012 Company Name: Ascentria Care Alliance Contact Name: Jeanette Wade Telephone Number: 617-510-5709 Address: 14 East Worcester Street, Worcester, MA 01604 Web Address: www.ascentria.org ith an innovative human-centred care model, Ascentria helps individuals and families move forward and thrive physically, intellectually, socially, spiritually and economically. Empowering people from all backgrounds to reach their full potential and realise new possibilities is the company’s main vision. To begin with Jeanette offers more insight into some of the firm’s specialisms and its typical clientele. “As a community service organisation, we see all people as having the potential to thrive and deserving of a life of dignity, hope and opportunity. We further recognise that there are many reasons why this is not the case for all. As such, we strive to remedy this by listening closely to the customer to understand their needs, and providing access to outstanding services and innovative solutions in long term care, transitional supports and prevention services. “For those that are in need of long term supports and services, due to age or disability, we aim to create environments and conditions that ensure their lives are safe, dignified, inclusive and as restriction-free and self-directed as possible. In addition, we strive to consolidate our service offerings to target geographies to realise economies of scale and leverage management capacity.” The health and human service sector is changing rapidly, with the focus shifting from post-crisis supports to preventive supports and services. Moreover, as Jeanette goes on to explain, it’s now become more important than ever to provide pre-crisis supports which has the correlative opportunity to reduce the overall cost burden to our health system. “The timely and critical conversation is that by providing services before the failure occurs, overall health outcomes can be improved and therefore reduce unnecessary costs. Currently with the global COVID19 pandemic, the healthcare sector is being severely challenged and with local, state and federal resources working hard to provide appropriate funding sources for this important work.” Since leaving American Tower in March 2013, Jeanette has held three CFO positions prior to joining Ascentria just over a year ago, and as she goes on to explain, working in the finance industry has always been a natural fit for her. “Finance found me. I was tapped by leadership to bring organisational and transformational skills to the finance team, where business critical information was not being disseminated in a timely, consolidated manner which was an impediment to data driven decision making.” As CFO of Ascentria, Jeanette adopts an inclusive, empowering and transparent leadership approach, and as she goes on to explain, by working in this manner all teams are kept aware of and engaged W Based in Worcester, MA, Ascentria Care Alliance is one of the largest community service organisations in New England with locations throughout Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and Connecticut. Following on from her success in the Global CFO Excellence Awards 2020, we got in touch with Jeanette Wade to find out more. Most Diversified Tech Savvy CFO 2020 with the organisation’s strategy. “With my leadership approach, I embrace the concept that anyone can lead from anywhere, focusing on innovation whilst motivating teams to deliver the best possible results. Working with transparency in mind, consistent, timely and cross- functional communication is also foundational to ensuring teams are in-the-know.” During her time at Ascentria, there has been a number of innovative ideas shared across the organisation to help create a pipeline and funnel to capture, consider and capitalise on those cross-functional opportunities. However, at present, the firm’s focus is firmly on adapting to the changing business dynamics caused by the COVID19 pandemic, as Jeanette points out. “The biggest challenge has been ensuring we are nimbly able to develop scenario planning for unknown outcomes of the pandemic, as well as ensuring that businesses can rebound and restart effectively and efficiently with consideration for the inevitable changed business landscape.” The role of a CFO has changed from being the keeper of the financial information to the driver of business change with financial information, and as Jeanette goes on to explain, people are now expected to understand the impact of financial results, be able to provide nimble and flexible analysis in ever changing environments and help drive their organisation forward. “Finance is no longer just reporting historical data about the results of the organisation, but also about helping drive innovation throughout the organisation all while controlling costs.” Finally, Jeanette comments on the future of Ascentria while also providing us with an insight into some of her own ambitions. “Looking ahead, we are creating a technology roadmap both from an infrastructure perspective and a cybersecurity perspective to support business continuity, expansion and growth, with digital platforms such as telehealth. This should benefit us enormously as we aim to continue leading the human services sector with innovation and holistic care. From a career perspective, what energises me is leading organisations through change, maturity, turn-around or growth and developing strategies for and delivering success with high-functioning teams. Going forward, I am excited to lead change and growth!”