PSNI Hosts Second Annual CFO Summit

	Kraig Kramers, CEO of Corporate Partners, presenting at the PSNI CFO Summit.

Professional Systems Network International (PSNI) held the second PSNI CFO Summit in May at the Westin O'Hare in Chicago, Illinois. PSNI welcomed 44 attendees, including technology integration affiliate employees and representatives from preferred vendor partners (PVPs) Belden, Kramer, ScanSource, Anixter, and Chief.

A highlight of the event was presentation of the results of the first PSNI employee engagement survey, the first such survey done within the AV industry. The program is offered exclusively to PSNI affiliates. The just-completed survey conveys profiles of type of employees who are most and least engaged at PSNI affiliates, and the consultant engaged by PSNI to conduct and interpret the results of the survey taught specific ways of improving leadership and increasing overall employee engagement among different subsets. Other presentations were about identifying and successfully managing trends, helming business changes, and the ideal role of the CFO.

"One of the goals of PSNI is to push down the experience of peer-to peer-networking throughout affiliates' organizations," said attendee Jeff Irvin, principal at Spinitar of Southern California. "CFOs are vital, key advisors to our respective companies. The second annual CFO Summit provided an opportunity for CFOs to further develop that trusted peer group from which to collaborate, while providing a terrific learning opportunity to help provide a better platform for value creation. We greatly appreciate our PVPs helping underwrite the cost of this terrific event."

"The CFO Summit is just another example of how PSNI provides its affiliates with resources to improve our bottom lines and become stronger companies," said Anne Sellers, managing principal at Indianapolis-based Sensory Technologies. This year's conference literally handed CFOs and owners alike the roadmap to success. At this point, it is up to us to follow it."

Topics for the event included:
• Sharon Fiegel, PSNI Controller, reviewed the results of the PSNI Financial Survey of affiliates, which reflected significant year-over-year growth and profitability among participating affiliates for the 2013 calendar year.
• Sheila Margolis, PhD, is an organizational culture expert who helps leaders define organizational culture, manage change, and drive employee engagement. She reviewed PSNI's industry-first employee engagement survey results, which allow integration company owners and managers to see quantitative data regarding their employees' satisfaction and measure their results against the PSNI aggregate results.
• David Perkins, Acquisition Advisors, discussed mergers and acquisitions, including company valuation, both for buying and selling companies. Perkins has consulted on hundreds of transactions, and is the author of three books as well as The Acquisition Advisor e-newsletter.
• Frank Coker, President of CoreConnex, presented "The Agile Company: Metrics in the New Economy," during which he discussed how companies can best manage change. Coker has founded six companies and has been a management consultant specializing in small business financial performance. He produces the InfoComm Pro AV Industry Index.
• Kraig Kramers, CEO of Corporate Partners, has been a speaker for 20 years and CEO of eight companies in widely diverse industries. During his presentation, "The CFO-CEO Connection -- Turbocharged Tune-Up for CEO and Senior Manager Team," Kramers talked about how CFOs and other members of the management team can and should be full partners to the CEO as he or she plans and executes company strategies.

The annual CFO Summit is one of a number of educational offerings exclusive to PSNI affiliates, including the PSNI SuperSummit, an annual InfoComm breakfast, Project Management Summit, the PSNI fall meeting, the PSNI Preferred Vendor Partners Summit, and dozens of educational webinars.

PSNI is currently seeking North American AV integrators in select locations to expand the coverage and services available to our affiliates and their clients. To learn more contact Chris Miller at cmiller@psni.org.