Like any good pilot, former Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) finance chief Kathy Gledhill likes to land the plane smoothly after a major project.
Of course, she wanted it no different when it came to planning her retirement and finding a replacement. As it happened, Gledhill found that person in the copilot’s chair: RIMS controller Bereket Haile.
RIMS announced in December that Gledhill was stepping down at the end of 2024 and that Haile would replace her. CFO Brew sat down with both Haile and Gledhill recently as the two discussed the transition plan and how Haile prepared for the promotion.
Aha moment. Haile was brought on in 2023, and it didn’t take long for Gledhill to see that he was a good candidate to take her place.
“I like everything buttoned up nicely,” Gledhill told CFO Brew. “When Bereket came on, I really hadn’t quite gotten my head around this yet. But as we started working together more and more, I went, ‘Maybe now’s the time.’ That’s how it played out, and it’s worked really, really well.”
Ramp-up period. Gledhill said she hadn’t settled on retirement at the time Haile first joined, but she did tell him “there would be a future for him” at the organization. Gledhill said a key reason she hired Haile was because, at the time, RIMS was migrating from an old, manual accounting system to cloud-based software, and Haile had experience doing that.
“I basically said to him, ‘You’re…going to own this; while I’m finishing this transition out, you need to plan the future forward,’” Gledhill said. “That’s what we did, and we really have worked together just seamlessly for the whole year.”
Haile said “pretty much 90% of our process” was manual when he signed on as controller. He said he spent his first six months at RIMS leading the buildout of a new chart of accounts and implementation of new ERP, credit card, and accounts payable systems.
“It’s more of a strategic move to align our digital transformation journey with our operational process,” he said. “We publish our financials early so the management relies on that to make the decisions.”
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Haile found out last summer that Gledhill would be stepping down and that he’d take over as CFO. At that point, they started talking regularly—from once a week to daily—about the transition plan.
He started assuming more responsibilities last year, which included taking a lead in the budgeting process. Haile started presenting the treasury reports to board members, and then made the full budget presentation in November.
“I’ve been trying to introduce him very much into the ecosystem here,” Gledhill said.
Moving forward. Haile’s 2024 was all about learning the ropes, but in the coming year he’ll help retool the organization’s strategy through diversifying its product portfolio.
In previous years, “we were more reliant on events for [the] majority of our revenues,” Haile said. One area the organization could expand on, he said, is its certification offerings.
The Covid-19 pandemic, which was a challenge all its own, has had a lasting impact on cash flows, Gledhill said. Prior to the pandemic, RIMS would get a big fourth-quarter boost from early bird registrations for its events. Now, attendees tend to wait until it’s closer to the actual event to sign up.
But that’s not surprising, really, considering the makeup of the attendees. “Our members are risk managers; of course they waited [to register],” Gledhill quipped. “Kudos to them for upholding their reputation.”
At least the delay in registrations is something RIMS now knows about and can factor into its finances.
“I believe Covid took us back at least two years from where we are,” Haile said. “Getting back on track and managing that will be the priority.”
Not done yet. Gledhill may have stepped down from her role as CFO, but she’s not finished in the world of finance. She’s only entered “semi-retirement,” she said, and plans to do fractional work and executive coaching.
Preparing the next generation of finance leaders “is super important to me,” she said. “If we don’t as elders help bring up the next generation, well, shame on us. We need to be doing that. It’s our obligation.”