In this interview with the INCPAS team, Judy shares what she’s learned throughout her career that has helped her succeed with processes, projects and people.

Tell us a little bit about your professional background at Aunt Millie’s

I’ve been at Aunt Millie’s Bakeries for 30+ years serving in multiple corporate finance roles — first as director of finance (1991), then vice president of finance (1996) and now CFO (2020-present).

These title changes have not been rewards for longevity. Rather, my career trajectory reflects two primary shifts: The first, an increase in leadership responsibilities. The second, an evolution of my own strengths and interests, which have taken surprising turns since I first entered the workforce as an auditor for a public accounting firm in 1986.

You’ve been at Aunt Millie’s for 30 years — how are you still finding new areas to improve?

I attribute my continuous improvement “consultant” perspective to my years in public accounting. I audited many different companies and saw many different ways of doing things, which was a great foundational experience for my career.

Plus, world events, the economic environment and technology are constantly changing, so — if you’re being proactive in your role — you can view what’s going on around you from a consultant’s mindset by constantly looking for the efficiencies and opportunities. And sometimes circumstances will force you to use your consultant mindset if you haven’t been already — for example, our organization had to shift dramatically during the COVID pandemic.

What were some of the rapid adjustments your team made during the pandemic?

As a bread maker and supplier based in the Midwest, our work is somewhat seasonal. March and April are usually slower months, but, when COVID hit, the demand for bakery products skyrocketed. We were deemed essential — everyone needed to eat, whether at home or in a restaurant.

We got together as an executive team to talk logistics, production, transportation and sales service to determine how we could get more product produced.

At the same time, we were having to step up our game on the personal protective equipment (PPE) for our team members who still had to come to work in the production plants, in distribution, and those going directly into customer locations and being exposed to the public. These folks didn’t have a choice to work from home.

In terms of production, we focused on the basics. Simply put, we honed in on consumers’ basic demand needs that would allow us to run long runs in our plants to maximize throughput. We decided to focus on basic wheat bread, basic white bread, hamburger and hotdog buns as the items to get back on the shelves since many of the grocery stores were struggling to get supply from our competitors. Additionally, some restaurants were trying to stay open so they needed product as well.

So, essentially, in the grocery stores, we were filling our shelf space daily as well as our competitors to help customers be able to stock up on food and feel safe during a scary time. This required working 24 hours, 7 days a week for the first 3 months of the pandemic.

Why is it important to keep up with changes outside of your own organization?

Over the years, it feels like something in the world happens that speeds up the pace of change but then it never slows down…and then something else happens that speeds it up yet again.

There was COVID and the pressures on labor and supply chain, then the war in Ukraine has affected supply chain again, and now inflation is impacting costs across the board — the world affects how you do business, and you need to pay attention. You don’t make your decisions in a vacuum, and you also can’t make them alone — collaboration is necessary to ensure you’re seeing all facets and perspectives, and making informed decisions when the facts of what will happen in the future are unknown.

You also need to be assessing how global technology is changing. If a tool comes out that could be useful, research it and see how it could work for your organization. It may be tempting to dismiss it as yet another shiny new object, but think about it as if you were a manufacturer — wouldn’t you want to know about a new machine that could help expedite production and relieve the manual burden for your team?

What is the most daunting project you’ve tackled?

In the 1990s and then again in the 2015-2018 time frame, I spent a lot of time doing pseudo-actuarial work researching and performing analysis on our union associates’ multi-employer union pension plans and contracts.

Through those time periods, I worked on 3 different multi-employer pension plans. I used predictive analytics to project the benefits for each union associate of staying in the multi-employer plans vs. putting those funds into a company 401k plan. I worked with our Labor Relations Team and our CFO to prepare them for presenting that data at the table in Union Negotiations. We ran a LOT of scenarios. Sidenote: at one point, the spreadsheets had overloaded the capabilities of Excel and I was on the phone to Microsoft for help.

The 2008 collapse had already been hard on a lot of pensions, and when Hostess — a huge employer in those same multi-employer pension plans — went bankrupt in 2013 for the second time (to liquidation), their unfunded benefits got spread to all those employers remaining in the plan, including us. Nearly overnight, the 2008 collapse and 2013 bankruptcy had a huge impact on those pension plans and left them in a serious state of funding concerns.

Being a family-owned business, the family was and remains very involved and protective of their employees — leadership truly cares about their future and their retirement. We wanted any dollars we were spending for our team members’ retirement to be there for them when they retire. So we changed it to have our Union Associates’ retirement contributions go into a company-sponsored 401k plan instead.

Today, those 3 multi-employer pension plans we passed over as options back then are now in seriously underfunded states. Some of the solutions we've seen them take to address their underfunding are 1) to increase employer contributions (which are going to get the plans healthy again, NOT to increase the benefits to associates), and 2) reduce retiree benefits.

Even though this project and decision were hard at the time, it made a significant difference for Aunt Millie’s and its employees long-term. Our CEO still gets occasional thank-you letters from employees who didn’t agree with the change then but are grateful now for the due diligence on their behalf.

You’re good at spotting the problems and options — how do you identify the solutions?

Ultimately how you get to the solutions is by making sure the people you work with are comfortable coming to you with issues in the first place. Your employees know what the problems are, and you’re not going to learn or improve anything if those problems are kept in the dark.

We have a fantastic team of leaders that discuss issues regularly amongst ourselves and our teams to make sure those are brought to light in real-time.

Collaboration with other departments is essential. No department works in a vacuum. What we think might be the best solution may work really well for us, but it could turn another department upside down and just shift the problem or create another one. Conversations and collaboration need to occur. In person is often the best. Video conferencing can work, but it works better when everyone is on screen and is more effective if there aren’t too many are on the call.

How do you get people comfortable with working with you?

Communication, both verbal and nonverbal, is a must. Building trust through those communications, your relationships, being real and listening. People need to see you fight for what they need; to see you be an advocate or ambassador who will bring collaboration across departments to help execute those solutions.

In my current position, one of my primary responsibilities is to be an advocate and an ambassador for the finance teams. When they can’t bring resolution to an issue on their own, are hitting walls and roadblocks, I’m part of the solution. I work to build relationships with all the other department heads, such that we are all on a very comfortable note with each other to have the difficult conversations.  This creates the kind of rapport and openness for those conversations to take place.

Also, how you communicate needs to be thought out. There are two primary factors to consider so that you don’t come across combative and run into walls. First, know the environment you’re in (“read the room”). Secondly, know the person you’re talking to. This helps you better understand how your message will be received so you can adjust accordingly to ensure it is heard accurately (or at all). Learning more about Emotional Intelligence and improving yourself in this area is key to improving. None of us do this perfectly.

Were you always a good communicator?

I was so shy in high school and college that I couldn't make eye contact. But because I worked on it throughout my career, I’m now described at work as very approachable (especially for a senior executive). Most people I work with today do not believe I was ever shy. They think I’m making it up. To which I chuckle, because of how far I’ve come!

Being approachable is key to making a difference for your employees. I don’t always know their pain points and headaches, so I make myself available to talk through and understand them. I ask a lot of questions, and then it’s important to listen and work to resolution.

You can’t be afraid to build your communication skills or involve other people in your projects, because that’s how you’ll grow yourself and your team.

What’s next for you?

My career here may have started out being numbers-based 30 years ago, and now I’m happy to discover my role has shifted into being people-based, which is so rewarding. Those analytical skills I started with and the people skills I’ve added on over years mean I get to invest my expertise in the areas of individual and team development.

Currently, I’m working on recruitment, retention and development for our next generation of employees. I’m particularly proud of our finance team’s “Finance Recipe for Success” project. We have a 20-point plan that covers our new hires, current finance associates and finance leaders, and also has items that help create a stronger culture throughout the Corporate Office.

One item that was most recently added to the plan relates to our New Hires. We can’t claim ownership of this idea, but we took it and ran with it. Our recruitment specialist had said the window between job candidates accepting an offer and the date they start their position was where most employers were losing new hires. So our team made a spreadsheet (because of course we did), brainstormed engagement points to implement during this time period, and added tracking activities and built in analytics. We have seen so much success with it that it’s now being replicated by other departments using it for their own hires.

Finally, I’m also helping set up transition plans — not just my own when I eventually retire, but also others. Twofold, I want to make sure I’m helping set all future leaders up for their own success within Aunt Millie’s, and I care enough about Aunt Millie’s to want to leave having built a strong team to support Aunt Millie’s financial needs for the future.