Executive Session with Clifford Sladnick

Executive Session with Clifford Sladnick

CAO of Gevity

PERSONAL

AGE: 48

FAMILY: Married, with two boys, 17 and 12; and two girls, 14 and 7.

HOMETOWN: Chicago

CUBS OR SOX: "I'm primarily a Cubs fan, but I also cheer for the White Sox, which is pretty unusual. I really like the St. Louis baseball team, ever since the '60s I watched them. I really like Tony LaRussa. I really admire what they've done with their baseball team."

EDUCATION: B.S. in accounting from the University of Illinois, J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law, Master's in Management from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

WHY ACCOUNTING: "It's a strange story, I took accounting classes in high school, which I was probably the only one from that high school that did it into college. I actually read an obituary when I was a kid of a guy who had a joint accounting and law degree who became a CEO of a company, and this was the '60s and in those days that was a very common combination of accounting and law to become a CEO. I never wanted to become an accountant. I always thought I'd become a businessman through that combination. It turned out by the time I finished school it was more popular to get an MBA, so I went back later to get my MBA. I actually went into accounting knowing I'd go to law school, and this was at the age of eight or nine when I read this guys obituary.

"Also, after I graduated college the university made me a deal to be their auditor, and they'd pay for my law school. I never intended to practice accounting, I never intended to practice law. I always figured I do it for awhile then go work for a client."

PROFESSIONAL

FIRST-PAYING JOB: "Delivering newspapers. I know kids don't do that anymore but I first delivered a weekly then a daily. Then my first real job was working for Carvel Ice Cream."

POSITIONS PREVIOUSLY HELD: Managing director of the Dresner Companies, an investment bank in Chicago; vice president, acquisitions and business development for Brunswick Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill.; senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of St. Paul Bancorp Inc. in Chicago; partner at McDermott Will & Emery; manager of Audit of University of Illinois.

"And before that six years at K-Mart."

IN WHAT POSITION: "Manager of the Candy Department. The manager of the Candy Department was taking a prolonged time off the last summer I was there. So I managed the department. Actually, I'll tell you the story of one of the most important managing tools I learned doing that.

"I was the manager of the Candy Department, and I didn't know anything. We sold potato chips. The Frito-Lay truck would come, and I would keep putting the potato chips so the old potato chips stayed in the back. One day the Frito Lay driver comes in, and of course all the stuff in the back of the rack is expired. He starts chewing me out. 'How could you do this? Look, all this stuff is expired,' Well, the manager of the store came by, and I knew him, but I was still a college kid and being the manager at the store at that time was a big deal. He took that truck driver and chewed him out. He said, 'Don't talk to my guy like that. Take your potato chips and get the hell out of here.' Then after he left we talked about how I screwed up, but he showed me such support in a time when I really needed it, I mean we both knew I made a mistake, but he showed me so much support that I would have gone through the walls for the guy. I learned that and have applied it many times in my own career that when someone screws up to show them support."

THE POSITION

TIME WITH CURRENT COMPANY: Started July 11

AFTER SPENDING MOST OF YOUR LIFE IN ILLINOIS, WHY MAKE THE SWITCH: "There were three reasons I did it. No. 1 is everything Gevity wanted matched my skills set. It was really a match made in heaven in terms of what they were looking for and what I had to offer. No. 2 was the Chairman Erik Vonk, with his vision and his credibility I thought he was a great guy to hook my future to. And the third things is where the company was in its life cycle. It was a great opportunity for me and my skill set to help the company move forward."

IMMEDIATE CHALLENGES: "My first challenge is learning the business. This business is much more complicated from an operational, strategic and financial perspective. So I've spent the last three weeks traveling around talking to people trying to learn the business.

"The second challenge is going to be to create a longer-term strategic plan and financial plan for the company. The next piece is the external growth. We're in a fortunate position where we're making money, and we have cash and we have strong stock prices, so it's taking our resources and finding the areas that make sense to make acquisitions and where to do alliances to promote growth. But before we do that, we have to create a road map of where does it make sense to go and in what order?"