Financial pros join together

Chief financial officers who seek camaraderie among peers in different businesses and industries now have an outlet: The CFO Forum.

The Lakewood Ranch-based group, currently in startup phase, aims to connect senior-level financial professionals and executives over monthly lunch meetings and possibly more sessions. The founder is Dennis Hernreich, himself a longtime CFO for several large retail firms, including Loehmann's, rue21 and Destination XL Group. “I don't see any other group out there that supports financial professionals,” Hernreich tells Coffee Talk.

Hernreich recently left Corporate America and relocated to Lakewood Ranch, where he now runs Suncoast CFO Solutions. The firm is one of several in the area that offer CFO-for-hire services. Through Suncoast is how Hernreich became familiar with the Gulf Coast CEO Forum, which gave him the idea for a CFO-specific group. That, and he says being on the CFO Council of the National Retail Federation was a big assist in his corporate life.

Like the CEO Forum and the CFO Council, Hernreich says the new group is a place for relaxed peer-to-peer conversations, in addition to industry education and assistance. “It's not for solicitations,” Hernreich says. “We are not after anyone's trade secrets.”

Around a dozen members had signed up for the CFO Forum through mid-December. The first meeting is tentatively scheduled for January. For more information visit meetup.com and search for Lakewood Ranch CFO Forum.