Rogerio Rezende's journey to become CFO at Dixon Ticonderoga Co. has been an arduous one. It began for the now 31-year-old when he was 18 and managed finances for his family's small construction supply and lumber mill in a rural Brazilian town. His wanderlust took him to Florida in 2000, where he juggled jobs as a cab driver, dishwasher and waiter to pay for his education.
While earning a bachelor's degree from Rollins College and an M.B.A. from Stetson University, Rezende, at 27, helped nurture a small, troubled video production company back to health, he says, by reinventing operations, improving efficiency, renegotiating terms with vendors–and even forgoing his paycheck. The makeover was a success. After that, Rezende managed the first full corporate audit at Bailey Industries as it prepared to be acquired by a public company, he says.
In early 2007, he moved to Dixon Ticonderoga as director of finance; nine months later he was promoted to CFO. And while the art and office supplies company may be small ($125 million), the move fulfilled a long-standing ambition to be finance chief at a U.S. company–immersed in critical international financial issues.
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"I spend much of my time on process improvement in both GAAP and IFRS as well as working on efficiency projects, cost-cutting initiatives and automation," he says. "Also, I am involved in some M&A activity in North and South America."
He is especially proud of the 213-year-old company's American pedigree and, because of the long history of the yellow No. 2 pencil, it's broad recognition. "Being a critical player here is an honor," he says. "Dixon Ticonderoga is an American icon." But like many American icons, it has taken on a foreign accent. Italy's FILA acquired the company in 2005. That hasn't dulled the glow for Rezende, who sees his own life as a symbol of globalization. "I am a Brazilian in America with a Colombian wife and working for a U.S. company with an Italian parent," he says.
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