Treasury transformation is necessarily an extremely resource-intensive exercise. Staff must spend a great deal of time designing processes, and an assortment of technologies is often necessary to support the desired improvements. But for companies that take the leap to transform their treasury function, the initiative is often well worth the effort. This year’s Alexander Hamilton Award winners in the category Treasury Transformation demonstrate the benefits of an ambitious treasury agenda, with the understanding that proper planning may require cutting the objectives into bite-sized pieces.

“Companies that are looking to transform treasury should evaluate where their biggest pain points are, then tackle those first,” suggests Mike Vienneau, vice president of treasury at Subway. “That sets you up for a tailored approach that ensures you address your primary needs, while enabling you to set reasonable expectations for additional benefits down the road.”

• Gold Award:  When GE announced that it was spinning into three separate companies, the soon-to-form GE HealthCare Technologies had one year to build a treasury function from scratch. Historically, GE had run a highly centralized treasury group that was set up to serve a range of businesses, including GE Capital, a $500 billion bank. As GE HealthCare began staffing its new treasury team, they took a data-driven approach to designing the processes and systems they would need to effectively and efficiently manage treasury for a large healthcare technology organization.
• Silver Award:  Subway didn’t spin off into a new business, but a few years ago, the cash management and foreign exchange (FX) functions at the $10-plus billion company operated in much the same way they had since its founding in 1965. When a new management team took over, they endeavored to transform cash visibility, investment of excess cash, and FX management. They automated many of the company’s legacy manual processes and greatly enhanced the treasury team’s strategic value to Subway.