Can someone who introduces a whole new way of reporting - the fourth bottom line - be a CFO? Can somebody who is at the forefront of innovation in the pharmacy industry be a CFO? Can someone with a happy and popular team be a CFO? Or someone who coaches many colleagues and authors articles for magazines for fun? And what about someone who says his church pastor is his example in life or someone who never misses any of his kid's cricket matches? Can he be a CFO?
Only if you are Brett Tromp.
It was almost less surprising that the Discovery Health CFO won two awards at this years CFO Awards gala than the fact that he won none the year before. Crowned Young CFO of the Year and scooping the High Performance Team Award, Tromp was one of the deserved big winners of 2015.
- This article is part of a series of profiles of 2015 CFO Award winners. Previously, we portrayed CFO of the Year Deon Viljoen (Alexander Forbes) and the other double-award winner, Anoj Singh (Transnet).
- Here's a link to a 2013 interview with Brett Tromp, with some brilliant tips for young ambitious finance professionals.
- This is a Q&A with Tromp about his idea to report on health metrics - and the positive response from African health ministers
Based on the interview with the 2015 panel of judges, the following summary of Tromp's work was included in the CFO Awards program booklet:
Being a brand ambassador is crucial to the role of a CFO, says Brett Tromp. Besides being CFO of Discovery Health, he is also CEO of Discovery's pharmacy offering, a massive strategic step for the organisation. Tromp says he is "intensely involved" with strategy and he recently launched the 'fourth bottom line' during a ministerial conference [which is a way to make companies report on health indicators]. Integrity, intelligence, optimism and energy are the things he lives by and he is incredibly proud of the success of his finance team and its popularity with the rest of the organisation.
Tromp recently told me that one of the most important characteristics of modern CFOs should be that they are brand ambassadors. He is the embodiment of his own theory, representing Discovery Health overseas, writing inspiring columns in SAICA's Accountancy SA journal and contributing his valuable time to many of CFO South Africa's events since the inception of our network and knowledge sharing platform. To learn more about Tromp's method try some of the links in this article or keep an eye out for a longer interview with the Discovery Health CFO that we will be publishing in the next few months.
- Discovery Health CFO Brett Tromp is one of the winners at the CFO Awards 2015. Next year's CFO Awards will take place on 12 May 2016, once again at the Summer Place in Johannesburg. If you would like to buy a table, join the panel of judges or become a partner you can email Jurrien Morsch. Attendance is free for members. Visit CFOawards.co.za.
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