OUTSTANDING CFO, NONPROFIT GROUP
Frederick Savelsbergh
Baylor Health Care System
For more than three decades, Frederick Savelsbergh has been doing the books for Baylor Health Care System. He’s seen his share of challenges, but none so great as those most recently encountered.
“We in healthcare are working in an industry in great transition,” Savelsbergh says. “Adapting in this rapidly changing environment while ensuring that our 109-year-old organization can effectively continue its mission … that has been, by far, our greatest challenge.”
In the last year Savelsbergh has focused his efforts on three main areas. He’s been collaborating with area healthcare providers to bring care to underserved North Texans through the Texas Medicaid Program. He’s been laying the groundwork for a planned merger with Temple-based Scott & White Healthcare, which will create the state’s largest nonprofit healthcare system. And he’s been building Baylor’s first accountable care organization.
In response to the Affordable Care Act, Baylor devised a plan to cut $680 million in costs over five years. Savelsbergh has helped successfully spearhead this endeavor. Two years into the project, Baylor already has eliminated $375 million in budgeted costs.
“A key to success is collaboration and working with a diverse group,” Savelsbergh says. He adds that he loves “when you put a plan together and everyone executes against that and achieves results that far exceed those you were seeking.”
Finalist: Sally Pietsch, Perot Museum of Nature and Science
OUTSTANDING CHIEF ACCOUNTING OFFICER
Christopher C. Loy
BT Global Services
Chris Loy joined BT Global Services at a time when the company was experiencing significant change. He was hired to lead the company’s consolidation of its finance team in North Texas and to head the new regional finance team.
It was a major challenge to bring together a team of new employees—most were already in place before he arrived—with key existing employees, while also ensuring that things like payroll and monthly financial reporting weren’t interrupted.
“I learned that bringing everyone together as a team as soon as possible is critical,” he says.
BT Global Services, which provides communications and IT services to more than 10,000 organizations and governments, is a division of United Kingdom-based British Telecommunications plc. The company does business in India, Turkey, and Russia, as well as the United Kingdom and the Asian-Pacific region. “It’s a little like working with the United Nations,” Loy says.
He serves as president of the Dallas Chapter of Financial Executives International and is also a member of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants.
If he hadn’t chosen finance as a career, Loy says, he would be a professional musician. His instrument of choice? He plays drums in a band that performs every Sunday at his church and often at other area churches.
Finalist: Melinda McCutchan, Glazer’s Inc.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Constantine Konstans
University of Texas at Dallas
It all started in the U.S. Army.
After earning a bachelor of music degree from the University of Indiana, Constantine Konstans enlisted and was assigned to the Milwaukee Nike Missile Defense, which commanded the nation’s second-ranked nuclear-armed surface-to-air missile battery.
“I noticed that the most influential person on the base where I was stationed was the Comptroller [of the Army for Finance and Accounting],” he recalls. “That interested me, and I began to take some courses in accounting. I quickly realized, hey, that’s the thing for me.”
It was the start of Konstans’ long, stellar career in finance and education. He later earned an MA in accounting from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in business administration from Michigan State University.
Currently a professor of accounting and information management at the University of Texas at Dallas, Konstans sensed about 10 years ago that corporate governance was going to become very important. So he created classes focusing on the topic.
He also founded and served for eight years as executive director of UTD’s Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance.
In the fast-changing world of business and finance, Konstans soon recognized another trend: “Four years ago, I sensed that the area of risk management and compliance would be a big area.” Again, he created courses for those subjects.
Konstans has professional experience with all of the Big Four accounting firms. He holds professional designations as a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, and Certified Fraud Examiner.
