446: The Pulse of Success | V. Suryanarayanan (Surya), CFO, Mphasis

Eagle-eyed vision may be Mphasis Executive Vice President and CFO V. Suryanarayanan’s most valuable leadership skill. His ability to zero in on crucial but obscured factors – market conditions affecting the timing of an IPO or the surprisingly high cost of indirect materials used in the motorcycle manufacturing process, for example – has helped him add substantial value to the companies he’s worked for while earning him impressive recognition. Honored as one of India’s 100 Best CFOs for 2017-18, Suryanarayanan also received CFO India’s First Annual CFONEXT100 honor in 2012 (and was a repeat winner the following year). That said he would rather talk about how he and his finance team’s analysis of market forecasts spurred them to accelerate the timetable for taking a company public – a move that “resulted in a fantastic valuation” and a successful listing completed weeks before a major market swoon. Suryanarayanan views those types of accomplishments as part of the strategic CFO’s core role. “Ideally, the CFO should track the pulse of the business,” he adds. “If the business is going to have problems, the CFO [should know] well in advance of anyone else in the organization.”