Hissho Sushi CFO, Matt Wilken, Named One of the Charlotte Business Journal’s 2020 CFO’s of the Year
Article Originally Published in the Charlotte Business Journal, click here to read the original article.
WINNER: Emerging Leader
Current job: CFO, Hissho Sushi
Brief description of business: Franchisor of sushi restaurants within grocery stores, college campuses, airports and corporate offices.
Your responsibilities: I lead finance, accounting, supply chain and M&A.
Year started at company: 2018
Number of employees: More than 80 local; more than 250 total
Unique challenge of the past year:
Like everyone, the pandemic has been a challenge for our business; however, we were able to come together as a team to drive cost savings as well as generate creative promotional programs to improve sales results. While our business is not fully back to pre-pandemic sales in all channels, we are pleased with where we are today.
Advice to an aspiring CFO:
Take time to understand the underlying drivers of financial performance at your company so you can explain what the company needs to do to improve performance. A good finance leader does not just report news (i.e. make sure the numbers are correct and accurate); they impact future performance by helping educate others about changes they can make to help improve results and drive better returns.
Who or what made you successful?
I think having a blend of finance, strategy and business experience in my past roles has helped set me up for success. I tried to look for opportunities to take on a new challenge or move into a new area of the business because it helped me gain new experiences that increased my knowledge base or allowed me to develop a new skillset. This also enables me to look at key decisions from both the business side and the finance side so I can provide a balanced opinion to our team.
English 
Myanmar