The Forward Thinking CFO – Episode 1 – Mark Stevenson

In today’s episode, which is the very first episode of our brand new series, The Forward Thinking CFO, we had the pleasure of speaking to Mark Stevenson, Director of VTG AG – one of Europe’s leading rail logistics companies.

Mark’s rise through the ranks to CFO is fascinating, especially considering he studied Modern Languages at University – not the most obvious springboard for a future CFO.

Mark started his finance career at Price Waterhouse, before a stint in consulting where he worked as an advisor to AAE, later joining them as CFO in 1994.

In 2006, Mark became AAE’s CEO before the company was acquired by competitor VTG in 2015, a merger that gave VTG the biggest privately owned fleet of rolling stock in Europe, with more than 94,000 railcars on its books.

In today’s conversation, Mark shares a wealth of valuable insights from his journey to becoming a CFO, including:

• The insider’s story on the much talked about JV with Andreas Goer and GATX, and Mark’s key learnings from that roller coaster process.
• His experience of going from a private to a public company, following the acquisition of AAE by VTG, the challenges that Mark faced as part of the acquisition and how he overcame them.
• And Mark’s advice on what it takes to make it to CFO and how the basic building blocks of a great CFO remain the same, no matter the company size, structure, or industry you’re in.

We spoke to Mark a few days after he had closed a debt raise of €2.9bn. It was great to have an industry leader like Mark set the bar for the first episode of The Forward Thinking CFO and we know you’re going to really enjoy this conversation.

Whether you’re currently a CFO, just starting out in your career in finance or you’re on the path towards your first CFO role, we’re certain you’ll benefit from Mark’s invaluable advice.

We’re keen to hear your thoughts on this episode, so please do get in touch at ku.oc.satiremun@ofni

If you want to find out more about Mark, check out his LinkedIn profile – www.linkedin.com/in/mark-stevenson-474349134/