The Environmental Financial Consulting Group (EFCG) announced on April 20, 2023, that McKim & Creed’s Chief Financial Officer Chris Nelson has been awarded EFCG’s prestigious “CFO of the Year” Award.
Mr. Nelson was presented with the award at EFCG’s 23rd Annual CFO Conference, which took place in Denver, Colorado from April 19–21, 2023. Each year, the conference brings together ~150 financial leaders globally across the Architecture, Engineering, and Consulting (AEC) Industry to discuss EFCG’s first look at the industry’s performance on a variety of business metrics and engage on the biggest financial and strategic challenges CFOs are focused on today. This year’s event covered topics such as the new AI landscape, the talent and compensation challenge, driving profitability, and the critical role of the CFO in M&A transactions.
EFCG presents the CFO of the Year Award to a CFO who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the industry. Past recipients include Dan Lefaivre (Stantec), Craig Denson (HNTB), Tom Bennet (TRC), Terry Cox (HDR), Cindy Milrany (Freese and Nichols), and Alan Jennat (Arup Americas).
“We are recognizing Chris Nelson for his contributions to McKim & Creed as a CFO who has helped lead the firm through successful acquisitions, tremendous financial growth, and improved employee engagement through transparency efforts,” said Rebecca Zofnass, EFCG Managing Partner. Chris Nelson joined McKim & Creed as Chief Financial Officer in 2015 and, in that time, he has seen the firm through five acquisitions while also increasing the firm’s revenue during a global pandemic. In 2022, the firm experienced another year of growth, achieving more than 20 percent increases in both revenue and profit from 2021. McKim & Creed currently operates 27 offices in eight states.
“With Chris’ guidance as CFO, McKim & Creed has significantly improved its working capital management, transforming from lower-quartile results in 2014 to upper-quartile results in the past several years,” mentioned Zofnass. “Chris has fostered McKim & Creed’s employee-ownership platform to guide the firm’s capitalization strategies and achieve its sustainability goals and growth aspirations.”
EFCG also recognized Nelson’s commitment to McKim & Creed’s ‘People Helping People’ culture, as Nelson prioritizes giving employees a clear picture of the firm’s finances, operations metrics, and fiscal policies. As stated by Nelson’s colleagues, “Chris lives and breathes the company’s open-door policy. He creates an environment that invites questions and conversation and provides a level of transparency to his role that is not often seen.”
In his acceptance speech, Nelson stated, “I am honored to be named EFCG’s CFO of the Year and am very appreciative of this recognition. I am just one piece of the puzzle; I am surrounded by amazing people at McKim & Creed who have supported me along the way and helped the company find success.”
In addition to supporting colleagues within McKim & Creed, Nelson is also actively focused on providing guidance and support to peers and elevating the future of the industry, sitting as the Vice Chairman of the RTP CFO Forum Board in Raleigh and serving on the ACEC Business Resource and Education Committee.
About EFCG
EFCG is the leading advisor to Architecture, Engineering, and Consulting (AEC) firms with the mission to provide a data-driven and strategic edge to firms to advance the innovation, sustainability, and success of the industry. In the last 33 years, EFCG has served as a retained advisor to over 500 firms, developed a proprietary database of financial and business metrics, held nearly 100 executive conferences, and advised on 180+ M&A transactions. For more information, visit www.efcg.com or email efcg@efcg.com.