Blythe McGarvie: Global Business Leadership

Blythe McGarvie has operated profitable business units and managed employees in business endeavors from China to Chile, France to Finland. She has been CFO of a Fortune 500 company in the US and of a leading consumer goods company in Paris. Her best-selling book, Shaking the Globe, subtitled Courageous Decision-Makers in a Changing World (published by John Wiley & Sons in February 2009) provides entrepreneurs and executives with research and action ideas to overcome obstacles in a competitive and interconnected world. She is the author of Fit In Stand Out, subtitled Mastering the FISO Factor: The Key to Leadership Effectiveness in Business and Life (published by McGraw-Hill in October 2005). This book has reached wide distribution in the U.S. and published outside the US, including in Spanish, Indian and Russian language versions.

Since 2003, Ms. McGarvie serves as Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Leadership for International Finance, offering a global perspective for clients seeking profitable growth and providing leadership seminars for corporate and academic groups. She has a pulse on developing leaders and responding effectively to changing situations as a result of her extensive corporate experience and her service on several boards, including Accenture, Viacom, and Wawa. In 2010, NACD/Directorship selected Ms. McGarvie as one of the Top 100 Most Renowned and Influentials in Corporate Governance. In December 2009, Ms. McGarvie received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Old Dominion University and, in 2011, gave the commencement speech. In December 2008, Directorship honored Ms. McGarvie as one of the Most Influential People on Corporate Governance and in the Boardroom.

McGarvie is renowned for her perspective on leadership, consumer markets and worldwide economic trends. McGarvie’s academic appointments are as Senior Fellow for Northwestern University’s Kellogg Innovation Network and a faculty member of Duke CE. Prior to founding the LIF Group, McGarvie was a pioneering CFO, and in 1995, was one of only ten female CFOs in the Fortune 500. Ms. McGarvie was Chief Financial Officer of BIC Group, a French company traded on the Euronext, famous for its pens, lighters and shavers. For five years prior to to joining BIC, Ms. McGarvie was Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of Hannaford Bros. Co., a Fortune 500 company, acquired by the DelHaize Group in 1999. Her international experience includes being based in Paris France for BIC Group and as Chief Administrative Officer – Pacific Rim of Sara Lee Corporation, based in Chicago, where she was responsible for the finance, strategy, information systems and human resources functions for the personal product business in Asia, Australia and South America, growing the division from $124 million to $600 million in sales over a three-year period ending in 1994. Ms. McGarvie is a Certified Public Accountant and MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management. She is a member of the NACD and member of numerous non-profit organizations including the Lyric Opera of Chicago Board of Directors and CIVIC Leadership Board -- one of the top five leadership programs in Virginia.

Ms. McGarvie has been featured in numerous national and international publications and media, including Harvard Business Review (in 2010), The New York Times, CFO magazine, Fast Company, MORE magazine and CNBC. In December 2007, MORE magazine featured her international acumen in “Going Global”, reaching over 500,000 readers. She was the Your Move monthly columnist in CFO Europe in 2003. Consumer Goods Technology’s cover story featured Ms. McGarvie in the article “World Class CFO”. Business Finance’s cover story also featured Ms. McGarvie in on the subject of “Financial Reporting – how the best CFOs get it right the first time”. For more information, see the website www.BlytheMcGarvie.com or www.LIFgroup.com.