At Memorial Blood Centers, staffers count units. Almost 120,000 units of blood were donated last year to the St. Paul– based nonprofit. Now, Memorial Blood Centers—a $40 million-a-year organization with 320 employees and 10 donor centers—can count on a top-rated financial executive.
Its CFO, John Buske, was named last fall as the 2006 Financial Executive of the Year for Minnesota and western Wisconsin by the Institute of Management Accountants, a New Jersey–based trade group. Buske was one of 23 regional winners. The institute cited Buske’s contribution to “a complete revamping of the annual operating planning process” at Memorial Blood Centers.
Buske brought for-profit business chops to the nonprofit when he came on board in early 2005. He held assistant treasurer and controller positions at Little Canada–based St. Jude Medical from 1987 to 2000, where he helped direct the med-tech firm’s acquisitions. After his stint at St. Jude, he was named CFO for Bloomington-based Plato Learning, where he later became COO.
“Part of my role [at Memorial Blood Centers] is an educational one—educating employees on what’s going on with our business,” Buske says. “This is a real business and must be run as such.”
Among his other initiatives, Buske has instituted a rigorous project-management approach to the tasks he oversees to keep projects on schedule and within budget. Last year, he orchestrated Memorial Blood Centers’ move from its old Minneapolis headquarters to its new location near Interstate 94 and Highway 280. “The move was completed two months ahead of schedule, on budget, and without any disruption to operations,” Buske says. He started by establishing a charter with the project team: “What is our vision, what are we going to do, what is our timeline, what are people’s roles and responsibilities?” As a result, Buske adds, “we had accountability—we committed to each other what was going to get done.”
Buske says that the skill set that marks a top financial executive comes down to three things: “First, you must have the business acumen to really understand how the pieces fit together. Next, you must combine a strategic vision with tactical execution. It’s having a feel for the end game, and driving to long-term goals with intermediate tactical steps. In the case of Memorial Blood Centers, those tactical steps might include a review of costs or the donor experience. Third, you must have good analytical skills.”
