Alan T. Ennis FCA is a board director, advisor and former CEO and president of Revlon Inc. His experience has taught him the power of pride in his achievements and advocating for himself.
What do you value most about your membership of the profession?
In everything I’ve done here in the US, my qualification as a Chartered Accountant has been the most valuable jewel in my chest of knowledge.
Even today, my finance background continues to be invaluable in terms of buying and selling businesses, understanding capital structures and capital markets.
It has been the same throughout my career. I put a lot of my progression at Revlon down to my training.
I could understand financial statements, I understood the importance of profitability and cash and how investments work. I could talk to the Board of Directors in those terms and it was invaluable.
What advice would you have for other Chartered Accountants thinking of moving to the US?
My advice is to make sure you start to connect with other Chartered Accountants over here straight away – and there are lots of us in New York, Boston, San Francisco and other places. That’s a valuable network.
The other piece of advice I would have is that it’s okay to put yourself out there – in fact, it’s a good idea. Americans tend to be confident in how they present themselves professionally. They are proud of what they have done and they're confident in their success and in their abilities.
They're not afraid to talk about it. Irish people, myself included at times, tend to downplay our achievements and abilities. In the US, people won’t necessarily understand that so it’s not a bad idea to learn to advocate for yourself, your skills and talents.
What made you choose to become a Chartered Accountant?
I studied commerce at University College Dublin, graduating in 1991. Going through the BComm in those days, you had two options: you could follow the management track or the accounting track. The management track covered topics like organisational design, leadership, strategy and marketing. I said to my dad, “I think I'm going to choose that,” and he replied, “oh no, you should do accounting.” At that time, I didn’t think I wanted to be an accountant, but my dad said to me said, “you do, you just don’t know it yet.”So, I followed the accounting track, joined Arthur Andersen in 1991 and raced through my Chartered Accountancy exams.
Can you tell us a little about how you got to where you are today – both your relocation and career path?
When I was training with Arthur Andersen, I understood how beneficial training in accounting could be in business. I was fairly certain that I wouldn’t stay in the auditing field and become a partner in an accounting firm.
That wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to become a Chartered Accountant and then move out into industry, but I did stay with Arthur Andersen for a while, becoming a manager before leaving Ireland in my mid-twenties.
I moved to the UK to join Ingersoll Rand in Manchester and then negotiated a transfer to the company’s New Jersey office in 1999.
I moved through various financial roles from internal audit to financial planning and investor relations.
In 2004, I was offered a new position as CFO of Ingersoll Rand’s Bobcat division in North Dakota. At the same time, I was offered the position of Head of Internal Audit at Revlon.
I was in my early thirties and my choice was between Bobcat in Fargo, North Dakota, and this other role with a very different and much smaller company that would put me right in the heart of New York. I chose Revlon.
Can you talk us through your experience at Revlon?
Being a Chartered Accountant put me in a very good place to understand the financial operations of any corporation and that really stood me in good stead at Revlon.
It had a lot of debt at the time. Joining the company was a high-risk move, but I thought, “you know what, I’m going to go for it.”
Within two-and-half years, I had gone from Head of Internal Audit to Corporate Controller to President of International and then Chief Financial Officer. Eventually, I was appointed Chief Executive, a position I held for five years reporting to the company’s Chair, Ron Perelman.
What about your work now?
I had a great run at Revlon and a superb team of people behind me. When I left that role in 2014, I got a great package and I wasn’t really under pressure anymore to prove myself. I had choices. I’ve since dabbled in private equity and joined a couple of boards, both profit and not-for-profit.
The board that occupies most of my time right now is Nutrabolt, a sports nutrition company whose leading product is C4, a pre-workout energy drink.
I am the company’s Vice-chair, Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nominating Governance Committee. I’m also Nutrabolt’s lead Independent Director.
Alan T. Ennis is on numerous boards across a variety of industries, including at present the IDA and Nutrabolt.
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