Blythe McGarvie
Encyclopedia
Blythe J. McGarvie has been President of Leadership for International Finance, LLC, (LIF) a firm focusing on improving clients' financial positions and providing leadership seminars for corporate and academic groups, since January 2003, according to her Forbes profile. Her firm specializes in providing global perspectives to U.S. and multinational companies, primarily in the consumer goods, financial services and knowledge-based industries. LIF is based in Williamsburg, Virginia
, with offices in Los Angeles
, London
, Chicago
, and Boston
.
Also as of March 2010, McGarvie also served as:
From 1999 through the end of 2002, McGarvie was the Executive Vice President and Chief financial officer
(CFO) at BIC Group
, a leading manufacturer of convenient disposable products. She served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Hannaford Bros. Co.
, a New England
/New York
food retailer, from 1994 to 1999.
Ms. McGarvie served as a director of Lafarge North America, a construction-materials company with headquarters in Herndon, Virginia
, until May 2006.
on the occasion of President Barack Obama
's first 100 days, a visit to Disney World's Epcot
and economic indicators, and the Davos
World Economic Forum
. Over roughly the same period, McGarvie has been issuing and posting a one- to two-page newsletter.
In January 2009, John Wiley & Sons
published McGarvie's book Shaking the Globe: Courageous Decision-Making in a Changing World with a foreword by Robert Kraft
.
McGarvie addressed the auto industry crisis of 2008-9
, and the prevalence of female corporate directors
, in two articles in Forbes in 2008 and 2007 respectively.
In October 2005, McGraw-Hill
published McGarvie's book Fit In, Stand Out: Mastering the FISO Factor in hardcover by in October, 2005.
At the time of FISOs publication, McGarvie was featured in a "Career Couch" Q&A in The New York Times
on the subject of how to react "when your new boss reverses popular policies of the previous boss." She was also featured at the time in her business school alumni/ae magazine.
In 2002, McGarvie was featured in another Times article on the subject of female representation on corporate boards.
She's also been featured in CFO magazine, and Fast Company
. She has appeared on CNBC, and writes the Corporate Leadership column for Shattered magazine. Consumer Goods Technology featured Blythe in a 2002 cover story (“World Class CFO”) and a Business Finance cover story featured her in a piece on “Financial Reporting: How the Best CFOs Get it Right the First Time.”
and earned an MBA degree from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University
. She received the Kellogg Graduate School of Management Schaffner Award, presented to an alumnus(a) who is pre-eminent in his or her field and who provided outstanding service to Kellogg. In 2003, she was appointed as Senior Fellow of The Kellogg Innovation Network, and is on the List of Northwestern alumni/ae.
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
, with offices in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
.
Also as of March 2010, McGarvie also served as:
- Director, Travelers Companies, Saint Paul, MN, financial/property & casualty insuranceProperty insuranceProperty insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance or boiler insurance. Property is insured in two main...
company - Director, AccentureAccentureAccenture plc is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company headquartered in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the largest consulting firm in the world and is a Fortune Global 500 company. As of September 2011, the company had more than 236,000 employees across...
Ltd., Hamilton, BermudaHamilton, BermudaHamilton is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a major port and tourist destination.-Geography:...
, services/management services company - Director, Pepsi Bottling Group Inc, Somers, New YorkSomers, New YorkSomers is a town located in northeastern Westchester County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 20,434...
, consumer goods/beverages-soft drinkSoft drinkA soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...
s company - Director, ViacomViacomViacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
, Inc. Class B, New York, NY, services/CATV systems - Director, Wawa, Inc.Wawa Food MarketsWawa Inc. is a chain of convenience store/gas stations located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It operates in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, near the community...
, Wawa, PennsylvaniaWawa, PennsylvaniaWawa is an unincorporated community located in Middletown Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Named for the Ojibwe word for "goose" ,Wawa was originally known as Grubb's Bridge...
From 1999 through the end of 2002, McGarvie was the Executive Vice President and Chief financial officer
Chief financial officer
The chief financial officer or Chief financial and operating officer is a corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the corporation. This officer is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to higher management...
(CFO) at BIC Group
Société Bic
Société Bic is a company based in Clichy, France, founded in 1945, by Baron Marcel Bich known for making disposable products including lighters, magnets, ballpoint pens, shaving razors and watersports products. It competes in most markets against Faber-Castell, Global Gillette, Newell Rubbermaid...
, a leading manufacturer of convenient disposable products. She served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Hannaford Bros. Co.
Hannaford Bros. Co.
Hannaford is an American supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine. Founded in 1883, Hannaford now operates stores in New England and upstate New York. Formerly known as Shop 'N' Save, Hannaford is owned by the American subsidiary of the Belgian Delhaize Group, Delhaize America, which owns over...
, a New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
/New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
food retailer, from 1994 to 1999.
Ms. McGarvie served as a director of Lafarge North America, a construction-materials company with headquarters in Herndon, Virginia
Herndon, Virginia
Herndon is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area of the United States. The population was 21,655 at the 2000 census, which makes it the largest of three towns in the county.-History:...
, until May 2006.
Writings
Starting with a visit to China in March–April 2009, and continuing into 2010, McGarvie has been posting periodically on Huffington Post. Subjects have included the Shanghai World Expo, a recommendation of The Forgotten Man by Amity ShlaesAmity Shlaes
Amity Ruth Shlaes is an American author and columnist from New York, who writes about politics and economics.-Education and career:...
on the occasion of President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's first 100 days, a visit to Disney World's Epcot
Epcot
Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando, Florida. The park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was initially named...
and economic indicators, and the Davos
Davos
Davos is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of 11,248 . Davos is located on the Landwasser River, in the Swiss Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range...
World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
. Over roughly the same period, McGarvie has been issuing and posting a one- to two-page newsletter.
In January 2009, John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., also referred to as Wiley, is a global publishing company that specializes in academic publishing and markets its products to professionals and consumers, students and instructors in higher education, and researchers and practitioners in scientific, technical, medical, and...
published McGarvie's book Shaking the Globe: Courageous Decision-Making in a Changing World with a foreword by Robert Kraft
Robert Kraft
Robert K. Kraft is an American business magnate. He is the Chairman and was the Chief Executive Officer of The Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment, real estate development and a private equity portfolio...
.
McGarvie addressed the auto industry crisis of 2008-9
Effects of the 2008-2009 automotive industry crisis on the United States
Beginning in the latter half of 2008, a global-scale recession adversely affected the economy of the United States. A combination of several years of declining automobile sales and scarce availability of credit led to a more widespread crisis in the United States auto industry in 2008 and...
, and the prevalence of female corporate directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
, in two articles in Forbes in 2008 and 2007 respectively.
In October 2005, McGraw-Hill
McGraw-Hill
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
published McGarvie's book Fit In, Stand Out: Mastering the FISO Factor in hardcover by in October, 2005.
At the time of FISOs publication, McGarvie was featured in a "Career Couch" Q&A in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
on the subject of how to react "when your new boss reverses popular policies of the previous boss." She was also featured at the time in her business school alumni/ae magazine.
In 2002, McGarvie was featured in another Times article on the subject of female representation on corporate boards.
She's also been featured in CFO magazine, and Fast Company
Fast Company (magazine)
Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...
. She has appeared on CNBC, and writes the Corporate Leadership column for Shattered magazine. Consumer Goods Technology featured Blythe in a 2002 cover story (“World Class CFO”) and a Business Finance cover story featured her in a piece on “Financial Reporting: How the Best CFOs Get it Right the First Time.”
Personal
McGarvie was 53 years old as of March 2010. She is married to Mark McGarvie, a professor of history at the University of Richmond.Education
McGarvie is a Certified Public AccountantCertified Public Accountant
Certified Public Accountant is the statutory title of qualified accountants in the United States who have passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination and have met additional state education and experience requirements for certification as a CPA...
and earned an MBA degree from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. She received the Kellogg Graduate School of Management Schaffner Award, presented to an alumnus(a) who is pre-eminent in his or her field and who provided outstanding service to Kellogg. In 2003, she was appointed as Senior Fellow of The Kellogg Innovation Network, and is on the List of Northwestern alumni/ae.