When M. Scott Crocco, MBA ’90, first interviewed with Air Products in 1990, he could hardly have imagined that 23 years later he would succeed his interviewer, Paul Huck, MBA ’79, as Air Products’ senior vice president and chief financial officer (CFO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking back at that interview, Crocco recalls, \u201cI was Paul’s first interview of the day. My background at that time involved working at General Electric in a program called Manufacturing Management Program, and I leaned on that as my premier experience.\u201d Just when Crocco was about to walk Huck through his experiences at GE, Huck said unexpectedly: \u201cI know about that program, tell me – what else do you got?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat pushed me to go beyond the basics that I was going to take him through,\u201d says Crocco. \u201cOver the next 23 years, he continued to push me and the company to go beyond that initial offering and to push us for \u2018what else you’ve got.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike some other companies where the CEO is the principle point of contact with the investment community, Air Products entrusts to its CFO responsibility for managing investor relationships, says Huck. Referring to Huck’s achievements as CFO, Crocco praises him for bringing \u201cexternal perspective from the investment community\u201d to the leadership team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Huck also established cash priorities, a discipline that Crocco plans to carry on. \u201c[We will continue to] spend cash first on projects that have good returns and are in our core business, increase our dividends, strive to maintain an \u2018A’ fund rating, and with the excess cash, buy back shares,\u201d says Crocco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Air Products’ clients span the globe and represent a wide range of industries, from food and beverage, health and personal care to energy, transportation and semiconductors. The company is actively expanding its client base in emerging markets, and is particularly proud of new contracts and projects in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe biggest challenge the industrial gas industry has now is how well we address the Chinese market, [where] there are a lot of opportunities for growth,\u201d says Huck. Another challenge: the uncertainties inherent in today’s global economic environment. Since 2008, the ability to predict has been extremely difficult, but decisions still have to be made, says Huck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To address these challenges, Crocco believes that Air Products needs to \u201cunderstand what our strengths are and focus on the areas that we can win and add value to our customers and shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the new CFO at Air Products effective March 1, Crocco manages the company’s financial functions, including controllership, accounting, decision support, treasury, risk management, taxes, and internal audit. He appreciates having worked in each of Air Products’ major businesses and established relationships with people across the company. \u201cIt’s very important to understand the business itself, not just financials,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Relationship-building comes naturally to Crocco, who remarks on \u201ca similar culture between Air Products and Johnson.\u201d Both have \u201ca team-oriented and collaborative environment that promotes everybody’s success,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJohnson has been the best school we recruit at in the past few years,\u201d says Huck, noting Johnson’s success in teaching students how to apply theory to practice. That ability helped him apply his knowledge immediately after joining Air Products, he says. Now, more than a dozen Johnson graduates work at Air Products, and internships provide hands-on opportunities for Johnson students to learn about its finance operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe proudest achievements in my career are the people and the strong financial function I left at Air Products,\u201d says Huck. Now, with Crocco in place, he is focusing his energies serving on the boards of a local hospital and a scholarship foundation, as well as on Johnson’s Advisory Council. And he’s enjoying spending more time with his family, including his three grandchildren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Passing the torch When M. Scott Crocco, MBA ’90, first interviewed with Air Products in 1990, he could hardly have imagined that 23 years later he would succeed his interviewer,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[171],"tags":[196],"ppma_author":[],"class_list":["post-8582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni-profiles","tag-archived"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n