SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, promotes CFO Brad Ferguson to Chief Operating and Financial Officer
BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA and CARDIFF, UK - Bellingham-based SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, has promoted CFO Brad Ferguson to Chief Operating and Financial Officer. His new title is effective immediately.
As COFO, Ferguson's primary responsibility is the oversight of Accounting, Administration, Contracts, Marketing, Information Technology, Publishing and the SPIE Digital Library.
Ferguson, who joined SPIE in 2006, has nearly 35 years of progressive business experience with a wide variety of public and private companies. He began his career as a cost accountant with an established aerospace company; later, he became CFO for a startup healthcare company. The variety of roles in his career has provided Ferguson with a unique understanding of financial controls, budgets, information systems, financial reports for internal and external consumption, and marketing and operating plans in organizations ranging from small independents to large public corporations. His colleagues will tell you that his strength in these areas is his ability to understand the manufacturing environments, operational controls, business constraints and information systems required to optimize business performance.
Under Ferguson's guidance as CFO, SPIE has brought its lauded Digital Library platform completely in-house; relocated its largest annual conference, Photonics West, from San Jose to a much-expanded home in San Francisco; established a slew of new academic awards, including the Joe and Agnete Yaver Memorial Scholarship and the SPIE-Franz Hillenkamp Postdoctoral Fellowship; and sustained funding of global altruistic efforts equal to $4 million in 2016 and 2017, $20,000 of it to local non-profits.
"As part of our leadership team, Brad has played a key role in ensuring that SPIE thrives in varying economic environments, and that we continue to succeed through our busy conference calendar as well as our publishing channels," says SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs. "Brad's financial acumen, his energy and his drive are rare in the not-for-profit world. SPIE is indeed fortunate to have him and I am confident he will help lead us to even greater contributions to our world."
Ferguson received a business degree from the University of Washington with an accounting concentration and an MBA from Seattle University with a concentration in Information Systems.
Ferguson is a member of the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives (CESSE), the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the American Astronomical Society. He currently holds a Certified Global Management Accountant certification from the AICPA and has passed both the CPA and CMA exams.
About SPIE
SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering, and technology. The Society serves nearly 264,000 constituents from approximately 166 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals, and the SPIE Digital Library. In 2017, SPIE provided more than $4 million in support of education and outreach programs. www.spie.org.
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