Q&A with Neil McDonald, chief financial officer of Koch Enterprises
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In January, Neil McDonald was named chief financial officer of Evansville-based Koch Enterprises.
He succeeds Susan Parsons, who is retiring from the role after 40 years and helping with the transition.
Previously, McDonald was chief financial officer at Evansville-based AmeriQual and a financial controller at MasterBrand Cabinets, which recently moved its corporate headquarters to Beachwood, Ohio, while retaining its operations headquarters in Jasper.
McDonald has also held several roles with Virginia-based Nestle USA. The Evansville native spoke with Inside INdiana Business about his new role at Koch Enterprises and the experiences that led him to this point in his career.
Tell me about your experience at AmeriQual.
I was there for seven years. We were acquired by a family office out of Houston in 2015, and for the better part of five years, spent that time growing the business. A lot of aggressive capital investment, some new capabilities added, infrastructure installed to grow the business and eventually ended up selling the business to an Indiana family, the Harlan family out of Indianapolis in 2021. They owned us for the remainder of my time there.
It was a great situation for me. They provided me with a lot of good opportunities. I loved working with the team there, and it’s a business with a lot of momentum. I will always have a special place in my heart for AmeriQual.
What about your time at MasterBrand Cabinets?
MasterBrand Cabinets reached out when I was with Nestle in the Cleveland, Ohio, area and presented the opportunity to relocate me back home. My wife and I are both from Evansville. So it was a good opportunity to come back to an Indiana-based business, No. 1 in their industry. That was important to me, to be part of a solid, winning organization.
I had three different positions with them in three years. That gave me a lot of opportunity for growth and advancement. A very hard-nosed business, it’s got a strong work ethic, financially sound and a great operation that’s very well run. I enjoyed my time there, enjoyed the people there and it was the right opportunity at that point in my career.
What was different about working for Nestle vs. the southwestern Indiana businesses?
Nestle is the largest food and beverage company in the world, so they’re all over the place. They have a strong presence in Indiana as well. It’s a massive organization … it’s a publicly traded company, so you have that element vs. Ameriqual, privately held, more of a family feel, a little more intimate setting with the team.
You have the ability to influence and drive various decisions, factors and outcomes vs. the larger company in the larger setting where you’re playing a role, but you’re only impacting a small portion of the bigger pie. I like to operate in privately held companies where you can put your thumbprint on things and influence decisions that are being made, leading to hopefully positive outcomes.
What made Koch Enterprises a good fit for you?
It’s a storied business. It’s got a family foundation, and they continue to grow and push the envelope of what they want to be with a commitment to long-term sustainable growth. They have a strong presence in Evansville and the Tri-State community. They do a lot to give back to the community, and they want to keep it family-held for years to come.
Knowing that and knowing their long-term vision and strategy, [Koch Enterprises] aligned with a lot of my personal values and goals for my career going forward.
Explain your role as chief financial officer.
My role in this particular seat at the enterprise level is to provide guidance and support for our subsidiary businesses to help them drive and achieve their long-term goals, provide capital where needed and provide any other resources necessary to meet their strategic plan. Ultimately delivering consolidated financial results that meet the family and shareholder expectations.
What are your short-term goals?
To meet all the team and assimilate with everyone here. This is a big group across seven different subsidiary businesses. I want to get out to all the subsidiary locations, understand the business and get on the ground floor, really understand what is driving results. We’re not driving results sitting in the office. It’s the folks out at all the sites and facilities that are making things happen.
I want to understand the business and download from Susan Parsons as much of the history as I possibly can. She’s been an instrumental part of the growth and success of this business. I want to continue to build on that, learn from her while she’s still here and be in a spot where I can hit the ground running when that time comes and she fully transitions out.
What are your long-term goals?
[My long-term goals are] aligned with the strategic vision of the family and the company to help them achieve sustainable growth over the long haul. Whether that be through acquisitions or organic growth, my job is to continue to put us in a position to win and to put resources in place where our existing teams or new teams that may be acquired have the best chances of succeeding and winning.
I want to continue to grow myself, have new experiences, be able to build upon my past experiences and continue to work with other companies in the community and ask, “How do we make this place better?”
What does the future look like for Koch Enterprises?
It’s interesting because Bob Koch and Jim Muehlbauer, they’re what we call the fourth generation, they still come into the office every day. They continue to have that presence with the fifth generation running the business now. They want to continue to have this be family-held and continue to grow and expand and do it at a sustainable rate.
There’s a formula they’ve been following for a long time. And we’ll have to adapt to how the world is today and maybe shift some things, some strategies on what we have been doing and tweak and adjust those … that’s part of our job now, myself, along with [Koch Enterprises CEO] Kevin Koch and his team. How do we continue to push the envelope but also be sustainable and continue to grow this thing at a good pace?
It’s crazy how these things organically evolve. And a lot of it’s through relationships. Bob and others are on several boards so they have a strong connection to the community and to other business leaders, where somebody else may have an opportunity that doesn’t fit their needs anymore, it could be a good opportunity for us to take over and grow going forward. I look forward to expanding on those relationships.
What are you most proud of in your career?
I’m most proud of embracing change and taking advantage of opportunities that are presented. I could have very easily stayed in the position I was at with AmeriQual, and it was a tough decision for me. I was in a good spot and had a bright future ahead of me, but something was calling me over to Koch Enterprises. I felt like it was an opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up.
And I’ve had a couple of these. I’ve had several presented to me over the course of my career. But there are certain ones that I’ll actually consider and weigh more than others. But when one comes along that makes a lot of sense, you’ve got to jump, you have to take the leap of faith.
Nestle was No. 1 in their industry. MasterBrand, No. 1 in their industry. AmeriQual has the No. 1 market share in the military. Koch’s in the top 15 privately held businesses in Indiana.
I pride myself in taking advantage of good opportunities that align with my personal values and career growth and goals but also being part of winning organizations. That’s important to me. Always looking at being No. 1 and doing it with people who want to win and succeed.