Movers & Shakers: Jim Stoffel, chief financial officer, CSM Corp.

Stoffel leads finance, accounting and risk management and manages the financial performance of CSM. The privately held company has more than 10 million square feet of commercial and retail space and thousands of hotel rooms and residential units in 14 states.

"A lot of the appeal of CSM ties back to some of the differentiators in the market," Stoffel said. "The diverse portfolio holdings between commercial, lodging and residential; their long-term viewpoint; their strong balance sheet and positioning in the broader market."

Stoffel has a broad background in global finance, extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions and specializes in competitive analysis, strategic and financial planning.

He most recently was vice president of finance at Tennant Co., facilitating major domestic and global acquisitions for the Golden Valley-based maker of industrial and commercial cleaning equipment.

After beginning his career at KPMG, Stoffel led financial and treasury functions at Nordstrom, Best Buy and Supervalu. He has a degree in finance and accounting from the University of Wisconsin.

Q: Were you looking for an opportunity with a private company?

A: It was one of the criteria I was looking for after having been in many public companies and really looking for the opportunity to get back into a private company that allowed you to work for the long haul.

Q: How are you applying your experience in different organizations at CSM?

A: I've been extremely fortunate to work in some very well-run organizations. Being at Best Buy when [founder and former CEO] Dick Schultze was still in charge. Being at Nordstrom where you get a deep understanding of creating a service culture and looking out for the customer. And many of the other organizations I've been in. I believe that leads me to understand how really good businesses are run and what makes them differentiated in the market. I can bring the best from each of those to help CSM get to the next level.

Q: What have you learned from those organizations?

A: It's more drawing on different leadership characteristics. Dick Schultze at Best Buy; [former CEO] Jeff Noddle and [former chief financial officer] Pam Knous at Supervalu; those leaders that didn't lose sight of the true strategic imperative, the differentiators that made their organization successful, that seems to be a winning formula. That's part of my focus here, to make sure we don't lose sight of what makes us differentiated and continues to make us successful.

Todd Nelson