By Briana Iverson

Businesses across the country and around the globe have found themselves in completely unprecedented and dire situations, putting them in positions where the decisions they make today may mean the difference between keeping their doors open or closing up shop. With business leaders seeking advice on how to keep team members employed, and evolve their companies and business strategies in this current work from home situation, another critical financial issue has now come to the forefront: how will I keep up with the expenses of my commercial lease?

With so many unanswered questions and mixed messages surrounding this topic, The CFO Leadership Council found it imperative to open up their latest forum to businesses across the country, regardless of membership, to address many common concerns and questions that business leaders across the country are experiencing due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. By hosting a free webinar on April 16^th with insightful perspectives from two different industry leaders, they hope to accomplish just that. There will be some silver lining in all of this for those that join the presentation.

The April 16^th webinar will cover a range of critical topics for business leaders, including:

– How quickly the spill over will affect commercial real estate by product type—retail, office, industrial and wet lab

– Market damage assessment, including where the market is, where it’s going and when

– Rent deferment strategies and new laws that protect commercial tenants

– Sublease rights in existing leases, and what they really mean to the tenant

– The flood of sublease inventory coming on the market in the next year and how to manage risks around them

– What “lease restructuring” really means, how to do it and when

– How companies can resize and rethink their real estate, from a cost, availability and risk standpoint

– What’s likely to happen to landlords when the dust settles—will this become a foreclosure world like the early 90’s, or more like banks writing down and restructuring debt like 2008-2009?

– Will forced working from home due to COVID-19 shelter in place order be the tipping point that causes visions of telecommuting and hoteling in the workplace to become realized

A featured speaker of the webinar will be Todd Booth, EVP and CFO of 3D Systems Corporation. Todd will share his 25 years of experience which includes taking distressed companies through recessions, and examples of successful commercial real estate workouts and consolidations. Todd’s background includes technology, energy and defense sectors. With extensive experience in multiple industries, his wealth of knowledge with a financial background will help companies navigate unchartered waters during this unprecedented pandemic.

Also joining the webinar is David Marino, Co-founder and EVP of Hughes Marino, one of the nation’s leading tenant representation firms, bringing a tenant-side perspective to the table. David will share his insights of 31 years of coaching and leading commercial tenants through the last three recessions, the lessons learned and path forward from here. His wealth of knowledge on the industry is increasingly critical during this time when businesses are wondering how they will handle one of their biggest expenses during this time, in a market that will likely reset itself by 2021 to be the strongest tenants’ market in 20 years.

For more information on how to register for this event, please visit this link.

About The CFO Leadership Council

The CFO Leadership Council offers both live and online programs that feature expert panels and interactive sessions that drive meaningful conversation and leadership development among our membership. Our collection of leadership development resources similar to this article contain pragmatic insights and advice sourced directly from our members and industry experts. Recordings of CFOLC webcasts are made available to our current CFOLC Premium & Virtual members. CPEs are now offered for our webcasts to current CFOLC members only. To learn about our membership and connecting with our growing CFOLC community, http://www.cfolc.com.

Founded in 2006, the mission of The CFO Leadership Council has been to “empower senior financial executives to realize success in their careers, as well as for the people and companies they lead.” The organization coordinates events across the country ranging on topics from economic updates, recruiting and building talented teams and real estate, among many other insightful business subjects. In addition to covering a variety of valuable topics, The CFO Leadership Council is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy as a sponsor of continuing professional education, and their live group events account for CPE credits to CFOs, offering another advantage to encourage professional growth and learning.

Want to continue the conversation?

We’d love to hear from you. Contact Stacy Hall, Regional Director, stacy@cfolc.com

About 3D Systems

Born from a spark of inspiration in 1983, 3D Systems has run on innovation for over 30 years. Co-founded by the inventor of 3D printing, Charles (“Chuck”) Hull, 3D Systems has grown into a global 3D solutions company focused on connecting our customers with the expertise and digital manufacturing workflow required to solve their business, design or engineering problems. From digitization, design and simulation through manufacturing, inspection and management, our comprehensive portfolio of technologies provides a seamless, customizable workflow designed to optimize products and processes while accelerating outcomes. With advanced hardware, software and materials as well as on demand manufacturing services and a global team of experts, we are on a mission to transform businesses through manufacturing innovation. Additional information is available at www.3dsystems.com.

About Todd Booth, EVP and CFO, 3D Systems Corporation

Todd is a highly accomplished, results-driven senior executive with 25+ years of global finance and operations experience. Accountable for budgets in career ranging from several million to several billion and allocating resources to exceed profit and sales goals. A CPA who is also a master black belt in six sigma.

Todd has worked in multiple industries (automotive, Big 4 accounting/consulting, defense, electronics, healthcare, industrial manufacturing, oil and gas, marine, nuclear, renewable energy, software) and lived on multiple continents (North America, South America, Europe) with proven results.

Todd’s has held various executive positions which allows him be strategic in his business decisions, including leading treasury, investor relations, business development, strategic planning, budgeting and forecasting, mergers and acquisitions, six sigma, shared service, information technology, compliance, accounting, internal audit, SEC reporting, tax, and operations over manufacturing facilities and more.

Todd is an expert in 80/20 and restructuring, and is known for being able to grow businesses in short period of time. Todd holds a BA in Accounting from Michigan State University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

About Hughes Marino

Hughes Marino is an industry-leading commercial real estate company that exclusively represents business owners and corporate real estate decision makers. The company only represents tenants and buyers–never landlords–which eliminates the potential for conflicts of interest that other commercial real estate firms have. In addition to tenant and buyer representation, the firm offers in-house program, project and construction management, portfolio lease administration and advisory services, planning and design, and culture consulting as added value for their clients. The firm has offices across the nation. Additional information is available at www.hughesmarino.com.

David Marino, Co-Founder & EVP, Hughes Marino

David Marino has been exclusively representing tenants since 1991, completing over 15,000,000 square feet, comprised of over 2,000 transactions. Previously, from 1989 to 1991, David was with Trammell Crow Company, then the largest commercial real estate development firm in the United States, where David learned the business from the landlord side of the table.

David specializes in high-value, time-critical and complex transactions for technology, life science and business service companies. He is an expert in the strategic planning, market assessment, financial analysis, business terms structuring and negotiations aspects of commercial real estate. David authors the Hughes Marino quarterly market update and is often quoted in local and regional articles about the state of the commercial real estate industry, and its trends.

David has been a featured speaker at dozens of industry events, including the graduate schools at University of Southern California and University of San Diego, and is considered to be a leading thought leader on commercial real estate and corporate use of space. David has an in-depth command of the entire facility lease, purchase and disposition process, and is well versed in areas of space planning, design and construction issues.