"Get your business moving," is what the U.S. Postal Service website prods. And that may be one reason the government behemoth tapped industry outsider Harold Glen Walker as its new chief financial officer. With $70 billion in total costs, a workforce of 700,000, and postal service reform topping the agenda, Walker is rolling up his sleeves to work side-by-side with the U.S. Postmaster General Jack Potter.
Walker's 30-year private sector career took him to three continents. He is best known for introducing Corporate America to shared service centers. Indeed, as CFO at one of Whirlpool's largest overseas divisions, Walker set up a facility in Dublin, Ireland, creating what became a model for centralized corporate services. Most recently, he was vice president of finance and chief financial officer of Invensys Controls, a global automation and controls company based in the UK. Walker started his career at auditing firm Ernst and Young.
In August, he moved into the government sector when he accepted the CFO position at the USPS. His switch to public service doesn't seem puzzling, once Walker begins to explain the similarities between the post office and the private sector. What's more, Walker says he wouldn't have passed up the opportunity to run the finance function of an organization that is equivalent to a Fortune 20 company.
Recently, Walker spoke with CFO.com contributing editor Stephen Taub about his decision to join the government's most intrepid— at least by one measure—department, and discuss his federal mandate.
CFO.com: The U.S. Postal Service needed more than a zip code to find you. How did the federal agency track you down?
Harold Glen Walker: A Korn Ferry consultant who brought me to my previous job gave me a call when they got this assignment.
Was the USPS looking for someone with private sector experience?
The first person I met at the postal service was Jack Potter, the Postmaster General. He was looking for someone from the outside with a lot of experience to contribute to being a change agent. Potential postal reform was on the table. Also, he needed extra ideas to implement the [transition] plan [which included] cutting $1 billion of costs, every year.
How do you make cuts like that?
We have $70 billion in total costs. So, it is relative. Still, $1 billion is a huge number. A lot has been done in the past. The plan for the future is geared around automation—processing mail more efficiently, taking out work hours. About 78 percent of our costs are people. [For example, we will automate around] processing and sorting the mail carrier route, so we don’t have mailmen in the office half the day and on the route half the day.
Does cost cutting also include closing retail branches?
We have done some consolidation in the past. We must work with the unions, which are a major part of our labor force. That's not new for me.
What other areas did Jack Potter want you to tackle?
He [would take care of] the low hanging fruit, but needed help with efficiency process improvement, people improvement, more customer focus, improving and strengthening internal controls and overall management.
Was it those types of goals that attracted you to the job, or something eles? Why did you sign on to be CFO?
I did not do it for the money. Contributing to an organization with 700,000 people was a great challenge at this point in my career. It’s like a Fortune 20 company.
Was leaving the UK, and the private sector, a difficult decision?
[Not for me, but] my wife is English. The hardest thing was to get her back to the States. In terms of professional challenge, it was an easy decision. My family was very supportive. My son [who is in high school] and wife like it here.
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