CFO Studio Magazine with Robert Falzon, CFO, Prudential

ROB FALZON, A 33-YEAR PRUDENTIAL MAN, CONTINUES TO LEVERAGE HIS DIVERSE EXPERIENCE AND OUTSIDER’S EYE TO PUSH FINANCE TO ITS TRUE POTENTIAL BY JULIE BARKER Photography by David Yellen ORIGINAL THINKER F rom his office on the 23rd floor of Prudential Plaza, Rob Falzon looks out at the cityscape of Newark and reflects that an executive office is a very pleasant perk. But it’s not everything. Reorganized out of a managing director’s job and the corner office that went with it in 1992, Falzon went to work in a cubicle, where he learned real estate investment banking, an area of Prudential’s business that was entirely new to him. “It was something that I had limited qualifications for and no experience in,” he says. He figured, though, that he’d gain skills and know-how. Ten years out of grad school at the time, he gambled that he’dmake up ground. He threw himself into the new job, and, in less than five years, was again a managing director. Frombanking, he jumped to another new field: real estate investment management. Falzon spent a decade or so traveling extensively, with dual offices in Parsippany, NJ, and London, U.K., ultimately becoming CEOof Prudential’s European real estate business. Twice, then, Falzon climbed to success before having to reboot, though the skills he’d developed in real estate investment banking positioned him for the role he took in Parsippany. He calls this career path “nonlinear,” counting “four very different jobs,” including his current one as CFOof Prudential, “in the time that I’ve been here.” Others might say he took unnecessary detours, but he insists he accrued significant benefits from his professional journey: He learned to think about a whole range of external constituents, whether they were shareholders, debt investors, analysts, rating agencies, or other outside stakeholders. Falzon also picked up “knowledge and sophistication around a broad variety of capital markets, everything from debt to equity and the hybrids that exist in between, and U.S. and international markets, and how those markets function.” He says he uses this knowledge of a variety of constituents and capital markets in his job today. The New Jersey native returned COVER STORY 6 WWW.CFOSTUDIO.COM Q2 2017