You came to Dentsply Sirona with extensive knowledge of the healthcare industry and the dental sector. How have you gotten to know Dentsply Sirona over the past few months and what has most stood out to you?
Nick Alexos: I have a number of years of experience working with the dental industry and have developed a deep understanding of the market. Since joining Dentsply Sirona, I’ve tried to meet as many people as possible by visiting locations around the world and also by going to trade shows to meet customers and distributors. Certainly the talent base of our people and their commitment to the products and the customer is what has most stood out to me.
What would you most like employees to know about you?
Nick Alexos: I would like for our employees to know me as a person – that I have a wife and three children living in the US and that I came from the investment world but have a history with the dental industry and also with the legacy Sirona organization as a board member of Sirona Dental Services. This was a unique opportunity for me to combine that history with my skills so it was a personal and professional decision to take the job when the position became available.
Managing the increased risks that public organizations face today is critical for achieving business objectives. How does Dentsply Sirona manage its global risk exposure?
Nick Alexos: The most important thing that we can do is to have good people and an honest relationship with our people, good training, and open communication so that employees aren’t worried about sharing issues if and when they arise. Our employees are the eyes and ears of the Company and they need to also be looking out for risks. Another thing that’s fundamental to dealing with risk is having efficient IT systems.
Is there a particular regulatory or tax risk that you’re most focused on or worried about?
Nick Alexos: There’s no single risk that I worry about from a regulatory or tax standpoint. Yes, there is volatility with currency, tax rates change and there are always new regulations so there are a lot of things to monitor and pay attention to. As a business, we do have to be sensitive to new rules coming out about data protection and privacy. The good news is that a lot of people are aware of these things and are taking the time to prepare for them.
Earlier this year an important change was made in the Internal Audit organization putting the company Ernst & Young in a major role to oversee the execution and overall delivery of audits across Dentsply Sirona. What is the background for this change?
Nick Alexos: My personal view on Internal Audit is that its mission should be to not only identify risks but also to identify operational opportunities in the business. Ernst & Young, which is a global accounting firm with whom I am very familiar, will act as a co-sourcing relationship with the internal auditing team. The reason that we are bringing in an external firm to help is to broaden the skills and upgrade the capacity of our internal team members and I expect that we will benefit from the experience and the perspective that an external consultancy will bring. In the longer-term I expect this to be a completely internal function once again.
Will employees see any changes or notice differences in their daily work lives?
Nick Alexos: In terms of changes that employees will notice, my hope is on the one hand that the auditors are welcomed. Offices should be prepared to work with them and thus, ultimately the experience will enhance the skills of those involved - both in the Internal Audit team and also for teams at our locations around the globe. On the other hand, I would like to make Internal Audit an attractive career opportunity to accept an assignment for several years and then take what you’ve learned back to other parts of the business. Internal Audit is actually a pretty exciting area. Team members get to travel around the globe, develop a broad network, and become familiar with our risks, operations, and controls.
The Global Procurement organization is also an important player to drive greater value for the company and ensure the ability to grow. How does the set-up of this team look like?
Nick Alexos: The Global Procurement activity will now be split among three teams based on the type of procurement that they manage. Procurement is no longer viewed as a single activity. We’ve identified three different types of procurement: Indirect Contractual Spend, Indirect Transactional Spend, and Direct Spend. The reason for this division is that having dedicated people responsible for each of these technical areas will produce more value than having all areas of procurement under one consolidated function.
For further details please have a look at the overview of the Procurement Team on this page.