WOMEN AT
24
THE TOP
Vera Muzzillo
CEO, Proforma
Leadership style: My leadership style
How has your life experience made
you the leader you are today? I
is collaborative. I surround myself with
people who are as smart, or smarter, than
I am, and tap into their expertise.
grew up in a conservative household
with strong family values. I’ve taken
those principles that I learned from my
family and carried them with me into
a career in banking and applied those
same standards to my life. That is what
has shaped me into the hard-working
leader I am today.
Was becoming CEO of an organization part of your professional
plan? No, my plan was simply to make a
difference and be part of an organization
that is the best in the industry.
Role models? My role models are
people who combine a love of learning
with a passion for quality in all they do.
Historically, Abraham Lincoln is a role
model for me because he had strong
values and loved to read and learn. Personally, my parents were significant role
models because they instilled a strong
work ethic and family values in me from
a young age.
What do you love most about being CEO? I love having the opportunity
to work one-on-one with our franchise
owners to help them improve their businesses and their understanding of business, to help them grow professionally
and personally.
How much of your time do you
spend at that, and what are you
doing to spend more? Not as much
SYSTEM REVENUE: $430 million
NO. OF UNITS: 750
Management gurus or books that
have deeply affected you: In Search
of Excellence by Tom Peters established
a foundation for me in terms of understanding excellent practices in well-run
companies. Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of
Highly Effective People is another powerful book for identifying key principles to
becoming more successful.
Has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life? Absolutely. From my days
at Notre Dame as a teacher’s assistant
to the best professor in the College of
Finance to the incredible mentors I had
during my banking career, I have been
fortunate enough to have had excellent
mentors to help me grow and develop
my leadership skills. My professor gave
me the tools to understand the analytics of business, and my mentors at the
bank gave me the hands-on experience
to use those tools to analyze businesses
and understand best practices.
Female leaders you admire: I ad-
mire Eleanor Roosevelt because she was
passionate, hard-working, intelligent,
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE: Private
GROWTH PLANS: $500 million in sales
by growing each owner’s business 50 percent
by 2015
FOUNDED: 1978
BEGAN FRANCHISING : 1986
YEARS WITH COMPANY: 12
as I’d like. Right now I spend about a
quarter of my time working directly with
Proforma franchise owners and our Support Center Team members. To spend
more time working with our team, I’m
developing policies and procedures for
the individuals within my department
to ensure more face-to-face meetings.
What do you like most about what
your brand/legacy represents?
YEARS IN FRANCHISING: 12
INTERNATIONAL LOCATIONS: 2
outspoken, and helped blaze the trail
for women and their ability to make a
difference in society.
Advice for young female CEO aspirants: Tap into your expertise. Women
are incredible multi-taskers. We have a
great deal of strength in terms of empathy, understanding, and intuitiveness. Use
that in your career. Also, learn to let go
of the things that drain your time and
do not provide you with satisfaction.
For example, it’s okay to hire someone
to clean your house one day a week so
you can use that time more effectively
and focus on your business.
Our brand represents the opportunity
for people to pursue their dreams by
owning their own businesses.
What role does diversity play in
your management team? At Pro-
forma we value different opinions, backgrounds, and perspectives.
If you are expanding overseas,
does being a woman affect growth?
We are expanding overseas, but I don’t
think being a woman has affected our
growth. Most business owners want to
align themselves with an organization
that’s known as the best in the industry.
That is why Proforma continues to grow
and be successful. n
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