Ryan Gwillim, CFO, Brunswick Corporation
About Ryan Gwillim
Ryan Gwillim, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Brunswick, has discussed the company's use of data to track inventory at the product SKU level, stating that the team can identify how many specific models of Boston Whaler are in a given district. He described the company's acquisition of Freedom Boat Club in 2019, noting that it had grown to about 170 locations at the time of purchase and has since doubled in size, with Gwillim calling it "one of the best investments we've made." He also outlined Brunswick's focus on becoming a "marine recreational technology company" that owns boats, engines, parts and accessories, and the boat club. Gwillim has emphasized his priorities as CFO, including accurately portraying results to investors, focusing on employee success, and preparing for potential economic volatility by tempering spending and scrutinizing capital projects while continuing to pursue growth. He noted that the company's public guidance for the year was to achieve about seven billion dollars in revenue, and that the previous year was the best in company history. Gwillim also discussed the company's hybrid work environment, stating that flexibility is critical to attract and retain talent, and described efforts to streamline reporting by reducing a three-inch thick quarterly binder of analysis to less than an inch.