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Hilary Maxson\u2019s path to the CFO office of French multinational and energy automation behemoth Schneider Electric began at a kitchen table in upstate New York. Or at least that\u2019s what comes to mind for us when she tells us about her \u201cpurpose-driven\u201d parents, including a father who is a professor of agronomy at Cornell University.

\u201cWe didn\u2019t live internationally, but my parents are very tied to what can be achieved internationally and I think that this is how I got that mind-set,\u201d reports Maxson, as we search for answers that might better expose how within a span of 12 years she pursued and realized gainful career experiences in places as far-flung as Douala, Cameroon (3 years), the Philippines (3), Hong Kong (2), and Paris (4).

Says Maxson: \u201cI really believe that doing good business is the key to changing the world, and by \u2018good\u2019 business I mean that you can still make profits, still do right by your employees, and still do right by your country\u2014this is how we can bring about change.\u201d \xa0

Turn back the clock to 2003, and even as Maxson was exiting a 4-year banking career in New York City to get an MBA from Cornell\u2014 a familiar gateway for ambitious bankers\u2014she was already looking past Wall Street.

Comments Maxson: \u201cOne of the reasons I wanted to change was that I also wanted to build things\u2014not just in the U.S., but internationally.\u201d \xa0\xa0\xa0

Sometimes building things necessitated some banking diplomacy. For instance, while living in Cameroon as CFO (Africa) for electric power giant AES Corporation, Maxson became charged with leading negotiations to help AES restructure \u20ac300 million in debt between AES, eight multilateral lenders, and the Cameroon government.

She would eventually join Schneider Electric in Hong Kong before transferring to SE\u2019s Paris headquarters, where she assumed the role of group CFO in May of 2020. \xa0

Maxson\u2019s CFO tenure now falls during a transformational chapter for Schneider, as the company has made no secret of its plans to double down on its commitment to sustainability initiatives and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)\xa0principles.

\u201cESG is not just something companies do\u2014it is a real value driver in terms of both mitigating risk and reporting actuals, so you really want to embed your ESG thinking into your financial planning,\u201d explains Maxson, who\u2014despite her years abroad\u2014appears to not have ventured very far from the kitchen table.\xa0\u2013Jack Sweeney