Finalists were selected by a jury of treasury and finance professionals. Decisions were based on forward-looking solutions that progress the efficiency and effectiveness of their organization’s treasury and financial operations.

The winner will be make a $10,000 donation to a charity of the their choice.

“AFP is proud to recognize the finalists of the 2023 Pinnacle Award, as they represent some of the leading professionals in treasury and finance,” said Jim Kaitz, president and CEO of AFP. “The teams at Casey’s General Stores, Delta Air Lines, Inc., and Ultradent Products, Inc. have developed unique solutions that advance their organizations and the treasury and finance profession at large.”

“On behalf of U.S. Bank and as a sponsor of the AFP 2023 Pinnacle Award, we congratulate this year’s finalists on their innovative solutions for business operations and customer experience,” said Martin Nonna, national head of Global Treasury Management Sales & Consulting for U.S. Bank. 

About the submissions:

Casey’s General Stores’ entry focused on improving its antiquated branch banking model, which was consuming valuable resources and having a profound impact on both store operations and the Store Support Center. Casey’s implemented a smart safe program in all of its 2,550 stores. The fully scalable bank-agnostic solution uses just one platform partner and enables a standard, consistent process. As a result of this solution, Casey’s has seen store labor reduction of six hours per store per week, annual labor savings of approximately $10.4 million, and $2 million in annual bank fees saved.

Delta Air Lines, Inc.’s entry focused on improving the passenger reimbursement experience. Previously, Delta relied on check issuance, which was an inefficient, manual process. To improve this experience, Delta implemented a technology solution that gave customers access to their compensation in real-time without having to provide banking details to agents. The solution is integrated with the company’s case management system, providing improved visibility and tracking. More than 205,000 electronic payments have been issued to passengers under the new system, amounting to over $71 million.

Ultradent Products, Inc.’s entry focused on modernizing its budget creation and reporting process, using existing tools, resources and people. Ultradent’s FP&A team consisted of only six people but maintained 75+ dashboards to feed 300+ analysts to C-level across 181 countries. Partnering with IT Business Intelligence and Data Architecture teams, they built a driver-based planning system that automates forecasting and reporting processes to all levels around the globe. They developed predictive budgeting, minimized manual transformations and data duplication, and are working on creating automated error notifications. As a result of the modernization, they empowered their business partners, delivered more monthly reporting information in four fewer days and can create a draft global forecast/budget in approximately 30 minutes.