Steven M. Neil is an American corporate executive, best known as the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, and Executive Vice President of Diamond Foods, Inc., which produces Kettle Brand potato chips and Emerald snack nuts, and Pop Secret popcorn and Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Cooper Companies, Inc. and Ocular Sciences, Inc., contact lens manufacturers.^[1][2] Mr. Neil heads his own consultantcy in the San Francisco Bay Area

Education and Early Career

Steven Neil earned his B.A. in mathematics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his MBA from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.^[3] He worked with Applied Magnetics Corporation serving as Chief Accounting Officer from 1983 to 1993 before joining Perrigo Company in 1993, serving as Chief Financial Officer and President of Perrigo International, Inc. from 1995 to 1997.^[1][3] He functioned as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Sola International Inc. from 1997 to 2003, Ocular Sciences, Inc. from 2003 to 2005 and Cooper Companies, Inc. from 2005 to 2008.^[1] On March 1, 2008, Mr. Neil became the CFO of Diamond Foods, Inc.^[1][3]

Philanthropy

Under Mr. Neil’s management, Emerald Nuts sponsored the final five miles of the 2009 and 2010 ING New York City Marathon, which supports healthy lifestyles.^[4][5] Upon acquiring Kettle brand chips in 2010, Diamond Foods and the State of Oregon agreed to a public-private sector partnership to create an $8 million expansion to the Kettle plant in Salem, Oregon.^[6][7]

Awards

• 2010 Grocery Manufacturers Association CPG Award for Innovation and Creativity (with Diamond Foods, Inc.)^[8]
• Oracle 2011 Consumer Goods Industry Excellence Award (with Diamond Foods, Inc.)^[9]

Business Practices with Diamond Foods

Under Neil, during its fiscal-year 2009, Diamond Foods, Inc. total sales grew 7%, from $531.5 million to $570.9 million.^[10] Neil was responsible for operations, logistics, IT, treasury, grower relations, and purchasing with the company.^[10] Neil said of his business practices, “I’m the type of finance guy that looks at a financial report and sees it as just numbers on a piece of paper unless I’m out in the plant and can see how the product flows, how we can reduce our unit costs, and how we can improve our logistics. Then the numbers mean something.”^[10][11]

Accounting Management

In 2012, Diamond Foods, Inc. placed CEO Michael Mendes and CFO Steven Neil on administrative leave when the company disclosed that it improperly accounted payments of approximately $20 million in August 2010 and approximately $60 million in September 2011.^[12][11][13] After these events, The Procter & Gamble Company left a deal that would have sold Pringles brand chips to Diamond Foods, Inc.^[12][14] No direct evidence links Mr. Neil to the improperly accounted payments.^[11][12]

References