CFO is a rising star

Home Channel News, Dec 11, 2000 by R. Michelle Breyer

An aptitude for numbers and people skills propel Robert Niblock up corporate ladder

At a time during which Lowe's is going through a period of rapid expansion, Robert Niblock is one of the chain's pivotal executives.

As senior vp and chief financial officer, he oversees 550 employees at the fast-growing company in departments ranging from accounting to risk management. For the past three years, Niblock has also been the retailer's point man for Wall Street, heading up its investor relations department.

And he hasn't even hit 40 yet.

His aptitude for numbers and his easy way with people have propelled Niblock up the corporate ladder, say those who work with him.

"Robert has all the technical skills needed for the job [including] communications and cooperation," said Tom Whiddon, Lowe's executive vp-technology and logistics. "He exudes a lot of confidence and has gained the confidence of a lot of management around here."

Fresher minds

Lowe's has 34 vps and six senior vps who are between the ages of 35 and 45, so Niblock's rise through the ranks can be seen as part of an effort by the company to keep younger, fresher minds in its fold.

When the Florida native joined Lowe's in March 1993 as director of tax at the age of 30, it was much different than the present-day company, he said. Lowe's had 310 small- to medium-sized stores and sales of $4 billion. This year, it is a $19 billion company, with 650 stores in 40 states. Most of Lowe's stores are 100,000 square feet or larger today.

"The job has certainly exceeded my expectations," Niblock said. "It's beyond where I ever imagined I'd be at my age."

Niblock's background initially was nothing out of the ordinary: magna cum laude out of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, leading to a job as a CPA with Ernst & Young in 1986. But early in that career, Niblock was singled out.

"From day one, he exhibited that he was in the top of his class of the group he was hired with," said Rodger Holley, audit partner at Ernst & Young. Danny Newcomb, tax partner at Ernst & Young, isn't surprised that Niblock has risen so fast at Lowe's. "With his skill sets, I expected him to become a partner [at Ernst & Young] by 40 or younger. On everything he worked on, he was a high performer."

While at the accounting firm, Niblock worked with a wide range of companies, from small, mom-and-pop operations to Fortune 500 giants. In his position as tax senior manager, he worked on the much-publicized leveraged buyout at RJR Nabisco in 1989.

With each client, Niblock had a way of translating complex information, such as the Internal Revenue code, into terms that his clients could understand, Newcomb said.

Although he was intense about his work, often working 16-hour days, Niblock knew how to have a good time, say his former coworkers at Ernst & Young. If there were office hijinks, Niblock was usually right in the middle of it all. "He didn't take himself too seriously," Holley said.

Up the ladder

Niblock spent nine years at Ernst & Young before being lured away to Lowe's in nearby Wilkesboro. The job with the retailer offered him the opportunity to work for a large, growing company without being forced to relocate his wife, Melanie, and their two young sons.

Through a steady series of promotions -- from director of tax to senior director of tax to vp and treasurer to senior vp-finance to CFO -- Lowe's has expanded his responsibilities dramatically.

When he came into the company, Niblock supervised 15 people. With his promotion in July to senior vp and CFO, he now oversees 550. "Obviously, the thing about my career is that I constantly have new and additional responsibilities to challenge me," he said.

Even though there are no cash registers at the general office, Niblock sees the role of finance as invaluable for store managers. "Our job is to work with the operators and merchants to help them analyze their business to help them better take care of the customer," Niblock said.

"We review the numbers and give them guidance about where things are going." He encourages his subordinates to get out into the field and meet with merchants.

Niblock also oversees the capital budget -- finding the money the company needs to sustain sales growth that this year is projected to increase 20 percent. Lowe's capital expenditures in 2000 were $2.2 billion and the company is spending about $22.5 million to open and stock a store.

While much of the money Lowe's needs to grow comes from cash flow generated by its stores, it is also supplemented by long-term debt. (Earlier this year, Lowe's issued new notes to raise $500 million in what it calls "incremental financing.")

"It's my responsibility to make the numbers work," Niblock said. "We need to build an annual budget that allows us to meet the long-term growth targets we've provided for Wall Street. We also need to be sure we have the financing out there to fund the store expansions."

That means that sometimes, one of Niblock's most important responsibilities is saying "no."

"He's already told me 'no,'" Whiddon said, with a laugh.