Leslie F. Varon is a retired Chief Financial Officer and current Board Director with an extensive record of financial and business leadership in investor relations and corporate financial management. An executive with more than 30 years’ experience at Xerox, Leslie is accomplished at driving business transformation through complex turnarounds, M&As, crisis management and business reorganizations. She has strong communications skills and the ability to build high-performing teams, develop talent and manage risk.
Most recently, Leslie was Chief Financial Officer at Xerox (NYSE: XRX), where she partnered with the CEO to lead a corporate restructuring – including the spinoff of the $7B Business Services division, now known as Conduent Inc. (NYSE: CNDT). After becoming CFO in 2015, Leslie led a $2.4B Strategic Transformation program that delivered $875M bottom-line savings in 2016 (8% above the target), and installed a new performance management process that tracked 3,700 initiatives across the enterprise. She was actively involved in decisions to exit the Business Services division to improve overall value and position the remaining Document Outsourcing and Technology businesses for future success. She guided the financial program through the exit and was instrumental in introducing the new Xerox through dozens of investor meetings.
Earlier at Xerox, Leslie was Vice President, Investor Relations (2015), where she developed and communicated company strategy and results to the investor community during a time of intense business challenges and activist investor activity. She implemented Corporate Governance roadshows to proactively engage with top 20 shareholders, and provided feedback to the Board of Directors. She was also Vice President, Finance & Corporate Controller for nine years (2006-2015), overseeing corporate finance functions, including accounting, financial planning and analysis, finance shared services, real estate, internal audit and enterprise risk management. She oversaw the finance executives leading the company’s global business divisions, and implemented future leaders programs to identify, develop and mentor diverse talent. She had earlier roles as Vice President, North America Finance and Operational Support; Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Secretary; and Director, Worldwide Audit.
Leslie is a Board Director of Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ: HLNE), a private market investment firm, and the Chair of its Audit Committee. She is also a Board Director and Audit Committee member at DentsplySirona (NASDAQ: XRAY), the largest professional dental solutions company in the world. She was a frequent executive participant and presenter to Xerox Board of Directors meetings over 15 years, and was a Board Director of Xerox International Partners, a joint venture of Xerox and Fuji Xerox for 11 years.
Leslie has an MBA with a Finance concentration from Virginia Tech and a BA in Psychology from Binghamton University. She lives in Fairfield, CT.
