Doug Mertzlufft, CFO, has recently been named president of Guarantee Electrical Co. (GECO). Mertzlufft will assume oversight responsibilities for day-to-day operations at GECO's offices in St. Louis, Granite City, Ill., Aurora, Colo., and Benicia, Calif.
New duties include ongoing strategic initiatives, acquisitions, and succession planning in collaboration with Rick Oertli, chairman and CEO. “Much of my focus will be on risk assessment and further implementation of well-developed internal processes to be consistently applied to all operating branches in Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, and California,” says Mertzlufft.
In 1993, Mertzlufft joined GECO as controller, and the next year was promoted to CFO. He added VP to his résumé in 2001. With this advancement, he retains the role of CFO at the company. “Being with Guarantee the past 19 years, and as its CFO the last 18 years, I have been actively engaged with our operations on a daily basis reviewing jobs and identifying other methods to improve overall operational and administrative efficiencies,” says Mertzlufft. “My experience with the company and my relationship with our management team should make the transition relatively simple.”
In announcing the promotion, Oertli said the promotion follows an organizational realignment that included the addition of Josh Voegtli, as controller in summer 2012. "Doug's promotion is richly deserved,” Oertli said. “Now that Josh is settled in, he is assuming many of Doug's former responsibilities so Doug can focus on improving workflow and risk management across the organization.”
As controller, Voegtli has assumed duties spanning overall financial control of company assets and cultivation of the firm's banking, bonding, and insurance relationships. He joined GECO from Sigma-Aldrich Corp., where he was manager of internal audit. He previously worked for more than 10 years in public accounting at UHY Advisors in St. Louis.
Despite these new roles, according to Mertzlufft, no significant changes are planned for the company’s business strategy. “We have a great core personnel, which in the long term, should help sustain GECO as a long-term leader in electrical construction.” Yet, Mertzlufft has one ambition. “I would like to increase our market share and diversity with strategic acquisitions.”