Financial directors rewarded with DFCG trophies

The 14th edition of the DFCG [Association of Financial Directors and Management Controllers] Finance & Management Trophy, which brought together some 250 finance and business management executives on Tuesday evening at the Château de Crémat in Nice, recognized two of their peers: Antonio Rei, Vice President Finance Europe and Africa at Del Monte, and Stéphanie Lopez, Chief Financial Officer of the Interstoves Group. For the former, who won the 2025 Administrative and Financial Director award, it was the transformation of the finance department from a support function to an essential partner in business strategy that won over the jury chaired by Marcel Ragni and composed of financial executives and representatives of higher education institutions (EDHEC, IAE Nice).

Sleep better at night

Arriving at Del Monte in March 2020 – the first day of lockdown – Antonio Rei took stock of the situation before gradually revising the silo-based structure of the world leader in exotic fruits. "Anticipation, optimization, and mitigation of potential future impacts has allowed the business's stakeholders to sleep better at night," he summarized. The second prize recognized the career and resilience of Stéphanie Lopez, financial director of Interstoves, which manufactures pellet and wood-burning stoves. The group's plan was to create a network of 80 licensed stores across the country in an unstable economic and market environment. This self-taught entrepreneur was able to maintain balanced budgets while limiting the social impacts of a reorganization and promoting skills transfers between departments.

Two other prizes were also awarded: one to the president of the jury, Marcel Ragni, and the second to Benjamin Barriol, president of the DFCG Côte d'Azur.