Company: Winland Electronics, Inc.
Company Description: Winland Electronics, Inc. based in Mankato, MN, is a full-service designer and manufacturer of innovative customized products for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and proprietary products for the security and industrial markets. Winland is a public company traded through AMEX under the symbol WEX. It was incorporated in October of 1972 and currently has 80 employees.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Finance Executive

Nomination Title: Jennifer Thompson, CFO

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved in 2003 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Winland Electronics, Inc. celebrated its seventh consecutive quarter of profitability
with the release of its third quarter results in October of 2003.  Much of this
success can be attributed to the diligent efforts and leadership of Winland's Chief
Financial Officer, Jennifer Thompson.

When Thompson joined the Winland Executive Team in August of 2000, the
manufacturing economy, and especially Electronic Manufacturing Services, was
taking a turn for the worse and Winland was on a downward spiral.   Debt was at
an all time high, losses were mounting, and employee moral was extremely low. 
Thompson’s ability to analyze the detail while keeping the big picture in mind
helped Winland not only survive, but turnaround and thrive.   Thompson invested a
tremendous amount of time in significantly improving Winland’s cash position, and
re-implementing overhead cost allocations.

Over the last couple of years, Thompson’s efforts have increased cash flow and
dramatically improved Winland’s cash position.  In addition to tightening the belt
and right sizing the company, one of the first major steps in accomplishing
improved cash flows was the decision to “fire” Winland’s second largest
customer.   Thompson’s analysis showing the lack of profitability by this customer
played a key role in this decision.  Once that ball started rolling, cash flow
improved due to enhanced profitability, and Thompson’s guidance in demanding
inventory reductions (from $4.8 million in August 2000 to less than $1.8 million
today) and careful management of receivable collections and credit policies.   The
improved cash flow from operations, provided an opportunity to significantly reduce debt -- from a maximum line of credit of $4.5 million in late 2000 to complete pay
off of the credit line by October 2002, and termination of a $500,000 second
mortgage by May 2003.  Today, Winland’s only debt is a mortgage and some
capital leases on equipment.   In addition, Winland’s cash balance has grown from
a mere $67,000 in August 2000 to over $1.4 million today.

Thompson has also been instrumental in re-implementing the allocation of 
Winland’s overhead costs in determining labor, labor overhead and machine
overhead rates.  With the use of a modified activity based costing method,
Winland now has a better understanding of manufacturing costs and drivers
thereby allowing Winland to be more knowledgeable and competitive in pricing
strategies.  The performance measures inherent in Thompson’s system, allow for
faster and better visibility by monitoring and benchmarking strategic
measurements and goals that are required to maintain profitability.

Jennifer Thompson’s dedication and investment of her time has paid off for Winland
shareholders in establishing consistent profitability and significantly improving
shareholder returns. For the first time in the history of the Company,
shareholders were provided a stock dividend payable on December 31, 2003.  
While Winland’s public company competitors stock prices were declining
drastically over the same time period (PMTR $18.56 Aug '00 to $3.29 Dec '03,
CLS $78.02 Aug '00 to $15.07 Dec '03), Winland’s stock prices have gone from an adjusted price of $1.82 on Thompson’s date of hire, to a low of $.48 in November of 2001 to a high of $5.45 on December 15, 2003, and closing at $4.99 on December 31, 2003.   With Thompson’s assistance, Winland is preparing and poised for the future.

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: List each link on a separate line, begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.website.com]:

http://www.winland.com/press/press102703.html

http://www.winland.com/press/press072203.html

http://www.winland.com/press/News_Release_1st_qrt_03.pdf

http://www.winland.com/press/press120903.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?=PMTR&a=07&b=14&c=2000&d=11&e=31&f=2003&g=m

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?=CLS&a=07&b=14&c=2000&d=11&e=31&f=2003&g=m

http://quotes.nasdaq.com/quote.dll?age=charting&mode=basics&intraday=off&timeframe=3y&charttype=line&
splits=off&movingaverage=none&lowerstudy=volume&comparison=off&index=
&drilldown=off&symbol=WEX&selected=WEX

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about this nominee:

Jennifer A. Thompson is a graduate of Minnesota State University – Mankato, MN
with bachelors degrees in Accounting and Business Administration. She is a
Certified Public Accountant and practiced public accounting for twenty years
specializing primarily in business management consulting .  Ms. Thompson was
hired by Winland as VP of Financial Operations in August 2000 and was promoted
to CFO and Treasurer in June 2001.  Ms. Thompson’s responsibilities include
financial reporting, tax reporting, cost accounting, payroll administration,
budgeting, treasury management, risk management, employee benefits, quote
reviews, human resource management, information technology, investor relations,
and plays a key role on both Winland’s executive team and in reporting to the
Board of Directors.