Finance and Transformation at Libbey, Sherry Buck, CFO, Libbey Inc.

As finance chief for one of the largest manufacturers of glass tableware products, Sherry Buck is knee deep in a real-time business transformation.

Toledo, Ohio — The popular maxim “It’s not a party until something gets broken” might make a questionable consumer tagline for a global glassware manufacturer, but it’s one that likely should resonate with the folks on Wall Street — at least when it comes to glassware innovator Libbey Inc., whose replacement sales drive 90 percent of the firm’s annual U.S. food service sales.

“The more times we see people going into a restaurant, the more times we’ll have replacement opportunities from people breaking their glasses,” explains Libbey’s CFO, Sherry Buck, who, when asked how she gauges demand inside Libbey’s far-flung markets these days, begins listing a number of factors impacting the dining and entertainment habits of populations around the world.