The Beginning: A Midwestern Kid (and Adult)
I have midwestern roots, with all that implies for work ethic and demeanor. I grew up in western Michigan, not far from Grand Rapids and Lake Michigan. I went to both public and parochial schools. When it came time for college, I elected the best and relatively cheap option for my circumstances, and earned a BA, magna cum laude, in Economics from The University of Michigan (1989).
It also turns out that as an adult I have spent much of my working life in the midwest, although in a variety of locations.
- 2 yrs in Cincinnati OH (1989 - 1991)
- 3 yrs in Chicago IL (1991 - 1994)
- 4 mo. projects in Ft. Wayne IN, Wichita KS, and Cincinnati OH
- 3 yrs in Erie PA (1995 - 1998)
- 2 yrs in Louisville KY (2005 - 2007)
- 16 yrs in Columbus OH and Dayton OH (2008 - Present)
Early Career: GE Leadership Development Programs
After college, I started my career in a firm that turned out to be one of the best places in corporate America to develop - General Electric.
I spent a total of 6 years working through two stages of GE's leadership development programs, first their Financial Management Program (FMP), and then their Corporate Audit Staff (CAS).
Both were a mixture of classroom technical and leadership development training, combined with rotational work assignments. Work assignments were in core areas of Finance and Accounting, but also branched off considerably into operational consulting, including compliance programs; compensation design; M&A; and factory floor, design room, and procurement best practices.
These programs are often compared to a real-world MBA.
Mid Career: More GE Execution and Leadership
After two GE leadership development programs, I was promoted into a succession of GE financial management roles. These were finance execution and leadership roles, in several sub-business units, that gave me exposure to a variety of geographies, sub-functions, and focus areas.
- Commercial Finance
- Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
- Cash Flow and Working Capital Management
- Mergers, Acquisitions, and Dispositions (M&A and D)
- Global Operations Management (expatriate in several European countries for a total of 7 years)
- Six Sigma Master Blackbelt / Process Improvement
- Finance Transformation
- System and tool implementation (GL, AP, Travel, AR / Collections, Account Reconciliations, FP&A)
I spent 15 years at GE, in total, learning, executing, and leading.
Post-GE: Financial Leadership at "Smaller" Companies
After 15 great years at GE, I made the decision to move on, and to take my toolkit to "smaller" companies. At this point I have spent more time out of GE than in it (which is hard for me to reconcile!). I have loved it, though, and can't imagine going back to a large firm on a full time basis.
My post-GE firms have varied widely in their size, ownership model, industry, and life cycle stage. And in addition, the focus of the roles has varied, given the circumstances of the firms.
- Size: $10M to $1.0B
- Ownership: public, private equity, family, ESOP
- Industry: automotive manufacturing, software & SaaS, professional services, logistics, architecture / engineering / construction (AEC), payments / financial services
- Life Cycle Stage: rapidly growing, steady state, restructuring
- Focus Areas:
- Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
- Restructuring
- Investor Relations
- Operational Excellence
- System & Tool Implementation
- Team Build / Rebuild
- M&A
- Banking Setup / Modification
- COVID Programs
- long list of etc's...
