I used to have a very different perspective of what it meant to be a CFO while I was in college and even very early in my career. I mostly saw it as an accounting role that closed and books and helped the company see out of the review mirror. Being someone that really like to be involved in strategy, preparing for the future and using financial data to tell a story, I never thought it would be a role for me. Even when I finished my undergrad with a major in finance and started on my MBA, there was an opportunity to double up on the masters program for a more finance focused program geared toward future CFOs and I simply wasn’t interested. I’m very happy I kept on the track though because I sure ended up being very wrong!

Pretty much my entire career has been spent in some type of financial role. Even my internships were financial and investing focused at Invesco and Aegon Institutional while also working in a local bank through college. I got my first salaried job before I even graduated at a local hedge fund as a trader on the European desk and then moved to the sales side trying my hand in financial planning at AG Edwards and Sons. I later moved on to be an analyst in the treasury and investment department at Humana before being asked to take on a consultant role working to revamp Humana’s cash posting operation. From there I had an opportunity to be a branch manager at National City Bank. I ended up back at Humana after a couple years in the Medicare Finance organization before being asked to help seed a new finance team tasked with standing up a new region within Humana. After getting that region going and growing it to 2 states, I was promoted to the divisional finance team where I worked to develop new reporting and analytics tools to help providers take on value based care. I was then promoted to regional CFO where I got to get really involved in the operations of a region. Everything from BIDs, budgets, value based relationship management, MRA, Stars and everything else that makes a Medicare Advantage plan perform.

What happened next was really a culmination of all of that experience which was a chance to be CFO and COO for a Medicare start up inside of Humana. The role and opportunity really helped me see what it was like to build something from the ground up. And to see how a stategic thinking CFO that was focused on performance, culture and leadership can really play such a critical role in the success of an organization. After serving in that role for 3.5 years I took a chance at a CFO role at a real start up, Honest Medical Group where I am today.

I’ve learned so much through my 20+ year career about business, leadership, finance and so much more. But what I’ve really come to appreciate about being a CFO is that it’s so much more than I ever thought that it was. Being strategic, knowing the operations, being a key leader of the executive team and getting to work alongside some amazingly smart people is really something that so very few get the chance to do. Being a CFO is NOT about looking in the rear view mirror, it’s not about just closing the books and handling accounting type work. It’s so much more than that. So if you have interest in becoming a CFO, learn the operations, learn what makes the company tick, learn about strategy and how all of these things impact the financial performance of a business. You will be better for it and have even better opportunities to reach your goals and help your business reach it’s goals.

If you’d like to learn more about my experience or just have questions about your own path, reach out, I’d love to share, coach, consult or help in any way I can.

Dave