I spent my youth in the South Georgia countryside. My father was a farmer and throughout middle school and into college I helped with the livestock. During those years nothing about me would have led anyone to believe that I would be trading in my work boots and coveralls for wingtips and button-down shirt.

As a senior in high school I made the decision that I didn’t want to pursue a career in agriculture and got very interested in computers. I learned to program a little bit and thought that was a possible field that I would enjoy. However as fate would have it, I took an accounting class as an elective and was hooked. At the time I was captured by the logic and absoluteness (I was naive) of the profession. For instance, total assets must equal total liabilities plus owner’s equity. There is no ambiguity, it must equal or it’s wrong. Journal entries must balance…debits and credits must equal, PERIOD. Those concepts struck me as supremely logical. As I learned more about financial statements, I had this epiphany that they told a story, not in the Three Little Pigs sense, but a story about the health, performance, management and viability of a business. I still look at it that way and find it fascinating.

Since graduating from college I have been fortunate enough have held varying positions of increased exposure and responsibility in multiple industries such as healthcare, training/education and aviation. Within those industries, I have been a part of small, medium and large organizations in all stages of the corporate lifecycle, startup to divestiture. I have navigated through three successful exits.

Over the years my experiences and mentors have shaped the way I operate and manage. I gather information, process and analyze, pose questions, develop initial results/conclusions, validate and lastly present/publish final results. I believe in collaboration and effective communication throughout the organization from the staff level all the way up to the C-Suite. Finding or developing the right resources from outside or within to make the best decisions possible is a key component of success. Not to be discounted is being approachable, respectful and a intent listener.