It was the opportunity. I came to Armanino later in my career after many years in private industry and consulting at PWC. I knew that in my next position I wanted to work with clients, add value and be part of a company that was in growth mode, like Armanino. I wanted to be empowered to take the vision I have around outsourcing and cloud accounting to the next level. Armanino had all those things. Through introduction with firm leaders, I was drawn to their vision for the company.
I look at what’s going to happen in the next two years. In 2007 Nokia was the biggest phone company, and they don’t even exist anymore. We have to be mindful that the landscape is always changing. Right now, it’s going to be artificial intelligence, blockchain and cryptocurrencies. I think AI will help us with some of the transactional work and free up our resources to provide more value to clients and manage their businesses more proactively. With the expansion of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, I think blockchain is what double entry accounting was for the 15th century. It’s that dramatic of a change for our business. We have to be educated, trained and ready to handle it as it emerges.
Every decision is important to me, as I’m rarely a person who makes emotional or reactionary decisions. Something that could be a small decision today could have a lasting impact on an individual or a person’s career or on the direction of a business going forward. I think every decision can be a difficult decision and requires some level of thoughtfulness.
I like to work on short-lived and intense projects. My practice is about clients who have particular needs. I excel at crisis management and mobilizing resources. It enables me to work with the highest level of executives at particular companies. One happened this year — one of our clients had extreme turnover and we patchworked their accounting together for their bank for their financing commitments. We had a week to pull together 12-15 months of information. We put it all together, and their business is continuing to grow.
Nighttime is one of the very rare times I turn it off. The luxury of that quiet night of sleep is that I work steadily throughout the day and during the off hours. I try to address things quickly so that things don’t keep me up at night. More strategically, I think about the increasing needs of our clients and the growth opportunities for our people.
Making partner was a big deal for me. My parents never went to college and grew up in the Depression. They always had high expectations and aspirations for me personally and in my career. I think this moment is the realization of their professional hopes and dreams for me.
