Title: President & CEO, Director
Company: Arundel Federal Savings Bank
Length of FEI membership: 35 years
FEI leadership involvement (past and present): I currently serve as board member for the Baltimore Chapter. In the past I have also served as Baltimore Chapter President, Treasurer, Membership Chair, Program Chair, and FEI Regional Director.
Work email: [email protected]
Work phone number: (410) 863-7055
Tell us a little bit about your career, educational/professional background and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Florida and attended Florida State University, where I earned a degree in accounting. I moved to Baltimore after graduation to start my career and earned my MBA from The University of Baltimore along the way.
I started my career in public accounting with EY and was with them about 10 years. Then, moved into community banking. So, my background is primarily in accounting and finance. I progressed from Controller to CFO to COO to CEO in various organizations. Along the way, I was fortunate enough to have superiors who let me get outside the CFO roles in a couple organizations and take leadership responsibilities in areas that are not typical for CFOs.
I then started at Arundel Federal as COO in 2012 and became CEO in 2015, and I was elected to the Board of Directors the same year.
Have you ever done anything out of the ordinary to apply for and/or get a job?
Getting the COO job at Arundel Federal was a little different. The bank contracted with a retained search firm to fill the position. I reached out to the president at the time to recommend someone I had worked with to him. In conversation, the position of COO came up and he told me if I was interested I would need to get in touch with the retained search firm, which I did. Their process was really robust and included personal meetings with the recruiter, a meeting with the board search committee, and finally a presentation to the board search committee. I later found out the recruiter had 80 names on her list at the beginning. I attribute some of my success in being selected to an experience on a not-for-profit board where I spent two years as board chair.
What is one piece of information you wish someone had told you when you first started your finance career?
The value of building and maintaining a strong network is very important. FEI has really enabled me to do this. Early on, I was a member of FEI but never realized its value until I was on the job market. It was then I realized I didn’t have a network, even though I was a member of FEI. I started with the couple folks I knew at the time and promised myself if I ever had to do another search (which I did) that I would have a strong network to help me in that process. It has been a personal goal since then to build and maintain a strong network, and I continue to build it today!
The piece of advice I would give today is to get outside yourself. Join and participate in not-for-profit organizations and take leadership roles within them. FEI is a perfect opportunity to achieve this! Those leadership skills will translate into career progression for people faster than nose-to-the-grindstone does on its own. I strongly believe my participation with FEI and my not-for-profit role as board chair helped me sell myself into the position at Arundel Federal.
What do you love most about working as a financial executive?
Although it took a few years before the realization sunk in, what I finally learned is that accounting is the language of business. Everyone essentially relies on what the numbers tell us, and as a financial executive you need to be able to translate it for non-financial people in your organization. That is the element of finance that is most valuable to a firm.
What is your best networking tip?
Networking is a two-way street. While you may be at an event with a particular purpose in mind, you have to realize that benefits come your way when you help others. When Einstein was asked what our purpose on earth was he responded that “our purpose is to help others!”