Title: Chief Financial Officer
Company: Premier Family of Companies
Length of time you’ve been an FEI member: 2 years
Work email: [email protected]
Why did you join the FEI Tampa Bay Chapter? And what benefits have you realized from your membership?
I was asked to join FEI Tampa Bay by another member. I have enjoyed many resources including meeting other professionals and networking, volunteering my time through FEI at local charities and using the online resources such as complimentary webinars and the Member Open Forum where members share vital information about numerous topics.
Do you have any personal stories to share about the connections you’ve made through FEI Tampa Bay?
I have met several individuals who I have networked with for business. In addition, I volunteered at Metropolitan Ministries and spent an afternoon cutting out flower arts and crafts for the children there. It was lovely to have the opportunity to give my time to such a worthy cause and to network at the same time.
Tell us a little bit about your career, educational/professional background and how you got to where you are today.
In my current role, I head up the finance, tax and family office aspects of CHS and the Premier Family of Companies. The Premier Family of Companies consists of over 40 Companies both in the U.S. and USVI. I oversee all financial statements and tax preparation. My expertise in tax and structure allows me to exercise oversite over an EDC tax credit program established in the Virgin Islands. I also oversee the Family Office for the owners and reports and make recommendations regarding investments and structure. I graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in accounting and hold a CPA license as well as a Real Estate license.
What is one piece of information you wish someone had told you when you first started your finance career?
Always practice humility. Having a servant mentality will win over loyalty and build teams. I never ask anyone to do a task that I am not willing to do myself.
What do you love most about working as a financial executive?
I love being able to teach people what I have learned and to communicate that excellence is the goal. I was taught that very few people finish the last 5% of any project. To achieve excellence, one must stand back from any project and assess whether they have finished the project to its full completion.
What job would you pursue if you weren’t in finance?
Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) is very interesting to me. I was fortunate enough to be mentored by a gentleman from Harvard who inherited the sole rights to the Cleaver Management System. He taught me both Cleaver and DiSC behavioral systems. Learning and understanding behavior is fascinating and allows one to work with many kinds of people. It’s important to understand that it takes many different behaviors to make a great team.
What have you done in your life that you are most proud of or that had the most impact on your life?
My mother’s mother came to the United States from Ireland and then sent money back until all 11 of the children in the family got to the United States (there are Western Union receipts for 10 cents at a time that was sent). I was able to bring my mother back to Ireland to see the original homesite where 13 people lived together. This was a truly humbling experience to understand my roots, and to see the sacrifices that were made by my grandmother and her family to help my 6 siblings and myself to have progressed to where we are today.