Leaders of Modern Finance Ep. 16 – Carving Your Own Path to CFO, Hosted by Jack McCullough ft. Shannon Nash
On this episode of the Leaders of Modern Finance podcast, host Jack McCullough of the CFO Leadership Council speaks with Shannon Nash, Chief Financial Officer at Reputation.
Starting Her Journey
Shannon began the long path to CFO at a relatively young age. While in high school, her passion was awakened during a basic accounting class. Her teacher was a CPA working at a major accounting firm, and it was this teacher that first introduced Shannon to the CFO career path.
She recommended Shannon major in accounting in college, and it was the first time Shannon had even considered anything other than pre-law. A summer internship with an accounting firm in DC only solidified her love of finance. Seeing the way money impacted her clients’ businesses intrigued her enough to see her commit to the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.
A high school accounting teacher was not her only significant influence, however. Shannon’s father was a lawyer, and so the field of law had always been compelling to her. When a professor at UVA explained how she could pursue both her CPA and a JD, it was all the persuasion Shannon needed. She received a BS in Accounting and would go on to acquire a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.
The opportunities that had come through her mentors in these early years would inspire much of the diversity and inclusion work Shannon would later pursue.
A Personal Board of Advisors
As Shannon continued down her professional path, she developed a helpful personal philosophy. While she would later report to a company board of directors, she began to build her own personal board of advisors. It was people that had started her down her career path, so she began to see people as her greatest asset.
She started surrounding herself with like-minded individuals. These individuals would both challenge and encourage her. This personal board of advisors she cultivated provided a sounding board for ideas, judgment-free advice, and healthy constructive criticism. It became a formative institution in her professional development.
This personal board of advisors was more than a professional tool, however. Just as her board was investing in her, Shannon was investing in the members of her board. She was given an up-close look at her colleagues’ personal lives. This relationship allowed her to connect with them on a human level.
This connection eventually led Shannon to produce a documentary, titled Colored My Mind. The film was inspired by an experience she shared with a member of her board of advisors. Both Shannon and her colleague were parents of a child with autism. Shannon began to interrogate the way her minority status affected her child’s ability to receive early intervention. What she found was that her experience was not isolated. Hosts of Black and Latino families similarly struggled to receive early intervention for their children with autism and so, with the help of her board of advisors, Shannon produced a film documenting this inequity.
These diverse experiences were proving foundational for Shannon’s future aspirations. They would eventually lead her to become a valuable asset as the CFO for Reputation.
Bringing a Unique Experience to CFO
Working at Reputation would be yet another step in expanding Shannon’s skillset. Reputation is a SaaS-based business, specializing in information technology. By gathering solicited and unsolicited user data onto one platform, they help businesses quantify customer feedback. Doing so allows these businesses to make more informed decisions about how they engage with their customers.
Shannon’s experience at Reputation added the technology industry to her already impressive background in finance and law. Her varied experiences were an immediate strength. When Reputation began to grow their staff, Shannon was instrumental in putting together a strong team. Her background meant she understood the value of a well-rounded individual.
While Shannon appreciated the strength a highly-skilled person could bring to a specific role, her hiring philosophy valued versatility. In higher-level positions especially, Shannon sought individuals who had been exposed to diverse industries, much like herself. To her, the various streams of her business should be able to cross. Financial analysts should spend time working with accountants, and accountants should understand future financial planning.
This commitment to a diverse workforce extends beyond industry diversity, as Shannon also developed a passion for staffing diversity.
Committing to Diversity and Inclusion
Early in her career, Shannon had the opportunity to spend time working in Switzerland. In a nation surrounded on all sides by various cultures and people groups, diversity was a given. This diversity created an engaging cultural environment but showed its worth in business as well. It was statistically proven that more diverse teams, like the ones Shannon saw in Switzerland, consistently outperformed their less diverse counterparts. Seeing such diversity in action energized Shannon and motivated her to bring that environment to her work in the US.
Throughout 2020, the need for an inclusive workforce was made even more apparent to her. Racial inequities highlighted by Covid-19 and the George Floyd protests showed how much work there still was to do. Shannon saw the need for someone to step up and took the work upon herself.
Shannon’s background proved helpful in her diversity and inclusion efforts. Because of the mentors she had early on, she understood the importance of early exposure to career opportunities, especially for minority individuals. This led her to begin putting together diversity programs for the California CPA society. Her personal board advisors had been such an immense help to her, so she wanted to create that for others. To this end, she started a Facebook group for Black CPAs, which would eventually lead to the founding of the National Society for Black CPAs.
Many would see these important accomplishments as sufficient. Shannon saw them as only the beginning of lifelong work. She committed to spending the rest of her career working for greater diversity and inclusion in her industries. It became a part of who she is.
Investing in Herself
Through her professional and personal accomplishments, Shannon has learned a valuable lesson: invest in yourself. As she saw in her equity work, it is rare for success to be given. It has to be taken.
Throughout her career, Shannon took steps to promote herself. She pursued law and finance simultaneously, giving her a rich professional resumé. She built her own community, her board of advisors, to prepare her for success. She joined the CFO Leadership Council to expand that community even further. She founded an organization to provide a community for others.
Shannon took every step available to further her opportunities. If something wasn’t available to her, she found ways to circumvent it. Such a determined course has given her a rich background that is unique to her. Shannon values that individuality, and it is part of why she works so hard to diversify her industry. Each person has carved their own specific career path, and so they bring something to their work that no one else can replicate.
For Shannon, a person’s greatest asset is their own unique experience.
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