Career Path Of An Associate Finance Manager At Lockheed Martin
Initially intending to pursue biology, Chris switched to accounting after their freshman year at CU Boulder, influenced by family members' business careers. This led to roles at Lockheed Martin, starting in accounts payable, progressing through budget planning, a three-year finance leadership development program with rotations in production finance, GPS satellite planning, and financial compliance, culminating in their current Associate Finance Manager position overseeing quality and launch operations for space-related projects.
Career Development, Finance, Accounting, Leadership Development, Project Management
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Chris Seifert
Associate Finance Manager
Lockheed Martin
CU Boulder
UCLA - MBA
Business Management & Admin
Aerospace, Aviation & Defense
Finance
Scholarship Recipient
Video Highlights
1. Chris's career path highlights a successful transition from biology to accounting, showcasing the adaptability and exploration common in career journeys.
2. His diverse internship experiences, including one at a wine tasting company in Italy, demonstrate the value of seeking varied opportunities to gain skills and discover interests.
3. Chris's participation in Lockheed Martin's three-year finance leadership development program, with rotations in production finance, financial planning for GPS satellites, and financial compliance, exemplifies the importance of structured programs and diverse experiences in professional development.
Transcript
Could you walk me through a career path? Start with why you chose your major in college, your experience in college, and any internships or jobs you had before your current role.
I started freshman year at CU Boulder, really thinking I wanted to go into biology. I did that for about a year, but it wasn't quite what I expected.
So I started getting interested in the business side of things. My family works in business in different roles, and I eventually landed on accounting. I did my undergraduate degree in accounting.
During college, I did an internship in Italy at "Italy and Wine," a wine tasting company. I was responsible for editing their website content for wine tours in the Florence region. It was a really cool experience, and I did a lot of wine tastings.
After graduating, I applied to Lockheed Martin about six months later and got my first job in accounting there. I started in the accounts payable department, dealing with vendor payables and all of their accounting systems. I did that for about three years. For the last half of that time, I was pretty much full-time leading an integration project for a division that we were combining into our own. I led the accounts payable side of that whole merger project.
After three years in accounting, I moved on to a role in overhead budgets and planning, focusing on how we allocate indirect overhead costs across the company. I worked in that role for a couple of years.
Then, I got into the Finance Leadership Development Program at Lockheed. It's a three-year rotation program where you do a different job each year. My first rotation was in the production area, helping their production finance team track the financials for all the different products we were manufacturing.
My second rotation was in a financial planning role for our GPS satellites. Lockheed Martin makes many of the GPS components used in phones. I was responsible for planning out the cash, profit, and sales numbers related to those satellites.
My last rotation was at our corporate headquarters, working for the financial compliance department. I think of it as the finance legal department. When working with the government, there are very specific requirements on what they can be billed for. A whole division is responsible for making those determinations, figuring out how we allocate costs and what can be allocated to the government.
My current job is as a finance manager for a couple of our operations organizations at Lockheed Martin Space. These organizations are focused on product quality, assembly, and the actual launch of vehicles or satellites. That's my background.