Career Path of a Senior Finance Director at Parker Meggitt
Shawna's career path was unplanned, starting with "five or six different majors" before a mortgage market crash led to an accounting position at ITT, where problem-solving and collaboration unexpectedly sparked a passion for finance. This evolved through roles in business finance and financial planning & analysis (FP&A), culminating in Shawna's current senior finance director position overseeing accounting and finance for a manufacturing facility.
Career Exploration, Problem-Solving, Communication, Financial Planning & Analysis, Career Development
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Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Shawna Anderson
Sr. Finance Director
Parker Meggitt
California State University, Northride, 2009
UCLA Anderson School of Business, MBA
Finance
Aerospace, Aviation & Defense
Finance
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School
Video Highlights
1. Shawna's career path highlights a non-linear journey, starting with a lack of initial career direction and transitioning through various majors before landing in finance due to job market conditions and her aptitude for numbers and problem-solving.
2. Her roles show a progression from accounting to business finance, then to FP&A (Financial Planning and Analysis), encompassing forecasting, budgeting, and working across different departments.
3. She emphasizes the importance of problem-solving skills and collaboration across diverse teams and functions, highlighting these abilities as key strengths in her career advancement within finance
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Did you have any internships or jobs before your current role?
I honestly was one of those people who had no idea what I wanted to do in life. I had about five or six different majors throughout college: architecture, interior design, art history.
I landed in finance because I needed a full-time job. The mortgage market had just crashed, and that's where my previous full-time job was. I had always been good with numbers and really liked math, and I work well with different people.
That landed me in an accountant one position at ITT. It all made sense to me; it was a lot cooler and more fun than I ever thought it would be. It involved problem-solving with numbers and being able to connect with different people from various backgrounds and perspectives.
That's what kicked it off. I finally decided to move into business. With the success of that role, I officially made the leap to go into business finance at Cal State, Northridge. From there, I went on to a couple of other finance roles, with FP&A as my specific focus for many years.
FP&A stands for Financial Planning and Analysis. It involves forecasting, budgeting, and understanding why things happened differently than expected. It also means figuring out what to expect going forward and working with different functions like engineering, manufacturing, and IT to forecast their areas.
That led me into strategy. I did strategy bits and proposals for a few years, and then I decided to lean back hard into finance. My current role includes overseeing the whole accounting and finance function for a factoring facility.
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