I manage billion worth of spend for a billion revenue division of a Fortune 100 company. I lead 5 Financial Analysts - in Shanghai, India, Italy and the US. My team does all the forecasting, budgeting and financial analysis for that spend, and works with the procurement team to understand cost drivers of our raw materials, helping them with their procurement strategy.

EDUCATION | Bachelors degrees in Spanish and Supply chain Management, MBA with concentration in Finance

HOW TO GET STARTED | Find something you're good at, and that you enjoy. It took a while to figure out I was better at analysis than some of the other areas of supply chain management. It's easy to get lost as a 'number' in a large company, so you should be self-motivated in order to get the most out of your job. Our finance team works long hours, so it's important to enjoy it...you're spending a lot of your time there!

MUST HAVE TRAITS | Effective communication - meaning your verbal and written communications need to be concise and to the point. In a multi-national corporation, a global mindset is important to understand the bigger picture. Technical skills and continuous improvement drive are also key.

how I got started | I took a "bottom up" approach. I chose to work my first job in a plant to really understand how you manufacture a product. Starting there also helped me see what opportunities were available in the company. I took on some small supply chain management projects - which gave me exposure to purchasing. It wasn't long before I went from the plant to a regional supply chain management role, and then to a global role which took me to Europe for about a year. Once I was more involved with purchasing, I realized I enjoyed the analysis part much more than the negotiations and decided Finance was where I could have the biggest impact on the organization.

why this job?| I originally went into supply chain management because it was a pretty hot, emerging field when I was in college. I knew there'd be a lot of opportunities to pioneer and be a new talent in an organization. I liked the work I did in supply chain management, but I ultimately found I was best at the analytical part. My natural tendency was to dive into the cost details to understand all the drivers. When I learned the analysis was more of a Finance function in our company, I decided to go back to school.

why I love this job!| The global nature is one of my favorite things. I have friends all over the world - which has expanded me outside of work just as much as within my career. I wasn't sure if I'd like managing people, but I really enjoy it. I like helping my team find opportunities to grow their careers in the direction they want to go. Of course, it helps that I have an awesome team! I'm always stoked when I get a phone call about how one of them uncovered a way to save money for our company.

my typical day| It's not unusual for me to be on the phone before 7 AM with Europe - and after 5 PM with Asia. We're often reviewing forecasts and assumptions or working on standardizing processes across the world. We also spend a lot of time establishing and communicating metrics for the procurement team to meet their financial goals. Every day brings something new.

what they are | In finance, you can easily get frustrated with the lack of data you may have in front of you to make a decision. In today's times, decisions are made quickly, so getting comfortable with the data you have, figuring out how to improve the data, and make a decision are all daily challenges I face.

all about growth | In Finance, we have Analysts, Managers, Directors, and a CFO for each major division. Although we are a pretty flat organization in many ways, you're able to move cross functionally and upwards if you have the desire because of the nature of a large corporation. It's also a field in all industries, so the opportunities exist in every company.

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