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As Christian Geyer sees it, the path to the CFO office can begin just about anywhere.

For him,\xa0anywhere\xa0happened to be the accounts payable department of a DC-area construction company. Having built numerous government facilities across the region, the company hired Geyer\u2014along with three other \u201cpayables specialists\u201d\u2014to manage the process of paying for the expansive list of building materials that the company was constantly acquiring to use in the construction of its buildings.

\u201cI knew that if I stayed in step with the department\u2019s typical rhythm, I would never go anywhere,\u201d explains Geyer, who reports that shortly after his arrival, he converted what had been a 40-hours-a-week job into a 60 to 80 hours one.

\u201cI looked at the purchase order process as well as the payment approval process, and I tried to whittle these down to figure out where the bottlenecks were in order to make us more efficient,\u201d recalls Geyer, who quickly began eliminating snags within the process while at the same time introducing new approaches that ultimately cut the number of required man-hours per week from 160 to 10.

According to Geyer, the newly streamlined A/P processes helped to save the company $300,000 annually. \xa0

Still, what did he get out of it?

\u201cThis allowed me to free up my time and focus it elsewhere,\u201d remembers Geyer, who adds that he soon became involved with the company\u2019s accounts receivable and payroll processes, as well as its general ledger and audit support.

Says Geyer: \u201cToo often you see people sitting in a job and doing the same mundane thing day in and day out. You have to challenge yourself and don\u2019t settle.\u201d

Next, Geyer joined a not-for-profit organization where he accepted a non-management position despite having a resum\xe9 populated with management experience.

\u201cI took a step back in title, knowing that I could go in there and change that organization,\u201d remarks Geyer, who notes that he reduced the organization\u2019s reporting cycle from 6 months to 1 week\u2014a feat that drew people\u2019s attention and promptly got him promoted. \u2013Jack Sweeney

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