BROADCASTS.com

It was in the late 1990s when public accountant, savvy networker and future CFO April Downing decided that it was time to leave Dallas.

\u201cI had cultivated my network there really early\u2014there was a group of friends from PwC whom I regularly attended a book club with, and later we would all go on to different tech firms,\u201d remembers Downing.

However, unlike those of some of her tech-minded PwC colleagues, Downing\u2019s future plans did not include Dallas or Silicon Valley. \xa0\xa0

\u201cIt used to be that I had to say Austin,\xa0Texas\u2014but everyone knows where Austin is now,\u201d comments Downing, who accepted an assistant controller role at Motive Communications, an Austin tech firm\u2014only to lose it upon her return from maternity leave.

\u201cI thought that my life was going to be as an accountant, but they said: \u2018You can be the finance person,\u2019\u201d recalls Downing, who credits the early job pivot with opening the door to a succession of senior finance roles that included the position of acting CFO.

In many ways, Downing\u2019s Motive chapter exposes the historic connection between Austin\u2019s high tech pioneers and its wide-body tech hub future, for it was at Motive that Downing first crossed paths with notable Austin investor and former Dell CFO Tom Meredith, who for a time served as chairman of Motive\u2019s audit committee. It was also at Motive where she first connected with Kip McClanahan, whose firm Silverton Partners is credited with having helped to lead the next wave of Austin technology investment. Years later, McClanahan would help to recruit Downing to fill the CFO role at WP Engine. \xa0

Comments Downing: \u201cOne of things that I\u2019ve been trying to do lately is to foster connections with some of the people who are new to Austin in order to share our heritage that says, \u2018We\u2019re all here to do better together!\u2019\u201d\xa0\u2013Jack Sweeney\xa0