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Had the opportunity to work in the treasury department at American Express arrived 6 months earlier, there\\u2019s a chance that John Herman may never have landed in a CFO office.

\\u201cTreasury was an area that I was fascinated by,\\u201d remembers Herman, who\\u2014after having spent a decade at American Express\\u2014was given a \\u201cpackage\\u201d in 2009 when the financial crisis mercilessly bore down on the card services giant.

However, in April of 2010, Herman punted the Amex treasury opportunity in order to accept an FP&A position at Yodle, an online marketing company that was generating roughly $50 million in annual revenue.

\\u201cI decided that I wanted to work in an organization where I could make an impact, and I felt that it was time to take a risk in my career,\\u201d recalls Herman, who would report directly to Yodle\\u2019s CFO and for the next several months be \\u201ca department of one.\\u201d

\\u201cThere was this opportunity to build out my team and take on new roles and learn really quickly,\\u201d recounts Herman.

Along the way, Yodle would make multiple acquisitions and grow to more than $200 million in annual sales before being acquired by Web.com in early 2016. Herman had steadily advanced upward and eventually into the CFO office, where he ultimately led the due diligence and oversaw the sale process for the Web.com sale.

\\u201cIt ultimately came down to the fact that it was the right time to sell,\\u201d comments Herman, who within 6 months of the Yodle sale closing garnered his second CFO appointment at early-stage SaaS developer Movable Ink.

Six years later, Movable Ink has surpassed the $100 million mark in annual recurring revenue and was recently valued at $1.3 billion\\u2014joining a select class of marketing technology brands.

Asked whether he had ever contemplated becoming a CFO during the first half of his career, Herman replies, \\u201cI definitely didn\\u2019t grow up saying, \\u2018Someday, I want to be a CFO\\u2019\\u2014it\\u2019s really been a journeyman\\u2019s trip to where I have now arrived.\\u201d\\xa0 \\u2013Jack Sweeney\\xa0