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When Mike Catelani seeks to identify the objectives and career milestones that have helped to advance him into the ranks of Bay Area biotech CFOs, he mentions that although he had a deep interest in biology during his high school years, upon entering college he decided to swap out a biology curriculum for an accounting one.

More than a decade later, Catelani decided to make a career \u201clane change\u201d to accept a CFO role for a manufacturer of instruments and tools used in drug discovery.

While the company, whose stock was traded on the ASX (Australian Securities Exchange), was not directly involved in drug discovery, Catelani believed that the CFO stint would put him one step closer to opportunities inside the biotech realm.

Still, he can\u2019t help but marvel at the randomness of the circumstances that ultimately opened the biotech door.

\u201cIt was complete dumb luck: A recruiter was looking for a CFO who had Australian Securities Exchange experience for a biotech firm in the Bay Area, and\u2014not surprisingly\u2014mine was like the only name that popped up,\u201d explains Catelani, who was named CFO of Benitec, an Australian public company that at the time specialized in drug development for hepatitis C and HIV.

Seventeen years and multiple biotech chapters later, Catelani looks back on his original door of entry as \u201ca bit of a turnaround.\u201d

\u201cIt had roughly 6 weeks of cash when I came on board and at the time was involved in a number of patent infringement lawsuits,\u201d reports Catelani, who lists cash management as every biotech CFO\u2019s mission-critical skillset tool.\xa0\u2013Jack Sweeney