10 Questions for Market Force CFO Shauna Callahan
IDG News Service (Boston Bureau) — Name: Shauna Callahan
Age: 42
Time with company: 4 years
Education: Bachelor of Science in Accounting, University of Colorado
Company headquarters: Louisville, Colorado
Number of countries: The company has a physical presence in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, with coverage in all the major European countries as well, including France, Spain, Italy and Scandinavia
Number of employees total: 500
Number of employees the CFO oversees: 11
CFO's areas of responsibility: accounting, financial records and reporting
About the company: Market Force measures store-level operations and customer attitudes through mystery shopping (store assessments via anonymous agents), customer feedback, retail audits and merchandising services, and provides analytics to help companies make targeted improvements. Its customers are business-to-consumer companies including major retailers, restaurants, grocery and convenience stores, financial institutions, entertainment studios and consumer packaged-goods businesses.
1. Where did you start in finance and what experiences led you to the job you have today?
I started out of college with Arthur Andersen here in Denver. It was a fantastic learning experience, but after spending three years there I knew I wanted to work in a company where I could more directly influence business decisions. So I went to work for a company called Coram Healthcare. That was a consolidation of four different companies and it was extremely challenging, but I was hooked on figuring out how to pull all of that together. A couple of years later, I was approached to do something similar in Australia for Corporate Express. They were rolling up nine companies and I jumped at the chance to get involved.
I came back to Colorado in 2000. Since then, I've been fortunate to get quite a range of experience working for small companies, large companies, public and private companies. That experience has really allowed me to be open to new opportunities. I thrive on challenge and that has led me to make career changes to have increasing levels of opportunity in new environments.
2. Who was an influential boss for you and what lessons did they teach you about management and leadership?
Who I worked for has been a huge factor for me in where I've chosen to work. I can honestly say that every boss I've worked for has been influential for me. The one that jumps to mind was my CFO at Corporate Express, Neil Guest. He challenged me to do things faster and smarter. The second week on the job he erased our entire [organizational] work chart, which was about 50 people, and asked what we would do if we could start over from scratch. That was really empowering.
