Meet Stacy Inthisane | Finance and Strategic Transformation Executive

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stacy Inthisane and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stacy, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
When I first started in my career, I was so career focused that I didn’t really care about work / life balance. I pride myself on my strong work ethic. I was always the one that had to figure it out and had to get the job done otherwise I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else. That ALL changed when I had my first child. I was a consultant, traveling Monday – Thursday and I had a small baby that my parents and husband were taking care of at home. I was missing milestones and I really hated it. It was a really hard adjustment for me because I always felt I had to deliver and that if I wasn’t the one to do it, it wouldn’t be right. I started getting really burnt out. I wasn’t always eating healthy and I wasn’t working out. I think I had a manager/mentor tell me “Stacy, you have to learn to let other people figure it out too. You may already have the answer, but sometimes, people need to think through the process so they can learn too.” So, I learned that I could shift a little at a time and ensure the work is still being completed as expected and on time. I also think when I’m at work or with my children, I try to make sure I’m really present so I can focus and really give my attention to that part of my life at the time so I don’t feel like I’m juggling too much. My children are still young and I’m a working mom. I have a 5 year old, a 2 year old and one to be here January 2024. Its really important for me to have that work / life balance, but also to make sure others do too. As I continue to advance in my career, my motto has shifted to “I don’t necessarily care if you have to take time to do personal things as long as you deliver quality work when you say you’re going to.” When you’re able to do what you say you’re going to do, it builds that trust and accountability and you can make work / life balance a reality for everyone.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I have an interesting career journey as I didn’t take the traditional path to get to the executive role within Finance. Traditionally, CFOs have an accounting background and CPA certification, which I do not. In 2011, I decided to go back to graduate school and really focus on a career in Finance. When I graduated in 2023, I actually went into consulting, still within finance, but more along the lines of Finance Transformation. That became my specialty, driver based analytics which would use the accounting data and transform it into useable management reporting for decision making. Part of all of this was really understanding the systems, how they worked and how they could give us the information we needed without being too cumbersome to manage. Building on that foundation at PwC, I expanded into other projects that really impacted the finance/accounting functions, streamlining finance and accounting processes and expanding into risk and regulatory. I didn’t get my “real” accounting experience until I joined Atos and had to address the qualified opinion my first day on the job. I think that experience with the auditors and working to correct some of the underlying issues really drove a deeper understanding of Accounting for me. Now, I’m the EVP, Finance – US for HSO, a Microsoft Implementation Partner.

One of the biggest things I’ve learned in my career and always share with my teams/mentees is that: you’re never going to know everything about your next role or your next project, but not being afraid to take the leap and then spend the time to really dig into and understand that new role is what, I feel, has allowed me to continue to grow. Did I have basic school understanding of finance and accounting, sure, but did I know how to implement systems to support that – no. Did I know anything about risk or regulatory needs and their systems? No, but I took the project and asked ALOT of questions and figured it out. One thing that’s always been consistent has been my work ethic and being solution oriented. I didn’t dwell on the problems or obstacles that will always pop up. I took a step back and thought about the many alternatives to get past it and what the right path would be. And yes, I made mistakes and I looked like I didn’t know what I was doing sometimes but many times, it was the best choice I could make at the time with the information I had.

When I think about my story, I really want people to see my drive, my determination to succeed and my strong work ethic and how it got me to where I am today. I don’t think you have to have all of the answer but you have to be willing and able to figure it out. You can’t just say, “I don’t know” and wait for someone to help you. Let’s solve the problem, let’s look at the overall picture to make sure it’s not just a bandage and lets make sure everyone is aligned and onboard. I also want women to see that you can have a career and be a present mom if you want to. My son, who is 5, had to answer questions about mom and what she’s good at and he said “My mom is really good at working.” At first, I had mom guilt, maybe I’m spending too much time working but I also heard him say, “I love my mom because she cooks my favorite food and she plays with me and takes me on adventures.”. So, I’m glad he sees the work I put in to support our family every day, and I want children and young people to see that if you work hard and take opportunities as they come, you can do whatever you want in your life.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.

So, I’m from Fort Worth, and I’d probably start with the Stockyards and Billy Bobs. I think people believe Texas is what they see in the movies and that Stockyards area feeds into that perception.

One of the things I also love are farmers markets. So, I’d take them to the Dallas Farmer’s Market, maybe make a day of it in Dallas and also add the Dallas World Aquarium (mostly because my kids would love that) and the JFK assassination sites.

Also, we’re huge Cowboys fans, so if there’s a game, we’d likely tailgate and attend a game at AT&T stadium.

Other than that, most of our activities over the last few years have centered around the kids so if they also have kids, we would go to the zoos, water parks, and all of those fun kids adventure places.

I can tell you though I do have some go-to places when it comes to eating. I would 100% take them to Hatsuyuki Handroll Bar in Fort Worth. Any and every time I crave sushi, this is the place I always want to go. A close second is definitely Nikko in Southlake.

For amazing steak, I would take them to Knife. It’s the best steak place I’ve been to, hands down and 407 BBQ is definitely our go-to BBQ spot when we are craving good BBQ.

That being said, we are homebodies and we like to have friends over to hang out and drink and the kids can be comfortable in their own space and the adults can enjoy each others’ companies.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am always so eternally grateful for the amazing people that have had an impact in my life and career. When I started in consulting, I worked at a small boutique consulting firm and my boss at the time (Pierre Guillaume) really gave me my first start in the field and where I built my specialty. He gave me the foundation for which I based my career on for many years. I had two amazing MDs (Frank Mackris & Jaime Garza) and Director (Greg Martin) at PwC who really allowed helped me as I transitioned from individual contributor to manager. They were very honest and open and gave me so many opportunities to learn and figure things out in my time with PwC. When I was at Atos, I had three CFOs in my 3 years with the company. There, I really learned a lot about leadership from Ashley Crandall. But if I’m really honest, I couldn’t have focused on my career without my husband and parents. Early on in our marriage, my husband (Som Inthisane) and I discussed career paths and how we would work together so that whoever’s career was moving in the right direction, the other would support accordingly. So, he became the primary parent at home for a point in time so that I could continue to focus on my career. He supported me when I took roles or positions that required me to be away from home for so long or working 15+ hours a day. In addition to his support, my mom (Ratana Rajavong) has always been there when we needed her. She cared for the children, somedays even more than we did. She’d cook and clean and do whatever was needed so that we would be able to focus on what we needed to get done. Everyone always says, it takes a village to succeed and I honestly feel that in every sense with the people that have shown me the way or supported me in my initiatives.

Website: www.hso.com, www.utmostprovince.com, https://lovinghomehealthcare.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srajavong/

Image Credits
The headshot was photographed with Beau Bumpas and the remainder of the photos were photographed by Kurt Rajavong at Utmost Province Co.