The executives and staffers profiled on Possible’s website are described by the nonprofit integrated healthcare provider as “possibilists”—“people with the perspective to embrace extraordinary challenge and the grit to get remarkable results anyway.” The term suits Possible CFO Pavan Makhija, a former investment banker who possesses dual undergraduate degrees in math and religion, a master’s in financial engineering from the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, and a passion for social issues. The former Lehman Brothers and Barclays controller is also an avid story-teller. Here, he narrates his anything-is-possible career trajectory while sharing how the Lehman bankruptcy—and his use of the firm’s balance sheet as a powerful narrative device at an arduous time—educated him on his CFO path. Makhija also describes the challenge of applying all of his financial engineering and management skills to guiding a mission-driven organization that provides affordable (and often free) high-quality healthcare in the U.S. and Nepal.

Listen to the Episode Below (00:36:33)