Reflecting on her career choices, Erin Sawyer tells us that one pivotal point stands out—a decision that involved moving her family across the country. This step triggered not only a geographical shift but also a change in Sawyer’s professional life, when her work alongside a CEO ultimately fueled her aspirations to become a chief financial officer.
Read MoreShe had always been so captivated by numbers that by the tender age of 5 she had determined that her destiny lay in accounting. Her initial steps into the corporate world at Honeywell Aerospace as a cost accountant laid the groundwork for years of steady career advancement. Yet, it was her transition from accounting to a more dynamic role in financial planning and analysis (FP&A) that sparked her true passion—driving business forward through strategic finance.
Sawyer’s tenure in the Yellow Pages industry during its transformational phase sharpened her skills in business transformation and strategic partnership, preparing her for the challenges ahead. However, it was an opportunity at insurance software provider Vertafore that finally aligned her with a CEO mentor, whom she greatly admired. This relationship deepened her expertise in operational excellence and marked a decisive step toward achieving her eventual CFO ambitions.
Made Possible By
CFOTL: Tell us about Certinia … what does this company do, and what are its offerings today?
Sawyer: We support services businesses. Let me define “services work” because not everybody knows what it is: By our definition, this is any work being performed by people in direct support of a customer. This could be consulting services, customer success efforts, software implementations—just to name a few. At Certinia, we deliver mission-critical software that helps these businesses to realize value by increasing billings and revenue, optimizing resourcing, and gaining intelligence to enable more efficient delivery of their services to their customers.
Read MoreWe’ve been kind of in a period of transition. We started back in 2009, having been built on the Salesforce platform. We sort of began in that accounting space, but with a different focus, which was at the customer or account base level instead of the transactional one. We quickly came to understand that our technology worked really well for services-oriented industries, which could utilize our resources to deliver value. We then quickly pivoted into the professional services automation realm, where we are today.
Last year, we changed our name from Financial Force to Certinia. A pivotal moment for us really was bringing the word “certain” into our Certinia name. What’s important for us is making sure that we are aligning that “certain” within our customers’ minds by ensuring that they have trust in the seamless data of our products that will better help them deliver for their customers. My priorities really are to enhance this blend of financial and data and strategic insight within the business in order to continue to leverage our technology so that we can be the best in our technology class. It’s that simple. jb
“You don’t have to know everything—you just have to know how to get the information. I used to think that a CFO was the ultimate expert in all things finance. The strongest CFOs surround themselves with people who can help to bridge knowledge gaps.” –Erin Sawyer, CFO, Certinia
Certinia | www.certinia.com | Sanjose, CA