389: Building Boldly with Bolanle Williams-Olley

This week, I’m speaking with Bolanle Williams-Olley, Chief Financial Officer and part-owner of Mancini Duffy, a technology-first design firm based in NYC, overseeing the firm's financial and operational performance. Bolanle has had 12 years working in the AEC industry, having worked with HLW and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) prior to joining Mancini Duffy. She holds a Masters in Education & Social Policy from NYU, Masters in Applied Mathematics, a Bachelors in Mathematics from the City University of New York, Hunter College, and is also a board member of the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF). In addition to her role at Mancini Duffy, she has founded several impact organizations in Nigeria that aim to improve education in low-income communities, empower women in the A/E/C industry and at small design firms, as well as create awareness about NGOs across Nigeria. Bolanle is launching her first book in November called "Build Boldly: Chart Your Unique Career Path", as a playbook for success in the architecture and design industry, offering business development tips including lessons she’s learned from being Mancini's CFO. In this episode, we discuss the role of a CFO within an architecture practice and the importance of establishing a strong partnership between the accounts team and the project management team. We cover some key performance indicators or metrics they measure to ensure the success of their projects and how these metrics then filter into business development. We also talk about Bolanle's philanthropic work and a bit of a peek into her book Build Boldly.