Guest Profile:

Ryan Bridges, Corporate Finance, Discover Financial Services

Previous Experience: Corporate Finance, Whirlpool Corporation

Studied Finance at Michigan State University

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work in corporate finance:

You work very closely with other business units

You are in a support function, so you are technically supporting other business units; however, you still get a seat at the table to make decisions

Corporate finance needs to help other business units balance the fact that shareholder value needs to be kept in mind

Influencing your business partners to understand the financial numbers as they are developing their campaigns is a key part of the role

You get to work with people! You are not just sitting and crunching numbers all day long

But you do enter data into systems to run analyses

A critical part of working n finance is providing recommendations. You need to make reports, but business partners value the recommendations

You can hop around in the different areas of the finance world, as there are so many different things to do (treasury, investor relations, and more)

The business pulls employees from the finance department, as they understand the value of the financial perspective. There is opportunity to jump to other areas

Insights:

FP&A = Financial Planning & Analysis

FP&A is a forward looking view of the finances

Finance is ever-changing. Decisions can be made quickly at companies, all of which impact the budget

Finance provides the opportunity to educate others - being able to teach is something that is important

Listening is a critical skill to understand what the business partner is truly interested in and why they are making they decisions

All business partners need to be included when making wide-spread decisions, especially finance. There are impacts for everyone in these decisions

Rapid Fire-Round:

What Ryan wanted to be when he was a kid: Architect

Best resource for career-related information: LinkedIn Newsfeed

What helps Ryan when he has a bad day at work: Chocolate chip cookies and a nice bottle of red wine

Ryan’s favorite product/brand his company makes: Discover It’s LGBT card

Advice:

Focus on the skill sets that you enjoy

Your career is a marathon and not a sprint

Why should someone want to be in corporate finance?

It is a strategic opportunity for companies

There are roles for people with all skill sets and interests

Get in touch with Ryan Bridges