109: VP of Global Tax & Treasury – Chris Rosas of Rackspace

Chris Rosas, the Vice President of Global Tax & Treasury with Rackspace, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting, a podcast production of Where Accountants Go.

A Different Path

One unique fact about Chris’s career path is that he started in an industry position, and then later moved into public accounting, before moving back into industry in his position now with Rackspace. It’s not unusual to see individuals do internships in industry, but typically the next step isn’t public accounting.  This path worked very well for Chris though.  As you’ll hear in the audio interview, there was much to learn still when he did move to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, but it was definitely a move worth making.  That experience helped him to gain knowledge that he uses in his position to this day at Rackspace.

International Tax

Another interesting facet of Chris’s career is that he actually started in international tax. It’s extremely rare to start in the international side of tax, but the opportunity was available and he took advantage of it.  It’s turned out to be a very interesting and challenging career for Chris.  He also gets into the discussion of how there is cross-over in his roles in both global tax and treasury at Rackspace.  For many, the connection may not be apparent, but Chris explains how the two roles actually work well together in a global organization.

Hard Work and Humility

This has come up in a few of our recent episodes, so I wanted to highlight it here since it came up in our conversation with Chris as well. Chris mentions that although he was well on his way with his career when he joined PwC, he had to be humble because there was much he had not learned yet and it became apparent when he joined the global accounting firm.

He also discusses how when he was with Clear Channel, he would go to his supervisor’s office at the end of the day and make sure there wasn’t anything else that they needed help with. This additional effort not only helped him gain favor I’m sure, but also got him additional experience on interesting projects that otherwise he would not have been exposed to.  Both a strong work ethic and humility were keys to Chris’s early success.

This episode is another one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Other episodes that may interest you: 027: Janice Flynn – Global Corporate Controller for Rackspace and 103: Transitioning from Public to Industry in Tax – Audra Fahey, VP of Tax with NuStar Energy

Please listen to the audio by clicking on the player below: