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Meet the Boomerang Bunch: 5 RoseRyan alumni return home

RoseRyan is thrilled to welcome back five finance aces who worked with us earlier in their careers. In the time since their last stint with us, these returning employees have sharpened their skills and gained new insights. They’ve worked at high growth, fast paced companies, experienced acquisitions firsthand from the inside, and had amazing, once-in-a-lifetime travel opportunities. And now they have come back. Why? To experience the positive points of the consulting life.

Who knew we’d have five RoseRyan alumni coming back out of the corporate world during an all-out talent war. We are pleased as punch to get these savvy finance pros back in the fold.

We’re not the only ones getting reacquainted with some all stars. In a survey of over 1,800 HR professionals by The Workforce Institute at Kronos Inc. and WorkplaceTrends.com, 85 percent of respondents said former employees have sent them job applications over the past five years, and 40 percent said about half of those former employees were hired. Taking back “boomerangs,” the report revealed, didn’t used to be so common, but has become more acceptable for industries in the middle of the battle for talent.

A big draw for any of our consultants is the variety of assignments at high tech and life sciences companies, the ability to jump in and actively grow a company, the latitude and individual autonomy to get things done, and a predictable schedule so that they can have a life. It’s OK to actually take vacation, spend time with their families and tend to their hobbies, we think. Not many companies think that way. It also helps that we’re an award-winning firm that our employees believe is headed in the right direction—evidenced by our earning a coveted spot on this year’s Top 100 Workplaces list in the Bay Area.

So who’s returning? We’re delighted to re-introduce these folks: 

LIZ BARCLAY

An expert in SEC reporting, technical accounting, SOX, revenue recognition, M&A and international accounting, Liz left us for several years for some exciting international assignments and adventure. She worked the SOX front at Maxtor. Liz was also the SEC reporting manager, SOX manager and AP manager at Power Integrations, most recently handling SEC, accounts payable and international due diligence work in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. “I was drawn to RoseRyan for its work/life balance and more flexible work options,” she says. “Consulting leverages my career’s wide and deep experience while giving me the opportunity to make family events.”

LYNN CHRISTOPHER

Lynn first got to know RoseRyan as a client, when she was the controller at Blue Coat Systems. She’s joining us after an eight-year gap with a solid résumé of controllerships at Force 10 Networks, Responsys and most recently Adap.tv, which was purchased by AOL. Lynn is a force to be reckoned with when clients need revenue recognition expertise, SEC reporting help or assistance going IPO. 

CLARISSA ENANY

With audit prep and technical accounting among her top talents, Clarissa gives the rest of us a reason to visit the Seattle area, her home base. A KPMG alum, she most recently was the assistant controller at DocuSign, where she managed the month-end close process, accounts payable and payroll. Clarissa was with us for over three years taking on SEC filings, stock-based compensation work, and assignments for our Technical Accounting Group. “I love having the opportunity to work with multiple clients and see a variety of issues each week,” Clarissa says. “My work with RoseRyan allows me to spend time with my family while maintaining my professional edge in accounting.”

LAURA MAGALLON

Laura brings a mix of senior leadership thinking and nitty-gritty accounting expertise to everything she does. Since her first consulting tour with RoseRyan, she has held VP of finance and controller positions, and she has fine-tuned her passion for startups and newly funded companies. She loves setting up financial structures and ramping up companies from the start to grow phase of their lifecycle. Laura’s specialties include the month-end close process, FP&A, accounting systems, SOX, revenue recognition and audit prep. What brought her back to us? She loves the flexibility that comes with being a consultant plus the benefits package we provide our gurus. Plus, the camaraderie and support she gets here can’t be beat. “I really like working for Kathy Ryan—she’s a great boss and mentor,” Laura tells us. “And we have a great team of consultants!”

SUSAN WONG

Susan was here at RoseRyan from 2007 to 2012, working closely with startup clients. She knows the controller and CFO roles inside and out for both small businesses and midsize companies. Her expertise includes cash flow management, audits, business strategy, budgets and debt/equity financing. To top it off, in her spare time she teaches finance at UC Berkeley Extension and Menlo College, where she is an adjunct accounting professor.

All of our seasoned pros want to stretch and grow professionally. We love to provide them with a variety of assignments and challenges to help them do just that. They strive to stay on top of their game. They have found a supportive place in RoseRyan, where we have a healthy learning and development focus, an enviable list of clients, and our culture is known for being friendly and respectful, and for doing the right thing. No sharks here!

Sure, we’re always disappointed if a consultant jumps off for a hot corporate job. But we’ll be here to welcome them back.

LI profile pictureDoes RoseRyan sound like your kind of place? We are hiring! Check out our current opportunities here. As Talent Manager at RoseRyan, Michelle Hickam is always looking for finance and accounting pros who have strong technical chops as well as “soft skills” for melding into our clients’ corporate cultures. She’d love to hear from potential candidates. Email her at [email protected].

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Going from good to great: How to be an amazing consultant

Have you ever thought about becoming a consultant? It’s a lot different than being an employee, and that’s what the consultants at RoseRyan love about their role: Our finance pros have joined us for many reasons, with flexibility and variety in engagements being top faves.

Consultants who are great at what they do have the skills required and the experience to match what their clients need, and they have a whole bunch of other must-have abilities that don’t quite fit on the résumé. The following traits are just some the attributes that turn a “good” consultant into a great, in-demand consultant:

1. They get it done. Ultimately clients hire consultants for results—to do the things they can’t do with their current resources. The more ways a consultant can help out, the more valuable a consultant is. The best consultants are always looking for solutions and efficiencies, and they do what’s necessary to finish a project or fix a problem. In some cases this may involve making copies at 7 p.m. to get a report together. There’s no better-than-you attitude here when job-number one is to make the client happy. They do what’s required and follow through to make sure it happens.

2. They add value. Consultants who shine consistently go beyond what’s asked of them. They listen carefully to the client and find ways to make the client’s life easier. A client expects a consultant to be an expert and bring in fresh ideas—but the client may not always know the exact right questions to ask. The best consultants have a sense for what each client needs.

3. They are leaders. You can be a leader without being the one in charge, and great consultants fit the bill. One way to look at leadership is people who take action instead of waiting to be told what to do. They’re effective observers who have the power of persuasion to make smart recommendations when they make sense.

The consultants who understand what the client wants and then makes it happen are the ones who get asked for by name the next time around (we love when that happens!). If a meeting needs to be called, they call it. If tasks need to be divvied out, they do it. No micromanaging needed. Not only do they step back and see the bigger picture, they figure out what must get done and then gather the resources to do it.

4. They stay out of politics. In finance and accounting, in particular, consultants are expected to be discreet. They may a hear a lot of chatter as they work alongside employees who could be struggling to get past politically sensitive issues. Things may have become messy and the consultants are expected to bring in some calm. The best consultants don’t get sucked in to power struggles and office gossip. They do their job and maintain a professional demeanor.

5. They are chameleons. Consultants who get repeat clients are able to fit into any environment, whether it’s a loosely structured startup or a tightly wound corporate culture. They shed their personal agendas at the door and take in the personalities and makeup of the company before making any recommendations. They become a part of the team and zero in on what makes sense for the client, at that moment.

6. They are life-long learners. Clients are looking for people who are on top of the latest requirements and leanings in the field. They want to bring in early adopters who can show them what to do, and they want to know what other companies like them are up to. Consultants can bring them that expertise only if they set aside time to stay on top of trends and innovations. It makes them better at their job—and it makes them more marketable.

7. They are confident but not cocky. Great consultants have an easy confidence that lets the client know “I got this,” but it never strays into arrogance. Clients want to believe the consultants they’ve brought in to fix a problem know what to do. But clients don’t need a big ego to get in the way.

Consultants who have these seven habits are a special group (we call ours the dream team). They’re experts in their field who are willing to do anything they can for the client. They have above-and-beyond attitudes. And they are all about follow-through, professionalism and thoughtful, quality work.

Think you have what it takes? Check out our latest hiring opportunities, and inquire about a career at RoseRyan by reaching out to our talent manager, Michelle Hickam, at [email protected].

RoseRyan can keep track of our consultants’ skillsets and whereabouts because of Matt Lentzner, the firm’s IT guru. He manages the evolution of our internally developed DTS system, a sophisticated scheduling, timesheet and skills management application.

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