My professional experience includes time spent in the private/for-profit sector, academia, and regulatory policy. Each has, in its own way, shaped the way I think about my current work.

​

The early part of my career was defined by the private/for-profit sector, specifically financial reporting in media, publishing, and software development industries. The experience I gained creating parallel reporting systems to support management decision-making and to comply with mandated reporting requirements informed my understanding of the proper alignment between information and audience. In my view, reporting in the nonprofit space has adopted a financial reporting emphasis, with downstream consequences, but not fully realized a framework for performance reporting.

​

My graduate work began during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.  I was curious about the factors that contributed to yet another market failure. One that followed so closely on the heels of the accounting scandals of the early 2000s. One that was similarly associated with accounting information and the role it was supposed to play in stabilizing the capital market. As a budding researcher, I learned how to process information differently. How to approach it with a level of skepticism, evaluate sources, and ask questions that expose the assumptions, both implicit and explicit, that can lead to incorrect conclusions. I also learned the art of mapping real world phenomena onto models for understanding, interpretation, and prediction.

​

More recently, my experience in regulatory policy focused on the audit regulatory environment that came into being after the Enron accounting scandal and its effects on the audit profession. Consequently, I have developed a deeper understanding of the complexities associated with external oversight of the auditing profession and the limited ability to address some of the concerns that inspired its creation. In the for profit space, the demand for assurance stems, in part, from the misaligned incentives of the providers and users of financial information. A similar approach to outsourcing the trust function to auditors has been adopted in nonprofits, at least with respect to financial reporting. Performance reporting, in my view, could be developed in a much more collaborative manner given the objectives of the organization and its funders should enjoy greater alignment.

​

My appreciation for the different dynamics that exist between organizations and stakeholders in the for profit and nonprofit industries informs my view that, though financial management is necessary and important, it is a poor proxy for success and in the current context inappropriately used to make decisions about where and how resources should be deployed. There is a better way. One that leverages the benefits of alignment between those with the resources to support a shared vision and those with the expertise to carry it out.