Why Your Network – Not Just Your Knowledge – Builds Treasury Careers

Sherri Nicole Speaks, VP, Treasury at JBT Marel Corporation: When you start and try to think it’s just this one path forward and this is what it looks like everywhere. I wish I would’ve started building my network sooner, and I’ve made up for it over the years, but then finding other opportunities to learn so that I was more well-rounded in the beginning, so I could have taken out, maybe taken on some opportunities a little bit sooner, but I do think things happen for a reason.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And so being a little bit more inquisitive early on I think could have benefited me. Because somebody also asked me, what’s your biggest regret in your career? There were things that have happened in my career that weren’t great. But I’ve learned from them and they’ve transformed me into the person that I am today.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So no, would I necessarily want to repeat some of those things that have happened? No. But they did add value in the end because I was able to find what I could take from those situations to then better myself, better my career path. And so I would say it’s not even, the bad is not always bad.

Mike Richards, CEO, The Treasury Recruitment Company: Welcome to this week’s Treasury Career Corner podcast, where I interview treasury professionals about their treasury careers. Each and every week I’ll talk to treasurers about how they build their careers, where they are now, where they see both themselves and the treasury profession. Going to next, let’s get on with the show.

Mike Richards: In this week’s show, I’m joined by Sherry Nicole speaks the Vice President Treasury at JBT Morell Corporation. JBT is a leading global provider of integrated technology, equipment, software, and services to the food and beverage industry, driven by a singular purpose to transform the future of food. They empower businesses to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market.

Mike Richards: So whether you produce or operate in animal protein, plant-based products, fresh produce. Whatever they work with you guys. So these are the guys behind the scenes sort of thing. And JBT Morrell actually re unites JBT and Morrell, who were two pioneering companies with complimentary strengths. So they come together.

Mike Richards: We’ll talk to Sherry a little bit later about how with combined portfolios, they’re well equipped right across the food services in industry. Enough of the sales pitch for JBT Morrell. What I’m gonna do, we’re gonna talk about Sherry and her career. So Sherry, if you would take me back to the beginning, how you first got started in treasury.

Mike Richards: Over to you.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Hi Mike. Thanks for having me.

Mike Richards: Thank you.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So I could feel like I stumbled into treasury and always love having this conversation with other folks in treasury because you can’t go to school and get a degree in treasury. We all kind of stumble our way into it in different ways. I have a little bit of a checkered past as a here in the US falls, what people will understand.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I started my career after college as a subprime mortgage underwriter and I was take people back to if they saw the movie The Big Short, and actually they’re doing the recap of the industry and it says on May 7th, 2007. New Century Mortgage Files bankruptcy. Well, that’s who I was working for on May 7th, 2007.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And it wasn’t

Mike Richards: all your fault was it? It was. It was not my fault. You were just there. That was,

Sherri Nicole Speaks: and at that point it was, you know, what do I do next? A lot of folks stayed the path and just went to the next mortgage company, but at Nom before that, that there was something else I wanted to do and I had gone back to school.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: A few months prior to that to start working on my MBA. Then I said, okay, I’ll figure out what I wanna do when I grow up after I get my degree. Well, timing didn’t work out for me and I found myself unemployed and after almost a year, got a call for a job as an assistant in a treasury department. And at that point I called my mom and I was like, what is treasury?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And so we did internet research. We had no idea what treasury is, and thankfully the treasure at the time. Saw something in me and an opportunity to help me restart my career and again, start over and go down a different path from the one that has actually turned out to be incredible. On the first day of the job, he plopped the essentials of treasury management on my desk.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And said, start studying. And I was like, I’m in school right now. But I took it seriously because I knew very quickly that this was a new opportunity. It wasn’t just a job, it could really be a career. And I try to have, when I talk to folks, making sure people understand the distinction between a job and a career.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And I knew this could be a career, and so I started studying. Very quickly became a treasury analyst and have been working my way all the way through, through the ranks. Ever since.

Mike Richards: You said you knew it would be a career. How, what was it that, hang on, this could be my career treasury. How did you know, you know, you started to read the book, you’ve read the introduction, but you suddenly, yeah, this is my career, or how did it go?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: It was different from the industry I was in prior because it was loan, it was a house. You looked at somebody’s credit. You said yay or nay. Here in the department when Actually it was at my prior company. Everybody was doing something different. When I looked, when I was studying the book, there was so many different things that were covered.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I had this person over here working on international, this person over here working on domestic. This person over here was working on pension related things. They were so, it was so vast. And there was so much opportunity, I could see that right away. So I was like, oh, I could go down this path, or I could go down this way, or I could learn it all.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And yeah, you know, Jack or Re’s master of None, maybe, but that’s the one that’s, that’s several things I love about Treasury, but that’s definitely one of the things I love most about Treasury. It is not pigeonholed until. One space. It can look very different depending on the size of company. The industry you’re in.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: There’s so much opportunity. So it’s just really, it’s a learn

Mike Richards: about,

Sherri Nicole Speaks: it gives you an opportunity to really grow.

Mike Richards: And when you were, you’d gone in and we skipped a bit actually. So you were working for Illinois Tool Works.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Will Works is another global diversified manufacturer. Well, I was gonna say, who are they?

Mike Richards: Or give us an idea, you know, if you’re in UK, Europe, you might have never heard of them or. What’s the size of the company or what’s the background? ’cause then what was treasury like for you as you started?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Yeah, so Illinois Toolworks massive company. I think they’re about 15, $16 billion now. They did a few divestitures about.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: 11, 12 years ago where they scaled down a little bit. So when I left there, they were an $18 billion company. Wow. 900 business units every nine different segments. Everything from packaging to food equipment, tooling, things like that. Flooring at at one point.

Mike Richards: Yeah.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And so it was fascinating because not only was it domestic, that was my first experience working with.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Starting to understand international business. So that was all really fascinating. The department. That department was a little bit more siloed. You either worked on international or you worked on domestic, or you worked on the pension related things. But there was still for me, and I think it was actually really great.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So it was a little bit of a a moment for me to kind of have to start my career over and go into this entry level role. But I think the way I came in was actually really great because in that assistant job, I worked with everybody. So I had this opportunity not to just go in and. Just do my one job and have to go in and interact with everybody so I could see a little bit of what everybody was doing, which was really great.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And in that corporate function, then I learned, oh, I’ve gotta work with the tax folks. I’ve gotta work with internal audit, all these, and as well as the people in the business units. And when I was at ITW, they were very much an acquiring business. They grew very much through acquisition. And so I was able to develop.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Into a role where as we acquire business units and because cash is so important, I was one of the first people that new businesses would talk to when they were acquired. And so I gotta develop all these relationships and become this trusted resource for the business units, not just domestically, also internationally.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So it was really great. And

Mike Richards: you also, I know when we had our pre-call, if you like, so ITW and then JBT later, which we’ll come on to. You saw a clear runway. What did the runway look like to you, if you like, and how did you make the most of it? As you say, you got to know people and then hang on. I’m in treasury now.

Mike Richards: I really enjoy it. And how did you then develop that? Or what happened?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Yeah, so it was, it’s a couple things about one, who are you surrounded with in your mindset? For me, it was about building my brand and building my network. Networking is incredibly important to me. I don’t want to just work in a silo or with blinders on or think just what I’m doing is the end all, be all.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Having that group of people, whether it be to learn from or to commiserate with, it’s great to have that network around you to build things up and so I was able to through my network, but then also people that I worked with when I was at, I. So there was a gentleman there who I’m still very much in contact with of the director of Treasury, John, who really took me under his wing and would allow me to, would share.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: He was very good about teaching and I was open so that. Relationship is a two-way street. Finding somebody who’s willing to teach you, advocate for you, be an ally for you, but then you also being open to learning and being flexible is really important. And so when it was time for me to transition and move on to a new company, that was when that really took off.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Here at JBTI took over the treasurer role last year in 2024 and my predecessor, uh, was probably one of the best. Allies and mentors I have had in my entire career.

Mike Richards: Yeah,

Sherri Nicole Speaks: he was all about learning. He was all about I need to make sure you’re ready to take this role when I’m ready to retire. And that’s exactly what he did for me.

Mike Richards: And just before we move into that role, if you like, but you then started studying whilst you’re at Illinois Toolworks and you then started to get more involved with a FP. Can you explain how that started? ’cause then, you know, when I was doing my research, you said. Been on the test development committee.

Mike Richards: Oh yeah. Let me put my hand up for that. Sit for like 20 years. I mean, come on. What have they got on you that you know you can’t get out? I

Sherri Nicole Speaks: know, right? We’re not letting you outta this room back for more. Yeah, the AFP AFP’s really got me locked in and I absolutely love that organization. So yeah, I took the CTP exam and not too long after taking the exam, actually I got a call from a FP, said, Hey, we’re looking for volunteers to participate in our test development committee.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And I have always. Been in the mindset of making sure I’m in the position to say yes when certain opportunities come up. Right. It doesn’t always seem like it’s the right time. Things can be really busy and hectic in your day job or in your personal life, but how can I position myself? ’cause not all of these opportunities come up.

Mike Richards: Yeah.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So when they do come up, it’s like, okay, how can I be ready to embrace this opportunity? And so they called and I was like. They really want me to participate. I’ve only just

Mike Richards: done my CTB.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I been like, I was like, okay, this is fascinating. Yeah, I wanna know more. And I went to that first meeting and I still have.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Very close friends, not just colleagues and people in my network, but friends that I met from that very first meeting when I started at the test development committee. Some that I’m actually on the board with them now, which has been, it’s been a great journey and so I’ve been involved with the test development committee all these years and it’s just been, it’s nice being on the inside track.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Yeah, it’s hard work, but it’s actually really rewarding. Had an opportunity over the years to speak at conference here and there, whether a vendor or a banker would say, Hey, do you wanna participate in this panel? That was very nerve wracking ’cause I wasn’t much of a public speaker as I was coming along.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: But again, saying yes and figuring it out, congrat. And then just not too long ago, got a call to participate in the conference task force picking sessions in the risk management. Track. And so that became, that was also a really great opportunity ’cause again, you got to see the inner workings of how conference was built.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: A FP conference every year is like one of my favorite times. It’s exhausting if when you go, if you do conference right, I say you leave exhausted. Because you get so many opportunities to network and catch up with people and learn, and then also have a good time, right? So if you do FP right, you come back a little bit exhausted, but it’s really a really great time.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So being able to participate in the task force and really to review the sessions was really great. And that’s when I had an opportunity to meet some former board members. Yeah, who I’ve start to have some conversations with in, in 2024. Decided to take the leap after some encouragement and put my hat in the ring.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So it’s been great so far.

Mike Richards: So I think for any listeners as well as you did the exam, to develop yourself as a treasurer and treasure professional rather, and then you grew and then, you know, as you say, say yes first and regret later something, and, but the fact that’s them,

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I don’t know if it would work for everybody or for me, that has been, I’ve been really successful at that.

Mike Richards: And I think that’s part of it because I, and we had this again with Gina. Call one of our previous and a lot of the other guys have had from the committee and things, and one of ’em from the board. And what I’ve said, and I’ve said this to a number of people, the fact is that you put your hand up, you know, get involved in everything else.

Mike Richards: But the fact is just by trying that, it’s, you know, you are gonna grow. You can develop your skills. You know, I’ve said to people, I, I’m not up for pub when I first started, I wasn’t up for public speaking 20 years ago. But now you just do it all the time and it’s a learned skill and it can help you and your treasury profile and everything else now.

Mike Richards: Yeah. Now and the other bit I just wanted, there was another really good bit you said about going to the conference, which is fantastic. I’ll be speaking, I’ll be seeing you there and lots of other people, but I did my session last year with Nicole Meyer and Summer Simmons absolute session, and we started our session and we had.

Mike Richards: An official title for our session. We threw that away. We said a FP conference 2024. I didn’t actually do it on a slide. I just said to the room what not to do. It was like, this is what we’re telling you. Right. But what we also, I talked about, I said to the room who’s been here before and half of the hands went up.

Mike Richards: It was quite weird. About 50% of hands. Okay. Who hasn’t been here before? The other 50 ha. You know? So 50 had been, 50 had said, right. I want you guys to talk to the you guys. Because this is a marathon, not a sprint. Yes, and some covered it really well. She said, take some time out and things. So I said, look, later on when it says free bar, walk away or have one.

Mike Richards: Walk away. Yeah. This is a Sunday. You go. I’ve seen broken people on a Monday afternoon.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Do not go, don’t go hard. This is the wrong, don’t do not do that. It is pace yourself. It’s a lot you Yeah. Pace yourself please. Because it’ll, it’ll, it, it’ll be all worth it, but Absolutely. Pace yourself. There’s been,

Mike Richards: yeah.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: There have been times at conference where I’ll be like, okay, I just wanna run back to my hotel room a little bit because I need to like,

Mike Richards: yeah,

Sherri Nicole Speaks: get away for a little bit. ’cause you see so many people and you’re having all these conversations, you’re like, okay, I just need to take a breather. So I go hide a little bit every once in a while and it’s coming from arai of privilege, right?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Because I’ve been able to grow my network and know so many people and it’s like, okay, maybe I know too many people in this room. I’m gonna go hide for a little bit and then come back and continue on. ’cause it’s so fun.

Mike Richards: Well, I’ve done it when I’ve come back from a couple of conferences, like a FP or somewhere to do them, and I walk in the room and, and my wife is like, all right.

Mike Richards: I was like, yeah. And I like the half hour of not speaking, right. Just going visit. It’ll be the first half hour. I’ve not spoken constantly for three days and it’s just like, oh, okay, just let me just, it’s fantastic, but just like, just me type something. So, okay, so we, we got to then you making the move so.

Mike Richards: You were working for Illinois Toolworks, what happened next?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: You know, I decided, and I’d gotten to a point at Illinois Toolworks, and I didn’t know if there was a next step for me there. And again, very career focused, looking for that next role and path. And I told myself, okay, if I’m gonna do this, I should start, get myself ready, mentally ready to take that leap looking for another job.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: It’s not a concept I take lightly. I was, Illinois Tour worked for six and a half years. So you build a brand there, you build a social network there, and then you leave it all behind and start over. That for me is a nerve wracking concept. I. And then as I was kind of going through that, I got a call from a recruiter and it was about this JBT job.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And so I had a conversation with the HR person at the time, and then she’s like, okay, you’re gonna meet with Greg Packard, who’s been on your call before. And that’s been great. Immediately went in LinkedIn, stalked him. I saw that he was connected with John, who I mentioned earlier before, who I worked with at Illinois Tour.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Worked for a while and I called John. I’m like, tell me about this Greg guy. So he is like, I’m interviewing with him. He is like, oh, you’ll be just fine. And sure enough he was right. I was just fine and we hit off really well. And it was, again, one of those things where I came in and it was a lot to learn.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I was drinking from a fire hose, I had a unique. Experience. When I first started at JBT, the gentleman that I was replacing, he was moving. So he wasn’t, he stayed for like a month. I had a month of transition, right. You don’t usually get that. You’re usually taking over a job that somebody left and trying to the pieces.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: But I had him for a month and so I took everything I could take from him, his brain. And at the time the company was going through some transition. We had spun off from our prior parent and the company had been stagnant for a little bit, and some new leadership, a new CFO and CEO had come in and. Trying to get the company to grow and develop into this food platform that we are now.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So when I started, they started the acquisition activity, which again was in my wheelhouse because of my work at ITW. So that was really exciting. So I was learning treasury from a new landscape. ’cause JBT though, very similar to ITW se food segments in the food space. A little bit decentralized global diversified.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Speak bank groups, they will still treasury from a different, they still do treasury a little bit differently. And I was like, well, that’s not the way we did it before. And so. Learning certain things a new way. It was a little nerve wracking.

Mike Richards: Yeah, a

Sherri Nicole Speaks: little bit, but obviously very rewarding. And it became this journey over time of, you know, we, so we had put in a shared service center.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Again, we were doing all these acquisitions and so there was a lot of opportunity for me to learn whether, you know, figure changing up our capital structure, which is very different from it was when I first started. Opportunities with our international business units and whatnot. And Greg was just really purposeful about inclusion and including me in meetings even because I started at JBT as a senior analyst.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And a lot of times you don’t see senior analysts in some of these meetings. And Greg, we have small department, so Greg was like, Nope. Coming in a meeting, you’re gonna learn. And I say this to my team now too. You may not catch everything that’s going on, but the more you’re in these rooms, every time you’re gonna pick something up.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And as much as I want them to, obviously stay with JBT morale and be around. They need a knowledge base, they need to learn. As soon as you get that knowledge, nobody can ever take it away from you. Right? So I tell ’em to be a sponge. Manage their capacity, right? ’cause you’re constantly in meetings and whatnot.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: But I will invite them. They wanna take part and continue to learn. I am here for it because I want them to have the opportunity to build their skillset and be a very well-rounded treasury person.

Mike Richards: And just, I gave that headline speech about JBT unites JBT, and morale and stuff. When you arrived, what were JBT and who are they now?

Mike Richards: And then we’ll go back into your career path. So yeah, because I always like to, the listeners sometimes, you know, work in totally different industries, but then they go, oh, actually that’s quite similar to us. Well, that’s very different. Yeah. Just talk us through that briefly.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Right. So when I started at JBT, we had two divisions.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: We had our food tech division and we had our aero tech division. Again, we were a spinoff from another company, and so they had spun off these two divisions. The food manufacturing. Space a lot on the poultry side, some beverage, things like that. And then on the Aerotech side. Systems equipment’s, the jet bridge, you walk on to getting onto an airplane.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Two things that really didn’t mesh, and so we were constantly totally

Mike Richards: different.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Explain who we were to investors and maybe a little bit to ourselves as well, but the board and our leadership were really on a path to get us to become a pure flu play company, and that’s what we were striving for. Right?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And so in 23. Yeah, think about the calendar here. Yeah. In 23, we divested the aero tech business, sold it off to Oshkosh, another great company here in the Midwest. And at that point it was like, okay, now we have the opportunity to do something transformational in the food space. And so that is when not too long after the aero tech deal was finished, we announced the.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Morale transaction, and it really was bringing together two very complimentary businesses. When you look at something, for example, like a poultry processing line, we now have this value proposition to the customer where we can be that one stop shop. Because we can offer that full line of products that the Tyson or another type of company would need to process that poultry, right?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Yeah. Same thing in the beverage, in the pet food space, and then kind of growing those lines. Again, that value proposition to be that valued provider for the customer to where they can have. One source of truth

Mike Richards: to

Sherri Nicole Speaks: see the company grow. ’cause we’ve done a lot of bolt on and smaller acquisitions and anybody who’s done acquisition work knows that.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Well, you have some big acquisitions and you have some smaller acquisitions. Sometimes the smaller ones are harder to do than the bigger ones, especially if they’re like smaller family owned businesses and trying to get cultures changed. But then this morale transaction really being transformational, you’re bringing two companies that were very similar in size together.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So you have lots of people, you have duplication from corporate functions, things like that. So it’s been. Quite the journey since November of 23 when we announced the deal to get through funding, regulatory approval, getting the deal close to now, really working towards some meaningful integration and during those synergies that we talked about and touted from bringing these two companies together and obviously de-levering, uh, because we actually took on quite a bit of debt to get this deal done.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: But it’s really rewarding ’cause for my team, the way you know, I’ve. Proposed it to them and they believe in they’re, you know, fully locked in, is we have this unique opportunity to build a treasury department. We don’t have to take just what we did in the past. We don’t have to take just what they did in the past.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: We’ll take pieces from each and then if there’s opportunity to just turn things on their head, we have an opportunity to do that now because we can build our department from scratch to now make the best function for this combined company.

Mike Richards: You and I have talked about this, and I’ve actually talked previously to Greg Packard, your ex-boss, who’s now, you know, headed off and stuff.

Mike Richards: Can you talk about how he was your mentor when you walked in that door? You know, talking with previous boss? Yeah. Greg’s great, but what, how did he make an impact? What was he like as a mentor? So, again, you know, I said to some guys in Dublin last week when we were doing one of our sessions that, you know, they were saying about, you know, were you having, they were having mentors.

Mike Richards: I said, but what was in it for the mentor? What was in it for them on their side? Talk us through that relationship.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Yeah, Greg and I hit it off right away. We got, for better or worse, probably similar personalities,

Mike Richards: right?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So it was a great time for me to discover I could be myself in the corporate world, not have to put on airs, turn myself into some corporate robot, but still learn, still have opportunities.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: ’cause he appreciated me for who I was and he actually. Some people take the learning and the training and say, okay, it’s just part of the job. I think Greg just really. He really shines in that space. He’s a really great teacher and he knew how to explain things really well. And so one of the things that really worked for us is not only did we have a great working relationship, but we could laugh and get along ’cause we had a great personal relationship as well.

Mike Richards: Yeah,

Sherri Nicole Speaks: and that doesn’t always go for everybody. Some people like to just do work, but. That’s not how we worked, right? We could go and talk about, he knew a lot about my family. I knew a lot about his. And so developing that rapport was really important. I was very open to him, like, this is the point I’m trying to get to.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I wanna grow my career. I was coming in as a senior analyst, but I didn’t wanna be a senior analyst for the rest of my life. And for him, he knew, okay, at some point I’m gonna move on to something else or retire. I wanna make sure you’re set up for success. So that was all from a very early on. Our path together.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: It was outlined, it was discussed, and so it was, okay, what are the pieces that I need to continue to grow so that when these opportunities come up, I’m ready to embrace them in the treasury space, in the corporate world. He was for me, one of the best allies I’ve ever had. Not only as a woman in the treasury space, but as a black woman in the treasury space.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: As you can imagine, and as some people may not want to imagine, there’s some interesting dynamics that you come across in the corporate world. Yeah. But when you have somebody advocating for you and being an ally for you in that space and not allowing for any of kind of those dynamics to come through, it is really.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I’m, I’ve been really lucky and privileged to have somebody in my corner like that to bring me along the path.

Mike Richards: And you also talked when we had our conversation, but you got that role, senior T Analyst. You’re now the treasurer. So you’ve gone through that and Greg got you there. But I know you were conscious of being liked by the team and being at one stage with a team member.

Mike Richards: Then you have team leader and then you are the full leader. How have you balanced being approachable with sometimes difficult conversations? How do you do that? So how have you dealt with that?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: That’s really hard. You know, I think one of my spaces of opportunity, I. From a leadership perspective is I do wanna make sure, I wanna be somebody’s friend.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I wanna be that trusted person. I don’t wanna have this time, just very rigid mindset. So making sure I stay approachable. And sometimes when you build those relationships with folks, it could be, make it harder. That to then. Not necessarily reprimand or have the difficult conversations and bring things up with folks, but I would actually turn that on its head and say, if you do build those relationships with people, when it’s time to have those difficult conversations, they’re a little bit easier to have and they’re easier to digest on the other side because that person knows that you’re invested in them, that you have a good relationship with them and you’re coming to them.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: To help them get through whatever this issue is. Yeah, right. So it’s about building that relationship. And so for me and my team, we’ve, over the years, we’ve just been able to grow really closely together and know, you know, they know that, you know, I’ve done their job before. And I think that’s one of the benefits for my team is I was the analyst at one point.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I was the senior analyst at one point. All those roles. I know so they could come to me and I’m not gonna give them some, you know, high level, overarching kind of high level. Like I’ve been in the weeds, I know exactly what they’ve done before and I think that kinda helps them a lot. ’cause they know I’m not just giving advice from, you know, coming from a different place.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I’m coming from, I’ve done this before. Yeah. So between my experience and having done those roles before, but then also just again. Being personable, being open to share, knowing that I’m not just gonna come in and we’re just gonna work. Are we gonna go and we’re gonna eat together? Are we gonna maybe go have a drink together?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: You know, I’ve met many of their families, their kids, things like been the weddings, things like that. So that all goes in. I honestly think that is what is different for our treasury department versus the other departments in our company. Honestly.

Mike Richards: It sounds to the listeners, but you and I have had this discussion.

Mike Richards: It’s all been smooth sailing, you know, just like an easy life. No, you’ve gone, but you’ve navigate, you’ve gone through layoffs, you’ve gone through massive deals, imposter syndrome. You face these tough, this moments or someone listening, they’re going, well, it all sounds great, but, oh, actually again, you know what?

Mike Richards: How have you overcome them? Or what’s been your, how have you got through it?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Those, you know, it does sound like really great. Like I put in my time and I got, yeah, I was on the the board.

Mike Richards: That’s why, I mean, that’s why I’m perfect.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: There’s been so many bumps along the road, but there’s couple things. One, you surround yourself with the right people.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Yeah. You surround yourself with people that you think also have your best interests at heart. And then, you know, for me, being rooted in my personal foundation and my faith and what my end goal is, and it’s important to have like no delusions of grandeur. If you’re think you’re gonna take on a roll or go down a path, you’re gonna get there super smoothly.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: All you’re doing is setting yourself up for success. And it’s not to be a glass half empty person, but it’s it to be. Rooted in reality of kind of what the world is. You’re gonna come across situations that are really hard. You’re gonna come across conversations that are really difficult. You’re gonna come across people that aren’t in your corner.

Mike Richards: Yeah. Come

Sherri Nicole Speaks: across situations like just world dynamics, like, you know, the economy or things like that. That aren’t in your control, but you say, okay, how do I position myself to when these things come up? You know, they happen and I can come out of them quickly. Yeah. And continue on my ultimate goal of being ex or doing, you know, whatever some people’s goal isn’t become, to become a treasurers to maybe, you know, just continue to learn or you know, whatever it may be.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: But what is your end goal? I used to hate when people would ask, well, what do you see yourself in five years? I didn’t have an answer and it wasn’t until I came into, started really getting rooted here at JBT, saw that I really had a mentor, an ally that was like, okay, nope. This is what we’re gonna do and these are the steps in the roles to get you.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I. To, to climb the ladder here. And I was like, oh, okay. I actually see a path. That’s the next role and that’s the next opportunity. Yeah. And then getting people in the industry and talking with them as well, and they took this role, then they took this role and this is how they learn and these are the people that they know and these are the education that they got.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: It’s okay. I’m gonna be rooted in these things and be very purposeful. For me, my career is very important, so I don’t take these things lightly. Yeah. And so. This is my path. I’m gonna stay the course. You are gonna have craters and bumps along the way, and I’m gonna dig myself out because I know the end goal is still for me to get even further,

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Mike Richards: Let’s get back to the episode. So we had our pre-chat as well, and one of the things you talked about that chasing dollars was never your thing. You weren’t really focused on that. But when recruiters like me, amazing recruiters like me, came calling and the money’s coming there, and you knew it wasn’t the right thing, but you put down the phone on recruiters.

Mike Richards: You see, we never nearly fell out, but we never did. It was all right. I, I could understand the reasons, but could you, again, for the audience, explain how you got through that. You knew the money was there, how did you hold your nerve or knowing it wasn’t the right thing?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I had that unique opportunity to be laid off from the mortgage industry and have to start over again before as terrible as at a time that was.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I learned so much from that time in the mortgage industry and then that space of time where I was out of work, I knew that’s not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I was really young and I was making really good one. It was incredible. I was like, I can do all these things. This is not money that I grew up with.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Yeah, I wasn’t really happy. I knew money didn’t make. You know, you have this job, you collect this check every two weeks, and you still incredibly unfulfilled. I knew very young, fortunately, or unfortunately, that that wasn’t the end all be all, and so for me it was really about that starting over. You know, the grass isn’t always greener.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Maybe sometimes it’s a little less brown, but do you sacrifice? All this work, you’ve put in all the social capital for maybe just the dollars. Are you really taking the right step in your career path? And for me, the way it had been since been set up for me here at JBT is this opportunity for growth. But I also was at a company that was growing, so there was an excitement of what was next to come in the company.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Right? So it’s like I could jump to another senior role, or I could jump to the manager role. I could do that. But then am I really integrated into business? Do people really know me? Am I still just constantly trying to learn about the business and figure out who to talk to? Part of what makes my job? My job is not easy, but what helps me on my day to day is even after 11 years here at JBT Morale and there’s been changeovers, like somebody could say, Hey, do you know who you talked to for X?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And I was like, yeah, I do, because I’ve been here so long. I put in my time.

Mike Richards: Yeah.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: You know, or it’s like, Hey, do you know what happened when we did this transaction? Well, yeah, I do know. ’cause I put in my time and I’ve been here and I’ve stayed the course. And again, there was a pretty defined path. I knew where I could get to if it was set up to where I was like, okay, yeah, I don’t know.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I don’t know when he may retire or I, there may be some roadblocks. I don’t know what’s gonna go on with the company. I would’ve been a little bit more interested in having some of those conversations. Yeah. For me, like I had put in so much effort, I wanted to see it through. Honestly, it was like, if you’re on a certain path and this is what you wanna do, you gotta see it through.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: If you keep saying, all right, I’m gonna try to something else and then go down that path, it’s taking in for me. In my mind, it was like, it’s gonna just take me even longer to get to that. To get to that role. So being mindful that the dollars don’t make, I mean the dollars make a difference. You wanna make sure you’re well paid and you know, we put in a lot of work, a lot of hours, and you wanna make sure you’re properly compensated and there’s nice things that come with that, but, and you can’t take it with you.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So while you’re here, are you fulfilled? Are you probably feeling Fulfillment doesn’t always come through money. It comes through experience. It comes through, you know, who are you interacting with on a daily basis? Do you feel like, if we’re just talking from a work perspective, what is your company trying to do?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Do you believe in the mission? Things like that.

Mike Richards: And that segues nicely as if it was planned. And we did some rehearsal into your sort of mindset, personal development. I know that you’ve talked in the past about how you’ve dealt with anxiety in your position and then you work with an executive coach.

Mike Richards: What have you learned about that? How has it helped you and how has it helped your leadership sort of thing?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Yeah. Being very open and honest with myself and the people that I work with I think is really important. And some would probably, maybe disagree with that level of vulnerability, but it is just who I authentically am and getting to that patient.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: You, you talked about it a little earlier about imposter syndrome, more the anxiety and those things get heightened when you’re trying to be somebody that you’re not. And so that, that is not energy I want to give. I wanna make sure my energy is put in the right spaces so that I can be successful. And, you know, a lot of people deal with anxiety, deal with it in different ways, and it can become crippling.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And I want to make sure that the things that brought up my anxiety, that heightened my anxiety did not cripple me when I took over the treasure rose A very short. Transition period very early on in the transaction trying to get this morale transaction done. And I’m like, I’m taking over now and this is the amount of transition time we have.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And so I just got very nervous and very anxious of the surprise of the timing, the very short amount of time of transition with this desired, with this other side of, well, this is what I wanted and this is what I work for. This is what I thought it was gonna look like. I’m here and I want to be successful at this.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And thankfully I just had the foresight. There was a thought came to me. If I’m gonna be successful at this, I need to make sure I have the right support and I need to make sure I get help. And I was not that I didn’t believe in therapy before, it was not something I’d done before, but I’d found a lady through my church who’s been a therapist, but has a coaching practice.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And so I reached out to her and I said, Jackie, I need help. I need, I wanna be successful, but here’s what’s going on. And I am very nervous and anxious about it ’cause I’m not quite sure a hundred percent what I’m getting myself into. I’ve been here a long time, but there’s some other dynamics here. And having somebody that I can.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Lean on because I’m still working with her. So I’ve been working with her for a little over a year now. Somebody I can say, this is what I’m feeling, this is the anxiety I’m having around this meeting, or this person, or this relationship or just managing all, ’cause it was so heavy and there’s a lot of eyes, you know, getting all this funding.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Making sure the department stays stable through this transaction, working through closing the deal. And this integration is a lot of eyes and a lot of pressure on it. And that’s like, I want to be successful. I don’t wanna get this opportunity and then don’t do it well. ’cause I put all these years of being in treasury to get to this point.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And so she has been incredibly helpful for me to just navigate getting out of my own way, honestly.

Mike Richards: In association with that, you’ve built your personal brand and as you’ve said, unapologetically authentic. That’s one of your phrases and stuff, is no, for other advice for treasury professionals who feel they maybe have to be a bit more corporate.

Mike Richards: I’ve been through a similar thing with over the past six months with my business coach and she said, you need to get out there and give advice and do these Friday videos and like really, you know, so we do the bit of advice on the Tuesday. Then I do the bit of advice to camera and I’m like. The first few weeks, you’re like, oh, really seeing this?

Mike Richards: I mean, that’s why I’ve got a face for a podcast. You can see this. But the fact is, now I had a, a YouTube coach, he approached me. He said, oh, you should be on YouTube. I’m like, no, treasurers are in LinkedIn. This is where they want the advice. And I said, look, I’ve had a quarter of a million impressions in the past three months.

Mike Richards: Oh wow. These guys love this stuff. And I’m not building the personal brand to go, Hey, look at me, Mr. Treasury. I’m doing it because. This is what my audience like yourself want. And that’s why that’s what I’m talking about on stage at a FP conference in Boston. Yeah. Meredith Barn and Sandra Ramas, we’re talking about how those ladies have built their personal brands and all I’m gonna do a lot of the time is just repeat some of the stuff I’ve done and that’s what I think treasury professionals will do.

Mike Richards: But that’s enough on me talking. This is your podcast, but what advice do you give to treasury professionals when they, you know, that balance between corporate expectations and you, and how do you get the two married together, or how do you do it?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: It’s a journey, right? Because there is that initial, you know, you create that basis of you’ve gotta make sure you’re a trusted resource, that you’re technically sound.

Mike Richards: Yeah,

Sherri Nicole Speaks: you can be a great person, but you can’t do the job right? You can’t do the job, but you’re not also going to be able to do that job. If you’re doing, if you’re in this struggle of, all right, who am I showing up as every day, you are only gonna get part of your results gonna be stifled by all the energy that you’re putting into being somebody that you’re not.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I say that from personal experience because I’m trying to walk into a room of people that aren’t like me, that don’t have the same background as me, and trying to fit in and assimilate. And play the part, but then I don’t show up fully in my work. And what it then becomes is physically and mentally exhausting to try to be somebody that you’re not.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And so then I’d gotten to a point where I was like, and you sometimes you find some situations like, okay, I did that and this is work and this is the opportunity I’ve got from it. But it was a really painful path to get to that opportunity. Or you put in the work in, it still doesn’t happen and you still have some negative.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Interactions when you put all this effort again to be somebody that you’re not, okay, why am I going through all of this? And it’s not very fulfilling to me. And so I’ve just gotten to the point of this is what you get. You know, I know what my value is and what I can, what I can bring to the table. I’m also still in the posture of making sure I am still learning and developing.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: ’cause we will not, I convinced we will never know at all. Especially in the treasury space. Yeah. Just in general. You’ll never know it all. And so the point where I got to, I said, okay, you know what? This is who I am. If you don’t like it, there are plenty other people out there, but I’m not gonna expense all this energy to try to be somebody that I’m not because I’m not gonna be successful in my role.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: You know, whether it be things like aesthetic, things like. You think about the corporate world 20 years ago, you wouldn’t see people with tattoos or things like that. And it’s like, Nope. If I’m gonna have my, you’re gonna see all these things about me, you’re gonna hear about the things that I like to do outside of work.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: You are gonna get the authentic version of me because I don’t have capacity to pretend. I really don’t.

Mike Richards: And if someone, you know, you touched on it there. If someone listening is that similar crossroads as you were back in oh seven, you know, so quite a few years ago, but. Unsure of the next step, what would you, what advice would you give them?

Mike Richards: It sort of relates to that, if you like.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Well, some of it is building a network and finding people. Who are you surrounding yourself with? Because if you find, ’cause sometimes you com compartmentalize it, right? You have this group of people that really know you and you’re yourself around, and then these people are not.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: If you continue to build a network of people where you can authentically be yourself, when you’re in those other situations, it becomes easier and it just becomes part of your. Posture again. Okay. I’m just gonna be myself. I’m just gonna be natural here. And then, but again, being. A trusted resource when it comes to the technicals is really important.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So you can’t say, okay, this is who I am. You’re gonna have to accept it. But what I’ve made sure I’ve done over my career is, especially at JBT, making sure I become that trusted resource and can be of value and helping the business and being technically sound so they kind of go hand in hand. So people, I developed those relationships.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: People know that they could come to me, they were gonna get a good information, they were gonna get a good corporate partner to help achieve certain goals or solve certain issues. And then as they got to know me, they really got to know me.

Mike Richards: Yeah.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Because they were like, okay, this is who she is. And I was comfortable as I built the relationships, I was like, well, I’ve been working with that person.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: They know who I am, they know what I can do, and maybe I can actually just be myself. So it becomes this path and journey of a little bit of give and take at times. It’s not always perfect, but if I, I try to just make sure I stay in that mindset of go in, in your authentic skin, who you are. And what I’ve learned is most people are actually pretty receptive to it.

Mike Richards: Yeah. And you and I spoke before you go to an A FP board meeting tonight, so you’re on the A FP board. You kept on saying yes to that, which is one of the reasons. We, you know, I have Pat Calkin on the show and we had a number of the board members and we, he and I talked about, you know, some of the biggest opportunities and challenges facing the profession at the moment.

Mike Richards: And you guys are the a fp being part of it and it’s, you know, now people listening today, they get a CTP credit is a great thing to do, but it’s also, I didn’t originally do this podcast to do this, you know, I thought we’d do 10, we’ve done 358, 360. It’s like, ’cause I love talking to treasurers like you guys, so.

Mike Richards: What are the opportunities, challenges you see coming down the line for treasurers? Then we’re gonna do the LinkedIn piece and then I’ve got a killer final question, which I’m gonna do, but we’re holding that, but it’s a good one. It’s an easy one. But a FP, what, you know, how we, what challenges are coming down or opportunities would you say?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: You know, I think a challenge and an opportunity for the treasury profession is going to be, how do we bring up. Young people through this career. Again, as I mentioned in the beginning, it’s not like you can go to school and get a treasury degree.

Mike Richards: Yeah.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So how do we basically market our profession? Dave Pete’s been doing some great work with universities, and so if we can get more involved there, people outta school end up knowing, oh, treasury is an option.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: It’s not just banking or. Accounting or the other business roles, right? Like, oh, treasury’s an option, and people find out about treasury. They go, oh, you guys do all of that? I was like, yeah, we do all of that. I gave a talk to our, some of our accounting folks the other day that we’re in from all around the country and it explaining all the things that are captured in the treasury department.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: They’re like, oh, that’s amazing. Getting people getting a good basis of. Folks that we can bring along the career path. I’m really like, I got a pretty young team, and so they’ll be able to grow and develop. And then just from an industry perspective, it’ll be interesting to see where things like technology and ai, how they affect our business.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: I admittedly have not been a proponent of AI in the beginning. I can see places where it is beneficial now as I’m learning more.

Mike Richards: Yeah.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: But when it comes to money, um, we’ve gotta be really, really careful because there’s so much at risk. So when we’re talking about AI for applications throughout our lives.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: There’s obviously lots of implications, but when it comes to money, there can be some really negative implications. So I just think we need to be careful to not jump on these bandwagons of technology. We need to embrace them because they can be really beneficial and really impactful for how we operate, but we need to be really careful, not jump on bandwagons just because, oh, this is the newest trend and this is what everybody else is doing.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: ’cause does it really fit what we are doing? Our space, does it really fit what your company is going for, what your risk tolerance is? So I think we just need to be really careful with that. Be

Mike Richards: aware about, be aware of the bright, shiny things.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Exactly.

Mike Richards: Yeah, exactly. And you and I, we’re gonna go to the closing minute, but we’re not quite there.

Mike Richards: But we are gonna meet a F AFP conference of Boston, which can be fantastic. And anyone listening today, you can go to our partners page, treasury recruitment.com/partners. You get a discount for coming to the conference. So, you know, and also for CTP study. So that’s why we partnered with you guys and everything else.

Mike Richards: So that’s a key thing and I’m giving that shout out. So, you know, go to the partner’s page, look for it. We’re gonna put your LinkedIn details in the show notes, so that’s where you’re going. Flood of people and people said, oh my god, it’s great. Loads of people connected to me that want to do. And takeaways for today’s show.

Mike Richards: And I have got a closing question. It’s a good one though. So what are your takeaways for someone that. Is in their career and thinking, I’m early stage of my career, this is great. What should I do? What decisions should I make? And for the more senior people, what are the takeaways?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Building your brand.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Building your personal brand, who are you when you walk into a room? Yeah. And is that authentic to you? Building your network? You can’t do it alone. Create a village for yourself that you are learning from and that you can pour into as well.

Mike Richards: Yeah.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: And then be a sponge. Again, we don’t know everything.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: There’s so much to learn. The industry, the world is changing so rapidly, fast. You wanna make sure that you are well rounded, you’re up to date on all the things that are going on. You don’t wanna be pigeonholed into one space. So find opportunities to learn, whether it be within your company or outside of your company, like a organization like a FP.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Yeah, lots of webinars. Your career is in your hands. It’s only going to be as successful as the effort that you put into it. And yes, you are gonna have people that champion you and bring you along the way. And you wanna make sure that you have people in your network where if you need an opportunity you can reach out to, but you are in charge.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So don’t wait for things to happen to you. You have to make them happen.

Mike Richards: Perfect. Now I’m not gonna finish quite there. I’ve got this one thing, and it’s not a trick question, so it’s a good one, but it’s like, say you had that time machine or you had that. Cell phone or home phone or whatever it is. If you were to phone yourself when you were starting your treasury career, so, so when you’ve come outta mortgage and broking and things like that and you are looking back and said, what’s the one thing now that you know, or a couple of things that you, that you pick up the phone and say, hi, Sherry, it’s me.

Mike Richards: It’s like, wow. On 20 odd years. Yeah. What are the things you wish or you reassure yourself just to reflect on that if you like.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Yeah, I think I wish I would, when you start in treasury, you think it’s just this one path forward and this is what it looks like everywhere. I wish I would’ve started building my network soon, and I’ve made up for it over the years, but then finding other opportunities to learn so that I was more well-rounded in the beginning.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So I could have taken, maybe taken on some opportunities a little bit sooner, but I do think things happen for a reason.

Mike Richards: Yeah,

Sherri Nicole Speaks: and so being a little bit more inquisitive. Early on, I think could have benefited me. As well. But, you know, sometimes I also think, ’cause somebody also asked me a similar question about this recently and I about, oh, what, what was your, what’s your biggest regret in your career?

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Or something like that. And I say, well, you know what? Or something you wish didn’t happen. And we, they were talking about like the mortgage thing again, I learned a lot from it. There were things that have happened in my career that weren’t great, but I’ve learned from them and they have tra they’ve transformed me into the person that I am today.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: So no, would I necessarily want to repeat some of those things that have happened? No, but they did add value in the end because I was able to find what I could take from those situations to then better myself, better my career path. And so I would say it’s not even, the bad is not always bad.

Mike Richards: Love it.

Mike Richards: You’ve been absolute superstar and I know you’re gonna catch a plane soon. Thank you very much, Sherry, and looking forward to seeing you very soon.

Sherri Nicole Speaks: Great. Thanks Max. Thanks for having me. Thank you.

Mike Richards: Thank you. Today’s episode of the Treasury Career Corner was brought to you with the support of our partners ICD.

Mike Richards: If you are looking for a smarter way to manage your short-term investments, ICDs independent portal gives you access to a full range of investment products, integrated analytics, and a simple centralized platform built specifically for treasury. If you head over to treasury recruitment.com/partners, you can learn more and we’ll be able to connect you with the right person at ICD for both you and your business.

Mike Richards: Many thanks for listening to the show and thanks for your continued support.