Why Networking Is Key to Building Your Treasury Skills with Alan Goldblatt

Of all the tools and skills you need under your belt for a career in treasury, networking might be the most important. Networking can help you learn and grow in your field, find new opportunities, solve problems, and also improve open communication across teams. Alan Goldblatt, Vice President, Treasurer Farmer Mac, joined this episode of The Treasury Career Corner podcast to talk more about it. Since August 2020, Alan has led the debt capital markets team covering areas of debt funding, liquidity investments, and asset/liability management. Prior to joining Farmer Mac, Alan served as VP of Finance and Treasurer at Blackboard Inc., a leading global education technology firm. While at Blackboard, Alan held leadership roles in Capital Markets, Investor Relations, Payments Processing, Treasury Operations, and Mergers & Acquisitions. In addition, Alan served as Assistant Treasurer at TerraForm Power and Senior Policy Advisor for Capital Markets at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, with a focus on housing finance reform. He also served as VP of Finance at Fannie Mae, Treasurer at American Management Systems (now CGI Corp), and Financial Risk Manager at Mobil Oil (now ExxonMobil). Alan is a licensed CPA and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University and an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac) is a stockholder-owned, government-sponsored enterprise or "GSE" created by Congress to improve the availability of long-term credit for America's farmers, ranchers, rural homeowners, businesses, and communities. Farmer Mac accomplishes this public policy mission by providing a secondary market for qualified agricultural mortgage loans, rural housing mortgage loans, rural utilities loans, and the guaranteed portions of agricultural and rural development loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

On the podcast Alan Goldblatt and I discussed…

• Alan’s background in finance and treasury
• The differences between working at private firms and government entities
• How treasurers help a wider business’ needs
• Why treasurers need to be proactive and prepared for the future
• Why networking is one of the most important parts of a treasury career
• How open dialogue across teams can help problem-solving

You can connect with Alan Goldblatt on LinkedIn. Are you interested in pursuing a career within Treasury? Whether you’ve recently graduated, or you want to search for new job opportunities to help develop your treasury career, The Treasury Recruitment Company can help you in your search for the perfect job. Find out more here. Or, send us your CV and let us help you in your next career move! If you’re enjoying the show please rate and review us on whatever podcast app you listen to us on, for Apple Podcasts click here!