Cheryl Calhoun is a seasoned veteran of public accounting, with a career spanning almost 40 years. She joined the finance industry when it was completely dominated by white men. It took her some time to gain the trust of her employers and clients, and once she did that, there was no stopping her from carving out a significant place for herself in the industry. Today, she is the Managing Director at CBIZ MHM, LLC and a towering figure in the arena of finance.
The Original Career Plan
Cheryl’s career in finance has been long and very successful. However, when she was young, she did not envision for herself a career in finance. She wanted to become a doctor. So, when she enrolled at a college, she took a pre-med major. The realization that doctors deal with blood made her change her major. Cheryl was unaware of that because, at the time, blood was not shown on television. “Once I learned that doctors deal with blood, I knew it [becoming a doctor] would not work for me,” Cheryl says.
She was in college during a tumultuous time in U.S. history. There were protests by the Black Student Union, and the Vietnam War was also going on. “There was a lot of turmoil in America,” Cheryl says. That influenced her decision to change her major to History/Political Science – focused on social justice. As her college years drew to a close, she began to think about how she would make a living from what she was doing. It led her to enroll in an accounting course.
“I found something I really loved,” Cheryl says. “I loved accounting. I loved the idea that I could help people and impact my community in a very positive way while also having a very lucrative career.” That is how she stepped into the field of finance. Cheryl also went on to earn an MBA degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.
A Black Woman in White Men-Dominated Industry
When Cheryl started her career, women were rarely visible in the finance industry. And there were numerous barriers that prevented people of color from entering it.
“The finance industry is based on trust, and we tend to trust people who look like us,” Cheryl points out. So, initially, she found it difficult to make employers and clients trust her abilities. For her, this was a huge stumbling block, and it took a lot of time and energy to overcome it. It also required perseverance, she says. Instead of doubting her abilities, Cheryl learned from the experience and became stronger.
She says that in every role she stepped into, she was unique because of being a woman of color. And she made that “uniqueness” an asset and not a liability. “I knew that whatever I did once I walked into that room, they are going to remember me,” Cheryl says. “So, I needed to make sure that my expertise and ability stood out so greatly that their memory of me would be important and positive.”
Working at CBIZ MHM
CBIZ MHM offers a range of financial, business, and professional advisory services. It targets the middle market, primarily privately held companies that make $100 million or less in sales. Cheryl’s journey with CBIZ started when the Los Angeles-based CPA firm where she was working became a part of it in 1999. She informs that the two largest local CPA firms merged to become CBIZ’s LA office.
She is currently the co-leader of Family Office Practice in LA. Family office practices are made of high-net individuals and their closely held businesses. Cheryl and her team handle everything about their lives. They take care of everything, including investments, taxes, insurance – anything that impacts them financially and other related aspects.
Cheryl leads a group of people who are devoted to individuals and their companies. Both she and her team are invested in the success of their clients. They derive their motivation from that as well. “We make sure that our clients do not have to worry about the interface of their business with their personal lives and taxes,” Cheryl says. “We are the financial arm for them, letting them know what they need to pay attention to and making sure that their money is taken care of, assets are protected, and there are no tax issues.”
As she runs her LA-based practice from the East Coast, Cheryl splits her time between two coasts. In the morning, she looks at emails, reviews financial information from clients, and sets the day up. “It is because they [clients on the West Coast] are not awake yet,” Cheryl points out. In the middle of the day, she responds to the needs of the staff and clients and interacts with insurance agencies, financial planners, and investment advisors. And she wraps up her day by setting up for the next day.
Grooming a Successor
Cheryl says that she is almost two years away from retirement. So, she has been grooming her successor for the last year and a half. “It is to make sure that there is a smooth transition with my clients to a new generation of people,” she says. “Making sure that the new generation are prepared and ready to take over.”
She is little by little taking her hands off the steering. But she continues to stay behind it to teach them: “how to be me.”
A Life Well-Lived
Cheryl is a first-generation college graduate. So, when she was young, her main goal was to attend college. For her, success then meant getting into a very good college and having a very good career. “Over the last 40 years of my career, it has evolved into being purposeful, useful, and the macro view of myself as a person and as my role not only in my organization or my family but also in the world,” Cheryl says. “I now have a 360-degree view, which I didn’t have 40 years ago.”
On a micro level, success means achievement of any particular pre-determined goal, she adds.
“And on a macro level, it’s a life well lived.” She believes that she has a well-lived life. “And I believe that no matter what I do in the future, I’ll continue to have a well-lived life,” she says. “And I am grateful for that.”
Cheryl feels that she has achieved far beyond her dreams. As no one in her family was a college graduate, she had no idea what a career truly looked like. She points out that her parents worked hard every day and provided for them, and they did a very good job. But they never talked about what they did at work. “They didn’t have careers,” Cheryl says. “So, I didn’t know what careers looked like.”
“So, it has been breaking new ground every step of the way for me,” she adds. “I’m grateful that they gave me a strong, solid sense of purpose and a strong dedication to values and caring for other people.”
Message to Next Generation and Aspiring Leaders
Cheryl talks to a lot of young people who come to CBIZ. She encourages them to see their life in a holistic way. It is not in terms of what they want to accomplish at CBIZ, but it is in terms of who they want to be and how they want to grow as a professional, person, daughter, son, mother, or father, Cheryl explains. The next generation needs to determine how they want to grow and have all those elements as parts of a whole and not as distinct or separate parts of a whole. They need to have them as interchangeable and interlocking parts of a whole. “If you can do that, you will be successful,” she tells them.
She also says that she has never gone after money. “Early on, I thought I need to make money, but after that, it has been I need to get better and do better,” she adds. “As I got better and did better, I made more money. Then I became able to value myself and to value my services.”
In a message to aspiring leaders, Cheryl stresses the importance of expertise. “You’ve to be good at what you do. You’ve to strive to be the very best of what you do,” she says. “And, if you are technically proficient in whatever you have chosen to do, then you have to communicate and sell that expertise. Instead of trying to make them buy what you are selling, show them what you know.”
