High-Powered Financial Leaders Take Nonprofit Jobs

Finance executives who have left high-powered jobs to take posts at nonprofit organizations say they find their jobs more rewarding but acknowledge that they had to make both professional and personal adjustments, reports CFO.com.

“It’s a completely different mind-set,” says Usha Chaudhary, who after 20 years (and 80-hour workweeks) as a vice president of Freddie Mac, left her corporate post to become chief financial officer of United Way of America.

Ms. Chaudhary says she now works about 60 hours a week, but at this job, working hard isn’t a hardship.

“Maybe it’s psychological, but I don’t mind it as much,” said Ms. Chaudhary. “Even though the challenges and stresses are there, because of the type of work I do or the environment I’m dealing with, it doesn’t seem as stressful as it did at Freddie Mac.”

Former corporate financial officers used to their own administrative assistants say they now find themselves working on the front lines of a nonprofit group, making their own copies, answering their own phones, and generally working without the corporate luxuries they were used to.

“You have to be the type of person who will roll their sleeves up and not only help within the financial and accounting department but also be willing to help deliver the services that the nonprofit is delivering,” says David Seabrook, of College Summit, which helps low-income high-school students get a higher education.