Michelle Bannigan is the Finance Director for the City of Stanton and CSMFO’s Orange County Chapter Chair. She has been a CSMFO member for about 15 years! Her candor jumps out in her responses and a few will make you chuckle as you read along. Responses also include thoughtful tips to consider when you are on your way to becoming a Finance Director, transitioning from manager to director, and how CSMFO can support your career along your journey. Let’s get to know Michelle.

1. With New Year’s just happening, what is your favorite New Year’s tradition?

My favorite holiday tradition is spending New Year’s Day at my Aunt Faith’s house in Glendale. My aunt has hosted this event since before I was born. The house is filled with extended family members and family friends who travel across the country to attend. Many of the out of towners do not make it down to Southern California for Thanksgiving or Christmas but do come down for New Year’s. In addition to seeing people that I only see at this annual event, I also get to enjoy many of my favorite Japanese dishes like Shabu Shabu, sushi, and tempura.

2. How has a previous or current mentor impacted your career?

After 13 years in public accounting, I explored pursuing a career in local government finance and soon after started my local government finance career as an Accounting Manager at City of San Juan Capistrano. The CFO at the time, Cindy Russell, knew that my ultimate career goal was to be a Finance Director.

During the four years we worked together, she helped prepare me for my future career path in keyways. For example, other than her weekly one-on-one meetings with the City Manager, I attended pretty much any other meeting she was attending. This was valuable because it allowed me to be informed on a variety of issues and happenings at the City and helped me develop relationships with the City Manager and members of the Executive Team.

In addition, from the beginning under Cindy’s leadership, I was responsible for presenting staff reports to City Council. If a City Council member had a question for Finance, I would go to the microphone to provide the response. I remember being so nervous prior to the first meeting when the quarterly financial report was being presented because I was worried, I wouldn’t know an answer to a question. Cindy put me at ease telling me not to worry and to respond as best as I could, and she would jump in and add any additional information if needed.

3. What do you enjoy most about your job?

I enjoy the diversity in my job and I like collaborating with different departments at the City.

4. Knowing what you know now, if you were new to government finance what would you do differently when you started your career?

I would have paid more attention when the “government accounting” section was addressed in my Advanced Accounting class. I completely dismissed it because I didn’t think it would be relevant to me.

5. What is your current position and what do your children or friends think you do at work?

I’m a Finance Director. I don’t think my friends who are not in local government understand what I do. When they hear “Finance Director”, they assume I’m doing something related to investing funds. My two teenagers definitely don’t know what I do except they think I work for the Mayor and that my job is “too hard” because I work late.

6. What have you learned about yourself from being a CSMFO Chapter Chair?

I’ve learned a lesson to think before you volunteer! Just kidding. Being a Chapter Chair is challenging because you have competing responsibilities between your “real job” and this volunteer opportunity. I learned that I’m not as effective with time management as I thought I was. Unfortunately, that meant my Chapter Chair responsibilities suffered as a result when I missed a Board and Committee meeting or a Chapter Chair meeting. One of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2021 is to navigate the time commitment for being Chapter Chair better.

7. How do you motivate staff and yourself?

I motivate myself by enjoying the weekend. I’m fortunate to be able to work a 4/10 work schedule, which provides me a three-day weekend every week. I will only allow myself to work one of the three days during the weekend. When the workload is particularly heavy, then I’m putting in more hours during the 4/10 work schedule, however, having two full days off is very rewarding.

In addition, I like to-do lists. I get personal satisfaction in scratching an item off my list. To motivate my team, I’ve implemented tools I’ve learned while attending CSMFO training events. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is if you show your staff you appreciate them throughout the year, they will be motivated to work hard for you. I’ve put this in action by remembering their birthdays, buying the Department lunch, and giving them Christmas presents. In addition, I provide them many training opportunities and encourage them to participate in the topics that interest them. (This has been a lot easier this year with so many virtual training options!)

8. What has been the most challenging time in your finance career and how did you overcome it?

The most challenging part of my career was becoming a Finance Director. Throughout my 22-year working career, I’ve always been promoted to the next level pretty quickly. For example, I was a Manager at the CPA firm within five years. When I was ready to leave public accounting to pursue my career in local government finance, I was successful in getting hired at the first agency/first position I applied for. I promoted from Accounting Manager to Assistant Finance Director in less than 6 months.

From there, it took several applications and interviews before I found the place where I was meant to be a Director. The challenge I encountered in pursuing a Finance Director position was that I was viewed as someone who was smart with strong technical skills and was viewed as a “manager” not a “director”.

The way I overcame that was CSMFO training! I remember a topic at a recent CSMFO Conference where there were mock interviews we could observe. Listening to the feedback from the panel and how to “share your story” was instrumental in me getting through the first interview panel and ultimately being offered the job as a director.

9. What is something about you that no one would ever guess or expect?

I do not enjoy public speaking. (This seems to surprise people when I admit this.)

10. What are you looking forward to in 2021?

An in person happy hour.