Monday Sept 16 2013
Time Well Spent – Sixty Minutes with Susan Hough
Susan Hough had spliced me into her busy schedule on a bright September morning. The Managing Director of the San Antonio office of Resources Global Professionals met me in the well-lit conference room on the sixth floor of One International Centre. Like many San Antonio financial professionals, the office is located at the juncture of North Loop 410 and Highway 281.
Resources Global Professionals RGP originally began as a consulting division of DeLoitte & Touche CPAs in 1996. It separated in 1999 and went public in December 2000. It trades under the symbol RCEN with 1800 clients in some 70 countries. As Susan later remarked, what do 87 of the Fortune 100 have in common; they are clients of resource Global Professionals. Before we explore Resources, let’s meet Susan.
Over coffee in the conference room, it was clear her family ties ran deep. A self –described Air force brat, her Dad joined the military in 1942 serving in WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam spending thirty years doing what he enjoyed. Born at Wright Patterson in Ohio, and living in Okinawa, gravitating to San Antonio when her Dad retired was a natural. She was in the second graduating class of Clark High School, and then graduated from Southwest Texas State University In December 1984. She received her CPA in 1988 and worked for Peat Marwick for 2.5 years before joining USAA. She learned the workings of USAA where she spent 20 years. She joined RGP in October 2008 as a Client Service Director.
After five years with the company, Susan still beams the RGP mantra, Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. The company website makes it clear that RGP is not the traditional outside looking down at the company kind of consultant. Rather, the firm ‘pioneers an inside out approach, learning the culture of the client company first.’
The firm employs individuals with 10-20 years of finance and accounting experience. As Managing Director of Client Services, Susan emphasized that her focus is on determining the needs of the client. Then her job is to match the Resources, no wonder they chose that name, of the firm with her client’s needs.
RGP has multiple service lines for clients. These include Finance and Accounting, Human Capital, Information Management, Risk and Compliance, and Supply Chain Management. RGP is all about addressing the chaos, confusion, and uncertainty resulting from increased regulation such as Sarbanes Oxley SARBOX and Dodd-Frank.
RGP keeps their consultants abreast of the latest changes via the RGP Academy. The Academy provides web casts for targeted groups. This serves to keep firm consultants abreast of change and works as an information portal to potential and current clients.
One
of Susan’s passions consists of giving back to the community. She earned her
MBA at the University of Texas at San Antonio UTSA while still working at USAA.
UTSA now has some 100,000 alums with 75% of
them living in the Central Texas
area. After five years on the Alumni Board of UTSA, Susan Hough is now serving
as the President of the Board.
Participating in UTSA alumni events clearly brightens her day. As a side
note, Susan has a son attending A & M College Station and has taken the 12th
man pledge…..
Good Managing Directors have great staff. Susan insisted I mention the entire team. Mike Jenkins serves as Director of Client Services, and Amanda Stewart is Operations Coordinators and the newest member of the team, Courtney Kuhn is a Recruiting Manager. . Brian Yeich is Director of Recruiting. The consultants in at client offices rise and fall in number as business demands dictate. All however are employees, not 1099 contractors. Susan specifically mentioned consultants who want work life balance and feel like valued subject matter experts make the best RGP consultants.
I asked about the vetting procedure for a new consultant. Surely Resources does not just send a new recruit, no matter their experience, out to a client, hoping things will go well.
Without consulting the company manual, Susan quickly recited the rubrics that comprise a successful Resources consultant.
First, the person must possess talent in their field.
Second, this must be a person of high integrity.
Third, the consultant must possess enthusiasm. This is expressed via a desire to help and a curiosity to learn about the client company.
Fourth, loyalty to the mantra of RGP (do the right thing) is paramount. For the sustainable business model, the consultant must want to work here, not elsewhere.
So how does one create a culture that drives and supports these four rubrics? The answer came in Susan’s example of their annual conference three years ago, held in Detroit, Michigan. The group was divided into teams. The team project was to assemble a bicycle. This took about 45 minutes to an hour. Once assembled, the group was surprised to meet 100 children from the Boys and girls club of inner city Detroit. These needy children were delighted to receive brand new bikes along with a lock and helmet. . And then the team got to field the question from the kids,
How do I get to work for a company like this?
Recent college graduates don’t get to work for a company like this, they have to earn the experience, background, and character first. This model of business consulting, doing the right thing, continues to power RGP earnings and meet clients’ needs around the world.
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