At CFO Selections, we may work in numbers… but we’re in the business of people. Because behind every financial report is a person making hard decisions, and behind every engagement is a human-to-human connection. In this series, we’re shining a light on those stories — introducing the consultants who guide our clients forward and the leaders who bring those numbers to life.
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Connecting the Dots
After more than 35 years in finance, Carrie Mygatt knows how to see the whole picture. “I’ve worked across finance, procurement, IT, HR, and operations,” she says. “The key is to connect the dots between what’s happening in the business and the financial impact.”
When she retired in 2020, Carrie had been working seventy to eighty hours a week for forty years. “You get bored. You want to keep your mind sharp rather than sitting at home alone,” says Carrie. “I didn’t want to do it full time. I thought consulting could be kind of cool.”
When CFO Selections called, the timing was right. “I talked to Jen, Mark, Becky, and Kevin and really liked the team,” she says. “I knew some of them from the past. They worked with my schedule and would always ask what worked for me and the client versus just saying, ‘Here’s a job, good luck.’”
Early in her career, Carrie learned an important truth about building teams. “At one company,” she recalls, “we kept having turnover. People weren’t failing because they weren’t talented. They were failing because the environment didn’t match their skills. We were hiring people who wanted maintenance mode when the business was in build mode.”
She defines the distinction. “Maintenance mode means you’ve already built the infrastructure. Your job is to keep things running efficiently,” she says. “Build mode is when you have little infrastructure and have to create it. You’re putting systems in place for the first time and figuring out what the business needs to grow.”
“The important thing,” she adds, “is to really know your organization and know who can be successful in it. Some people thrive on structure; others love creating it. You need to match the person to the environment.”
From Consultant to Client
When Carrie joined AGC Biologics as Head of Finance, she recognized that the company was in build mode. “What got us here wasn’t going to get us there,” she says. “We needed stronger technical accounting, treasury, and systems expertise, and we needed to build the processes and capabilities that would support the company’s growth.”
To do that, she turned to CFO Selections and ASP, which she describes as a one-stop shop for financial leadership and recruiting support. “They can help you in so many ways,” Carrie explains. “Whether it’s interim coverage, a specific skill set, or a full search, you can find what you need in one place.”
“We had never had a corporate controller,” she continues. “CFO Selections came in to help us get our close process under control, identify issues, and stabilize operations. They filled that gap while we hired full time.”
She’s since used their support across her department, bringing in ASP for specialized projects, contingent recruiting when speed matters, and fractional leadership for high-level expertise. “Sometimes we need someone next week,” she says. “Their flexibility lets us scale and adapt.”
The Language of Trust
At the center of Carrie’s leadership is one principle: trust. “We have a philosophy here—bad news first,” she says. “That’s how you build a foundation of trust. If that’s not there, it’s hard to build anything else.”
For Carrie, that trust extends beyond her immediate team. “It’s really about driving the strategy and making an impact, showing how finance can be part of running the business, not just someone who tracks the scorecard,” she says. “Having mutual respect and open communication with my peer group is what gives us the ability to make decisions together. We each come at it from different disciplines—finance, HR, legal, operations—but collectively, we’re steering the business.”
That belief also shapes how she works with CFO Selections and ASP. “We introduce our partners to our core values,” she says. “Trust, accountability, knowledge. These are how we operate. CFO Selections consistently brings people who align with that.”
Carrie also insists on meeting every person who joins her team, whether full-time or fractional. “Every person who interacts with others represents the finance team and me,” she says. “If it’s a good interaction, it reflects well on all of us. If it’s not, it reflects poorly. So I want to know who’s representing us.”
That personal investment in people, and alignment with partners who share her values, has become one of AGC’s competitive advantages.
Beyond the Numbers
“The people are what keep me here,” Carrie says simply. “One of the fun things about being a consultant or working is being able to influence people, help them see, develop, and grow in their career.”
She’s quick to point out that numbers are only part of the story. “Finance isn’t just about tracking results,” she says. “It’s about helping run the business and making it better for a lot of different people.”
“The people are actually what keeps me here, honestly,” she adds. “That’s what makes the work worth it.”
