The CFO'S Perspective

The Long View: Our 17-Year Partnership with Holmberg Mechanical

Walk into Holmberg Mechanical’s Bellevue headquarters and you immediately sense momentum. The building is only a few years old — all glass, steel, and possibility — but what really animates the space is the feeling that this is a business looking ahead, not backward.

Jeff White bought Holmberg Mechanical in 2006, when it was a small, family-owned plumbing company with just 12 employees and a primarily public-sector footprint. He stepped into his new role with a bold vision for the future — but also, by his own admission, some significant gaps in financial leadership. “I was the everything man,” he recalls. “I was the tip of the spear on sales, I was operations, and I was newly part of the back-of-house work. A lot of it was new to me.”

Jeff knew the business needed more sophisticated financial guidance than he could provide alone. On the recommendation of his Vistage chair, he met with CFO Selections’ Kevin Briscoe — a meeting that would mark the beginning of a 17-year partnership.

Here at CFO Selections, we are always in pursuit of the knowledge needed to continue growing personally as well as professionally. We are constantly reading, watching, and listening to resources across many different topics as well as discussing what we are learning along the way. Our goal is to foster a culture of continuous learning in ways that transcend our roles in the office. In keeping with that spirit, we periodically spotlight books our team members are reading.

In today’s CFO Selections book review and share, Jen Girard is highlighting The 36-Hour Day – a book that she has not only read recently but has also been living for almost a year as she journeys through her father’s memory loss. We hope that you will find the memory care tips that she shares here not only helpful but also inspirational if you are in a similar situation.

It's hard to believe 20 years has gone by since CFO Selections was founded! It has been 16 years since merging a small search practice with CFO Selections. Time has gone by so quickly! It has been gratifying to make great friendships within the community, including my partners, consultants, clients, and fantastic trusted advisor community. To this day, I still get a thrill reading the business section of various publications and finding a company mentioned we assisted at some point in their growth.

Today I am sharing lessons learned as both a partner of CFO Selections as well as in the business development role. These are the keys to success I encourage all business owners and entrepreneurs to leverage on their business journey.