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In this series, My CHG Story, we highlight employees and their unique experiences at CHG.
Brett Sanford has worked as CHG's corporate controller for five years and oversees the accounting teams that process all of the money coming to and leaving CHG.
"We are always looking for ways to make those processes more efficient and effective while still ensuring we have the appropriate controls in place to safeguard those funds," Brett shares. "We are currently working on several initiatives to help support CHG's growth, from finding tools to improve our cash collections and integrating our accounting systems with FOX to giving our people more development opportunities and focusing on living CHG's core values."
Brett says that the best part of working at CHG is the people, including the teams he works with in accounting, sales and Business Partner teams and senior leadership.
"Together we really make a difference in the lives of our providers, clients and their patients," Brett expresses. "I really enjoy helping the accounting leaders and people grow and develop personally and professionally, and I appreciate that CHG gives us the tools to do that."
Read Brett's CHG story about his first few months on the job below!
A former colleague phoned me one day and suggested I apply for a new "internal controls" position at CHG Healthcare Services. The company was in the middle of an IPO (initial public offering, which is the first sale of stock by a formerly private company) and would soon be subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley regulations, so they needed someone to start and lead an internal controls function. I was somewhat hesitant because I'd recently been involved in a failed IPO at another company. Because of this, I researched the company thoroughly before contacting CHG and was impressed with the feedback I received from several trusted friends – not just about the company's financial statements, but more particularly about the company culture and the integrity of its executives.
I decided to interview for the position and met with Sean Dailey, the CFO. I appreciated how much time he spent with me and the interest he showed in my prior work experience, career ambitions and so forth. However, I shared some reservations about the position with Sean: What would happen if the IPO didn't take place and they no longer needed to be Sarbanes-Oxley compliant? He couldn't guarantee a successful IPO, of course, but he was confident that it would happen within a few weeks. I left excited about the possibility of working for CHG and being part of a growing company.
Sean later offered me the position and I gladly accepted. The IPO process continued as expected and the company was ready to go public. The night before CHG was to complete the IPO, I got an email on my Blackberry and learned that the board of directors and executive management had decided to cancel the IPO. I happened to be standing next to my wife when I read the email, and we immediately wondered what was going to happen with my job.
Fortunately, I didn't have to wonder for long. Over the next two days, the CEO, CFO and COO each took time to personally come by my office to let me know why the IPO was cancelled and that my position was not going to be eliminated. In fact, they were convinced that having a strong internal controls function was important, so rather than getting rid of my position, they asked me to grow the team and continue to pursue the objectives we had established when I was hired.
All of the good things I'd heard about the company before applying for the job were reinforced over those two days. I realized that the executive team was serious about the company culture and its core values like Putting People First and integrity. They could easily have let me go and saved a little money, but instead they gave me more opportunities for development and have continued to do so in the five years since then.
This is my reason why CHG is one of the best companies to work for in the country!
