Interview with Barbara Peters, CFO Extraordinaire

April 29, 2009

We had the genuine pleasure of interviewing Barbara Peters for our 40 over 40 groups. She is a truly dynamic woman. We found her to be generous, understanding, passionate about life and extremely intelligent. She cultivates relationships and has a thirst for learning.

Barbara founded SAGEFIELDS LLC in 2005 to help company leaders solve business problems. Her areas of focus include business operations, ownership transitions, financial planning and the building of culture-rich work environments. And she is skilled at using targeted philanthropy to enhance a company’s value.

Barbara gained her experience while serving the financial industry in Florida and as the CFO for the country’s 9th largest architectural firm, MulvannyG2. In her spare time she enjoys playing golf with her husband Al and luxuriating with her two Russian Blue cats.  

How did you earn your first dollar?
Baby sitting for a young couple with 3 kids. They owned a hair salon and I thought they were the coolest couple, with the most stylish life and of course, great hair!

What do you appreciate about being over 40?
The confidence and ability to advance my own points of view.  And the tenacity and courage to stick with them when necessary.

What or who inspired you to get where you are today?
It began with mom and dad who made a leap of faith by coming to this country from Poland with only a suitcase and a spoon for each of us.  And it continued with adorable girlfriends who shared their gift of courage in surviving cancer, thyroid conditions, and medical misdiagnoses. Through it all, they never lost their sense of humor!  And then there were those amazing leaders and mentors whose characteristics I model to this day.

What advice do you have for the under 40 crowd?
To continue to examine and isolate those things that you’re passionate about and figure out how to make your life’s passion your work. Often it’s not a simple answer.

What would you still like to achieve?
Growing SageFields by building strategic partnerships around social media and leadership development.
Expanding our business presence beyond the Puget  Sound area to include Tucson, Arizona.
Getting my golf handicap into the teens, preferably this year!
Write more about leaders and their traits. We recently added the word “hegemonologist” to the lexicon to identify students of leadership behavior, and hope our word will catch on.

What are you passionate about?
Good design, fashion, creativity & innovation, golf, fitness, and friendships. And of course leadership styles!

How do you balance work and life?
I blend them successfully. I’m “in the office” every day, but work in my robe as much as possible.  I schedule time for myself …pilati, 4-mile walks… right into my Outlook. And I have a sweet husband who provides technology support, shares equally in the household duties and says “that’s enough” when business hours become too long.

What book is on your nightstand?
Kenneth Behring’s “Road to Purpose” and Wally Lamb’s “The Hour I First Believed”

What is in your iPod?
My Shuffle accompanies me on my walks. I enjoy Robin Thicke, Fergie & Will.i.am with Sergio Mendez, Mary J Blige and others.

What other career would you like to try?
Perhaps a fashion designer! Or I would enjoy being the business manager for Kevin Bacon, or some other cool Hollywood celeb.

What other person would you like to meet – living or dead?
Barack & Michelle Obama
Wally Lamb - author
Bill Gates - across a bridge table

What superpower do you want?
The ability to shoot beams of light from my eyes that can open doors to education for all people and melt hand guns!

Favorite movie?
Bullworth with Warren Beatty
The Evening with Meryl Streep

Guilty pleasure?
Champagne, dark chocolate and clothes shopping

What is your favorite quote?
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
                      –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Biographical Information: Barbara Peters served as MulvannyG2 Architecture’s CFO for 14 years. During her tenure the tiny, mom & pop business with 15 employees grew to the country’s 9th largest architectural firm with 370 employees, $44 million in revenue and 6 offices – five in the U.S. and one in Shanghai.

Posted in 40 Over 40
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