Today we sit down with Ara Hamamjian who is currently working on the Treasury team at Fitbit. Ara found his love for treasury after being the Treasurer of his local tennis club. From this point, Ara knew that Treasury was his passion and moved into a large corporate treasury team with Hewlett Packard.
The treasury team at Hewlett Packard was over 100 people and Ara is now working in a smaller team of only 4 people.
Ara has been in the corporate Treasury industry for over 17 years and is continuing to grow his own skills, help those around him grow and help build up the businesses that he works for.
In this episode
- Ara talks about his time at HP and the different roles within the Treasury Department that he was a part of.
- Ara talks about the differences in treasury roles within different companies and how both large and small treasury teams can learn from each other.
- We discuss the different mentors that Ara has had along his career and how he came about having them as mentors.
- We discuss the differences between an informal and formal mentorships and the benefits of each.
- Ara tells us what he looks for in a mentor.
- We talk about networking and peer groups and the benefits that they have had on Ara’s career
- Ara talks about why he believes that anyone coming into the treasury space should use networking from an early stage.
- We talk about the challenges of going from a larger team to a smaller one and the differences between them.
- Ara explains the differences are more than just headcount and can be seen across all aspects of the team.
- We talk about Ara’s hiring policies and what he looks for in a new staff member.
- Ara explains his need for a “utility player’ on a smaller team.
- Ara gives us his recommendations and suggestions for those who are coming up through the treasury space.
- We talk about the importance of networking and how it has helped Ara through his career.
- We talk about the key challenges facing the treasury departments in the coming years.
- Ara talks about the importance of a good manager and what it can do for a new employee.
- We finish with Ara’s thoughts on what makes a successful treasurer in the eyes of a CFO.
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