In this episode of CFI Member Spotlight on FinPod, we sit down with Genaro Arredondo who shares his colorful journey navigating a career in finance – starting from his roots in Chile to becoming a Director of Corporate Development at global credit bureau, Equifax.

Genaro discusses his experience majoring in accounting at university, navigating early-career roles at top firms like EY and Deloitte, and eventually transitioning into FP&A and corporate development. He also shares his passion for lifelong learning, exemplified by his pursuit of multiple advanced degrees and certifications, including the FMVA and CFA.

Tune in to learn about overcoming the unique challenges he faced working in a new language, the pivotal role of mentorship in his career, and the crucial technical skills required to succeed in corporate development and finance.

Transcript

Anna Talerico (00:12)
Welcome back to another CFI member spotlight. I am so excited to be here today with CFI member, FMVA designation holder and CFA, Genaro Arredondo.

Genaro Arredondo (00:25)
Hi, Anna. Thanks for having me on. Nice to talk to you again.

Anna Talerico (00:30)
Yeah. So nice to talk to you again. I’m so excited to get to just dig into your career. you are director of corporate development, and A at Equifax based in Atlanta today, I think. Is that right? Yes. Yeah.

Genaro Arredondo (00:42)
That’s correct. Yes, I’m based in Atlanta, Georgia. So it’s a little bit hot here today.

Anna Talerico (00:48)
I feel like that’s the theme of the summer, right? It’s hot everywhere. Yeah. And I’m excited to talk a little bit too about your journey, you know, to Atlanta. But, you know, I always like to start this podcast with a little bit about your origin story. You know, did you always know that you wanted to go into a finance role and what did you study in

Genaro Arredondo (00:52)
Absolutely, absolutely.

Yeah, definitely. So, well, that’s a great question, but, to be honest with you, not really like initially didn’t know what I wanted to study at college, but my dad was an accountant. So I guess that had, you know, some influence on me. So answering your question directly, no, finance was not something that came like very natural to me when I decided with, you know, what career to pursue.

But after some back and forth, I decided to explore a career in finance. But I would say that my interest really came with my first role when I joined the professional world. That’s kind of like how I decided that finance was something I wanted to get into.

Anna Talerico (01:57)
Yeah, yeah, so what was that first role out of school?

Genaro Arredondo (02:01)
Yeah. So, well, I have a major in accounting, call it like CPA equivalent. Then I pursued a Master in Finance and an MBA. And as you mentioned at the beginning, later on, I completed my, CFA shutter, which was like a long, challenging, but very fulfilling journey. And to be honest with you, Anna, I never stopped studying.

Anna Talerico (02:23)
Yeah.

Genaro Arredondo (02:27)
For example, as you mentioned as well, I recently completed my FMVA with the CFI, which was an amazing experience. So that’s kind of like my educational background.

Anna Talerico (02:39)
Yeah, you just always struck me. It’s just you’re such a lifelong learner, you know, and I just to get your masters, you can get your undergrad in accounting, and I get your master’s in finance and just and then continue to push on. I want to I definitely want to touch on that today. So you did study this and then what was your first role when you first you know, we’ve got your undergrad degree before you got your master’s. Did you have a role before you got your

Genaro Arredondo (03:04)
Yes, I did. Actually, this is something, is a very interesting question because as you can tell by my accent, I’m not originally from the US. I’m originally from Chile, South America. So over there is something very common when you finish school or even which was my case, even when you are still in your last year of college, you can complete your studies, you know, like on evenings. So you can join, you know, a big

for firm like Deloitte or Pricewaterhouse while you are finishing your school. So that’s what I did. So, in my case, I joined EY, Ernst & Young at that time, as an audit analyst and I stayed there for around two years. So as part of the audit team, I was assigned to work at one of the largest clients of the firm. So it was

when I had the opportunity to get closer to finance because I was tasked to review the portfolio of derivative instruments of that client, meaning like forward swaps, valuation and the accounting side of those things. So that’s when I became like fascinated and I fell in love with finance and I wanted to learn more and eventually become an expert on it.

Anna Talerico (04:26)
So you got to have that role while you were still finishing up your undergrad, which I’m sure was challenging. But what was the day in the life like at EY, the first year or two as an analyst? What were you working on? I’m almost curious too, how much did they train you versus throw you in as well? So just tell us a little bit about those couple of years.

Genaro Arredondo (04:47)
Yeah, that’s another fantastic question. at the beginning I had to work like very, long hours. So maybe, I don’t know, 14, 15 hours per day. Rarely it was less than that. And, you know, another funny thing that I’m still seeing the consequences of is like I ate a lot of pizza. You know, but you know, what I would say like despite working very hard, those hours, even though they were long,

Anna Talerico (05:09)
Ha-ha-ha

Genaro Arredondo (05:17)
They were filled with tons of learning opportunities, teamwork, collaboration, and discipline. So I would say that having gone through that, those experiences are the ones that have framed the kind of professional that I’m in right now. And one of the things that those firms do very well is what you exactly said. Like training was kind of like the value added. And I went through several very, very strict

training programs when it came to like financials and accounting. Like at that time, I remember that the big deal at the time was like the adoption of IFRS in Chile. So I had the opportunity to cert to get certified in IFRS, thanks to the training program that EY had in place.

Anna Talerico (06:03)
Yeah, fantastic. and you were, were you primarily working not in English at that time? Because you, right? Yeah, we’re definitely going to talk about that. Yeah. Yeah.

Genaro Arredondo (06:12)
That’s true. Yes. Yes, that’s true. Like I, you know, I started my career back in Chile, my, my country. So, for the most part, everything was in Spanish. So, yep, that’s right.

Anna Talerico (06:23)
Yeah, that’s amazing. Yeah, I can’t wait to talk about just then coming here and just getting kind of getting thrown in to full -time English likely or to some degree. So what did you do after EY?

Genaro Arredondo (06:37)
Yeah, that’s another great question. So thanks, Ana, for asking that. So I stayed at EY for about two years in total in the audit team. So after those two years, I got an offer to join Deloitte’s practice, again, in Latin America. So, it was there when I started getting more more familiar with valuation models,

deal structuring, due diligence, purchase price adjustments, and things related to . So that was kind of like the second step in my professional journey was like jumping from EY audit to Deloitte.

Anna Talerico (07:21)
Yeah. And did you win at what point in that? Did you decide to go get your masters? And I’m curious too, like what was, why did you do that? Were you always just thinking I’m a lifelong learner? Want to continue. Or was there something at point that you said, you know, I want to go do this. This is

Genaro Arredondo (07:36)
Yeah, actually, as soon as I finished my undergrad, I started immediately doing my, you know, like my graduate education. Like as soon as I, as soon as I faced, you know, like the professional world, I immediately realized that I wanted to be like a long-term learner. And it was kind of like very easy for me to decide that finance was kind of like my path, just because as I said, my professional experience was

doing those reviews about financial instrument derivatives and things like that and I became fascinated with it. So it was something like very natural and something that I wanted to do immediately. So that’s what I did.

Anna Talerico (08:15)
Yeah, got it. what, you know, obviously accounting audit, so different than . What did you learn in those first couple of years that helped you make that transition to ? Cause I’m sure there was a lot new that you had to learn and it was quite different, but what do you think in those first two years that you got working for, you know, a big four in audit that helped you in your next role?

Genaro Arredondo (08:28)
Ahem.

Yeah, definitely. So outside of the technical piece, I would say that my first role at EY was critical to set me up for my second job. Mostly because, as I said before, one of the things that I learned early on was that having, you know, intellectual curiosity and willingness to learn, you know, can open up too many doors for you. So what I’m trying to say is

you will face a lot of challenges on a daily basis. But as long as you have the right attitude and you are eager to learn new things, you can overcome anything. So that was something extremely valuable that I learned from my professional experience at EYN. And that was super helpful for the second stage at Deloitte and 

Anna Talerico (09:35)
I love that you said that because it seems to be both in talking to our members and also in another podcast that we do careers in finance, which is very similar. It’s a theme that many people, especially early on, but throughout their career get to these moments where maybe they don’t feel qualified or maybe they don’t, they feel like it’s a big leap, but it went, they, they stay curious and they break through that moment. I just was talking to somebody yesterday and she was saying

she went from working at a regional bank and now she’s at a very large VC firm. And we were talking about her career path and she said there was this one job that she was interviewing for and they were, she didn’t know half the terms that they were saying, but she’s still, you know, it just like to be, and she broke through that moment and you know, ended up getting the job, but you have to stay curious and you have to stay open and you have to continue to not let those moments block you, but let those moments propel you to learn and educate yourself.

Genaro Arredondo (10:28)
I fully agree with that, yes. And that’s something that I always practice my entire life. I’ve never like, you know, like I’ve never set like kind of like limits and let, you know, challenges to set me apart. It’s been like the other way around. I always like taking on new challenges and I, you know, like take opportunities that I’ve been offered to like move forward with my career.

Anna Talerico (10:53)
Yeah. Well, let me, I know we didn’t talk about this, but since we’re on this topic, you’ve done lecturing and you’ve worked with students in university. What do you see as the difference? What advice would you give to somebody? From a lecturer, an instructor point of view, to help people really see and turn that light bulb on for themselves.

Genaro Arredondo (11:18)
Yeah, something that I will advise, you know, like people in general, not from only from the academic standpoint, but also from the, you know, professional standpoint is always like something that it has worked out for me. It’s like always invest in your future. Like, as I said before, I never stopped educating myself at some point, you know, it was the master in finance or the MBA or the CFA or the V A, you know, all of those things that I’ve done,

is my recommendation is like use education to help you to best best version of yourself, you know, in a professional world. Then the second thing that I would say is been critical for me, both professionally and academically is, you know, get a mentor early on and throughout your career.

I’ve had so many great people that have helped me to guide my career and even make those decisions in terms of what do I want to do next. And those people are the ones who have helped me to achieve great things. So that’s something that I would definitely recommend, mentorship as a tool that will make a difference to your professional path, if you will.

Anna Talerico (12:39)
That’s such a great advice. And I think a lot of people don’t know how to find a mentor or what that means. one of the things I say, I don’t have great advice about that other than stay in touch with the people in your life that impact you. And those things tend to develop, you know, and I think it’s, if I could go back to when I was, you know, in my twenties, I wish there’s so many people that impacted me so positively that I lost touch with professionally and I wish I hadn’t. So I think it’s just, you treasure the network that you create, right?

Genaro Arredondo (13:09)
Definitely. And that’s such a great point because like, even though those people who helped me, know, early in my career, I still have like relationships with them. Like even people that are still back in Chile, I still talk to them. still, you know, seek their advice. And I’m always like, you know, engaged in conversations with them, not only career wise, but also like personal wise, because they became my friends after a little bit. But that’s something that is really, really important in my opinion.

Anna Talerico (13:39)
Yeah, yeah. So speaking back of Chile, after you left Deloitte, you went back to EY,

Genaro Arredondo (13:45)
Yes, but I went back to why to do basically as well because, you know, my boss at Deloitte, you know, joined EY to start the practice. So I joined him, you know, to start like getting clients and, you know, implementing our practice in Chile. But now at EY, was such a great, great experience as

Anna Talerico (13:50)
Okay.

Yeah, I’m sure. So when, you know, there’s no better companies to cut your teeth on than the UI and Deloitte, right? But then you made a transition to what really is like an FP&A role for a while, right? Before you got to jump back into, you know, CorpDev. And CorpDev is such a dream role for so many people. So I can’t wait to talk about your role today, but tell us then about leaving, you know, big firms to jump into working in an organization in an FP&A role.

Genaro Arredondo (14:30)
Definitely.

Anna Talerico (14:39)
That started in Chile, but I think it’s what brought you here to the US as well, right?

Genaro Arredondo (14:43)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that was another great story, what I would say. So when I was working in , we had the opportunity to advise a US company in their first acquisition in Latin America. So after they completed that acquisition successfully, I guess I did a good job there because they invited me to join their team as FP&A manager leader and trying

help with the integration of that new acquisition from my financial standpoint. So as I mentioned before, I’ve never said no to any new opportunities. And even though FP&A was not something that I was really familiar with, I decided to, you know, accept that opportunity and go to work to that company, help them with the integration. And, you know, after a couple of years, they gave me a promotion,

to take a global role in FP&A. So I became a senior manager for a global FP&A for the same company, but now at the corporate headquarters here in the US. And that was such an amazing and great experience. It’s something that I was looking actively at some point to, as part of my career growth, to move to the US. That was kind of a dream for me. But all of this happened thanks to my journey and my professional career.

Anna Talerico (16:09)
Yeah, each step leads to the next one, right? Opens the next door. So what was it like for you? I believe, I think that you are fluent in three languages, right? Spanish, English, and what’s your third?

Genaro Arredondo (16:11)
Absolutely.

A little bit of Portuguese.

Anna Talerico (16:22)
Okay, okay. So what was it like switching, and we talked about this a lot a little bit, know, switching from working primarily in Spanish to, I’m imagining, almost, you know, primarily all in English. How was that transition like for

Genaro Arredondo (16:38)
Well, it was difficult because, you know, like, well, I’m going to start by saying that in my particular and personal case, having different languages has been tremendously impactful. And for me, was kind of like a game changer because, you know, it opened up so many doors and opportunities. And that’s why I’m here right now.

So, in my opinion, speaking languages is a critical skill in today’s world, but it’s still also like a huge differentiating factor for professionals. So initially, it allowed me to work both at Deloitte and EY to work on cross border projects, also interacting with a wide range of different professionals. And as I said before,

Ultimately, it allowed me to move to the US, which is something that, you know, I was kind of like dreaming of. But to be a hundred percent honest with you, Anna, I can tell you, like based on my personal experience, it’s never late to learn a new language if you are passionate about it. Why I’m saying that, because I don’t know, this could sound surprising for some people, but before 2016 and or 15, I don’t remember the exact date,

I didn’t speak any English before that. before that, I only had like a very, very, very basic knowledge. Actually, maybe it was less than basic. But, you know, after a little while, I realized that, you know, English and other languages was such a great differentiator. So I came to the realization that it was critical skill for me if I wanted to, you know, keep progressing my career further. So basically, I made that decision.

Anna Talerico (18:06)
Incredible.

Genaro Arredondo (18:32)
I took action, I made an action plan, and here I am now. So for those who are listening now, I would say if language is something that you want to learn, just go for it. This is not going to be easy because it’s also a cultural learning opportunity. It’s not only speaking, it’s also understanding the culture. But again, if you are passionate about it, it’s definitely something that you can learn.

Anna Talerico (18:49)
Yeah.

Yeah, incredible. I’m so glad that you shared that because it’s, if you think about it, it’s only eight years. mean, that’s just, you know, 2016, it’s just not that long ago. And I love how you frame it, you know, making an action plan and taking action, which is really what it’s all about. Right. gosh. Yeah. So, great experience. Well, tell me actually first, because before we jump into where you’re at now, what was

Genaro Arredondo (19:14)
Absolutely.

Anna Talerico (19:25)
different and the same about being inside of an organization and not being servicing a client, but now you are the client in a way, right? You are inside an organization and you’re doing a role that’s really probably different in FP&A . How was that? How did what you had done in your past help you? But then also I’m sure it was quite different.

Genaro Arredondo (19:45)
It was, it was quite different because it was one more like finance related as a financial advisor before everything was like external and more high level. So now, you know, after that, I was responsible for, you know, like giving our management team the information that they needed. So it was quite different. was a transition that it was not that easy, but it was like very helpful at the same time.

I use all of the things that I learned both at EY and Ers & Yang from a technical standpoint, but also, know, like communication was critical because now I was not only like visiting a client and asking for some questions and preparing a deck for them. In this case, I had to learn how to solve real life problems that, you know, the company was facing and it was like critical for the organization to surpass.

So I, you know, I had to learn how to deal with those problems and make recommendations that could benefit the company in the long term. So what I’m trying to say here is like, my life before was like a specific projects and it was like for a short period of time. Well, here I had to be part of the solution and try to drive results in the long term. So both are, you know, interesting and valuable from a professional standpoint, but are quite, quite different.

Anna Talerico (21:11)
so different, right? I think sometimes people when they go from consulting, where they’re used to giving advice, giving perspective, to now inside of an organization, you are an owner of something. not just for a short time for a project, but you’re an owner of this thing ongoing. And some people, there’s so much to draw on, because you get exposed to so much in working in a consulting firm. But then I think sometimes people have that challenge of truly, I’m not just passing this on or giving advice.

I own it.

Genaro Arredondo (21:42)
Absolutely, absolutely. I fully agree.

Anna Talerico (21:45)
Yeah, yeah. So then now I’m to talk a little bit about your current role. You are back in , well, corp dev, right? Going back to your roots at Equifax. So what’s this role like? Tell me about

Genaro Arredondo (21:59)
Yes. Well, currently, as you mentioned at the beginning, I work as a director of corporate development at Equifax. So for those who don’t know, Equifax is known as one of the largest credit bureaus globally, but it’s also a leading company or player in the data and analytics space. So, our company right now, has presence in 24 countries and serves, you know, like customers across different sectors, being financial institutions and

Fintechs, the most relevant ones. So basically, know, trying to make it very simple. My role consists of executing Equifax’s global mergers and acquisition strategy, which means, you know, like we deploy capital to acquire businesses or companies, both in the US, but also in other geographies. Actually, we acquired a company in Brazil in 2023. The second largest credit bureau down there.

Ultimately, our mandate is drive growth, profitability, and ultimately create or add value to our shareholders. In my personal case here, I’m lucky enough because is a strategic priority or initiative for Equifax. Actually, my boss reports directly to the CEO, so he’s a C-suite person.

But that’s also super important because we have deployed around $4 billion across 14 acquisitions over the last three or four years. So that tells you how critical is for our company because it’s a lever of growth for our company.

Anna Talerico (23:43)
Yeah.

Yeah. How fun. You must be enjoying it so much. What is the one of your favorite things about this role, but in this moment too for Equifax where this is such a strategic, important priority.

Genaro Arredondo (23:59)
Yeah, definitely. So there are too many things, to be honest with you, that I love about my role. But if I have to say just a few, would say, you know, the first one is having the opportunity to work and learn from very smart and talented people. So that’s probably what is like number one for me. I mean, I’m sure that, you know, there are many people that are smart people everywhere. My

Anna Talerico (24:04)
Yeah.

Genaro Arredondo (24:25)
experience here at Equifax is just great having opportunity to interact with those extremely smart and hardworking people. Second, would say that feeling intellectually challenged all the time and find ways to solve problems is something that really motivates me and something that I love to as well. And third, what I would say that in my particular role, something that I really enjoy and I really love and it’s not always easy.

is the diversity of knowledge that exists in . And that’s just fascinating to me. What I mean by that is like, have to basically learn about your own business first, then trying to understand about the business that you are trying to acquire. You also have to learn about technical matters like finance, accounting, taxes, legal, in my case, like technology, data. So there are

too many complexities around M&A that make that function or that area definitely unique and fascinating to

Anna Talerico (25:31)
Yeah. Yeah. And I would think that your work then, you know, being a consultant and then being in a company, you get those two different perspectives, right? So you’re looking at these things too, through that operator’s lens, not just through that, you know, outsider lens. And I think I would imagine it helps you understand what’s going on in the business is better or be able to assess and, and just even at, know, to, yeah, just to kind of get your arms around things. I’m sure both of those viewpoints really help.

Genaro Arredondo (25:59)
Absolutely, absolutely.

Anna Talerico (26:01)
Yeah, fantastic. What a fun place that you’re at right now. What an incredible career journey that you’ve had and a lot of inspiring words here today. I’ve got two more questions for you before we wrap up. One question is, when and why did you get your FMVA You had your master’s, you had your undergrad, you had so much professional experience. What led you to decide to do

Genaro Arredondo (26:13)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

That’s an amazing question because like, you mentioned before, even though, you know, I’ve, I’ve been like very careful in terms of like progressing in terms of my education, I was looking for something that helped me to kind of like combine all of the theory with the practice. And you know, like I’ve loved the things that I’ve done in the past, like the MBA, the Master in Finance and the CFA. But at some point I felt that I needed something that could help me to combine.

You know, all of that theory with how to put things in practice. So that’s when I, in this, going back to what we discussed, that’s when I was like talking to one of my mentors back in Chile. Actually, he’s now in Europe and he told me I have the, you know, the perfect program for you. And I said, well, tell me what it is because that’s what I’m looking for. And he told me you have to consider doing the FMVA because it’s such a great program that combines again, the theory

and the practice and I was trying, you know, to like get up to speed again with them and a valuation and all of the, all of those things that I did at some point, but you know, after being five years in FP&A, you kind of like forget a little bit of, get a little bit rusty. So that’s why I decided to, you know, like to do the FMVA and I don’t regret it. It was such an amazing program and it delivered, you know, like everything that I was looking for and even more

I completed my FMVA last December and it was like an amazing and fascinating experience from a technical standpoint, but also, you know, having the opportunity to learn new things as well.

Anna Talerico (28:04)
I’m so glad. so glad. think, you know, I love to hear that people found it to be valuable and fulfilling for them. And more than anything, it’s we want people to have confidence and feel like I sit down and I know exactly, you know, what I’m doing. And so I think that a lot of times it is that bridging from the theoretical or the knowledge to the practice, you know, fingers on the keyboard kind of moments for us as professionals. love it. Thank you for sharing that. And

so what advice would you give to somebody who’s thinking about their career path and says like, I’m really interested in that, you know, what advice would you give

Genaro Arredondo (28:42)
Yep, will. Well, that’s a great, another great question. And I don’t think honestly that there is like a recipe for success and at least I don’t have it, but I can share, you know, what has helped me to progress my own career and, and be, you know, like successful and be where I was dreaming to be at. So as I said before, one always invest in your future, like education, education is such a great tool

for professionals to keep progressing and learning through their professional journey. Second, again, try to get a mentor that’s super important to me. Mentorship is such a great tool to make a difference. From the technical side, which is also very important, I don’t want to sound too soft either, because from the technical side, which is quite important, I would suggest

Anna Talerico (29:37)
Yeah.

Genaro Arredondo (29:41)
keep strengthening your financial skills, like understanding financial statements, how they interact between them, how to build a DCF, discounting cash flow from scratch, understand the economics, the ins and outs of discounted rates, weighted average cost of capital, things like that, definitely make a difference in. is so…

so heavily impacted by financials that I would say that that’s definitely something that you should, you know, like pay attention to. And lastly, and this is like maybe a more soft recommendation, if you will, but it’s something that I try to put in practice as well on a daily basis is be humble, keep a positive attitude, you know, like ask for help when you need to. Don’t assume that you know everything that, you know, can drive you to make wrong assumptions

and potentially make the wrong decision. again, have a positive attitude and ask questions. That’s kind of like my little piece of advice.

Anna Talerico (30:47)
I love that. And you asked questions you mentioned earlier being curious. And I think that just feeds into that you just it’s so important, right? And be humble. I love that. But I’m really glad that you called out the technical skills because a lot of times when I ask in these podcasts, I get great answers. But very rarely do I get that. And that’s foundational, right? You can’t have the job about the technical skills. Yeah, good. Good.

Genaro Arredondo (31:08)
Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely it is.

Anna Talerico (31:12)
Well, Janaro, thank you for sharing your journey. It’s so inspiring. It’s inspiring and you’ve got a lot of words of wisdom for people, just in terms of being a lifelong learner and investing yourself and prioritizing yourself in your learning journey and your professional journey. So really grateful to have you on the podcast and thank you so much.

Genaro Arredondo (31:35)
No, thank you so much, Anna and the CFI team. So thanks for the opportunity. I really enjoyed it. And I’m here to help and share my experience to those who are looking for guidance. So happy to help. I hope we can do it again and I appreciate it.

Anna Talerico (31:51)
Absolutely, thank you.

Genaro Arredondo (31:52)
All right, take care!