Charles David Schrock

Hi. I’m Bud. Nice to meet you.

Here’s the lead – I have never been one to follow the obvious route. And it’s served me well. For example, I got my college degree in Accounting. And discovered, within months, that I didn’t want to work as an accountant. When selecting Accounting, I had followed my high school counselor’s advice. Seemed like a good idea at the time. It just didn’t work out.

But I learned some useful things, passed the CPA exam (always a comforting thing to have on the resume), and obtained some practical work experience. This opened some doors pretty quickly, leading me to a job in internal audit for an amazing banking group. Thanks, Joe, for everything.

When I was considering a master’s degree, an MBA would have been the logical choice. I was, after all, working for a bank. But information technology seemed like a lot more fun. I never intended to work as a programmer or engineer. But I thought it would give me a unique combination of skills. I was right.

A few years later, I leveraged my growing knowledge of banking along with my strategic (as opposed to technical) IT background. For nearly 10 years, I was part of, and later led, some really big technology projects for some really big banks.

Next up? A sales support role. I was trying, unsuccessfully, to help a Canadian tech company break into the U.S. banking market. Then came some consulting work. Seriously, who didn’t do consulting work at some point? I knew these were temporary gigs. I helped them, they paid me and, most importantly, I gained some new experience.

After a few years of consulting, I reconnected with some old friends from my earliest banking days. They needed someone with my experience and credentials. So, I joined up. I was, once again, the head of internal audit for a mid-size bank. That gave me the opportunity to work with another set of outstanding entrepreneurs. And try out some new ideas about how internal audit can add value to the organization. It wrapped up my formal career with a neat bow.

As I recognize it now, I built an uncommon and valuable professional brand. It got me that ‘seat at the table’ many times throughout my career. I was uniquely positioned to help solve some serious business issues. And the right people knew about my skills and background.

Over the years, I was able to keep my career moving in the right direction because:

Right now, I see a couple of opportunities that ‘feel right’. Yes, I’m formally retired. But far from done.

I’ve been working on these ideas, in some form, for the past 20 years. Now it’s time for me to help two very familiar groups of people.

Questions? Drop me a note.