All in stride

Tom Webster is the marathon-running CFO of First West Credit Union. As is often the case with long distance runners, their experience overcoming obstacles can be applied off the track. As such, during the recent economic turbulence Tom was the cool head guiding First West to calmer skies.

Victoria-born Tom, 53, graduated from UVic with a BA in economics and became a chartered accountant (CA) in 1987. Moving to Vancouver that year, he began public practice, but what he really craved was a team environment.

“In public practice, you’re a consultant,” Tom says. “You come in, you leave. I really wanted to be part of an organization and help develop it, and the people.” So he made his move, joining Delta Credit Union in 1992 as controller. A “fairly small set-up”, it gave Tom the perfect chance to learn the ropes of running a business.

“I had a strong background in audit, accounting and tax – but to really be an operator, I needed to know how to run teams and build organizations. With Delta, Tom was able to learn a lot about treasury management and risk management. “I was fortunate to work for a dynamic CEO, Peter Podovinikoff. He’s been part of my career ever since.”

In 2000 Delta grew and merged with First Heritage, becoming Envision Financial. “Gord Huston became CEO, again providing a great opportunity to learn.” Before becoming Envision’s CFO in 2004 Tom served as a VP of finance.

During his time, Tom has seen the organization grow from one with $300 million in assets, to one worth over $6 billion. Tom has also been part of two successful mergers, and worked on many more.

“What’s really important for growth is to build your systems internally,” he says. “And develop your reporting systems. That’s crucial.”

A 14-time marathoner, Tom ran the hallowed Boston in 2000. He sees a lot of similarities between the qualities required to train for and race a marathon, and those needed to be a successful CFO.

“As you get bigger, you require a lot more strategy and focus,” he says. “Changes generally take more time and persistence to implement. Marathon running really helps with persistence. Preparation is crucial as well. A marathon’s all about preparation, a lot of what I do as First West CFO is prepare for every eventuality.”

“You also have to learn to accept conditions. You can train for a marathon for months in sunshine and wake up on race-day to a monsoon. That’s life. You’ve got to deal with it. Similarly, working in the treasury you’ve got to accept the markets.”

Tapping his marathon expertise Tom skillfully guided Envision through the recent economic downturn and says the secrets to success are running a smart and competitive organization (hiring smart people), staying one step ahead (via shrewd forecasting), and being responsive; a plan he is sticking to moving forward.

“My focus over the next several years will be on taking our reporting and business intelligence to the next level,” he says “And sharing my perspectives and experience with new employees. There’s real strength when you blend internal development with outside expertise.”

At home Tom lives in a “beautiful running area” of South Surrey, with his wife and two teenage daughters, allowing him to run four times a week; more, if training for a marathon (his PB is 2:59). Which he’s doing right now for Vancouver 2012, and its revised route, “I’m quite excited about that,” he says.

“By getting out, sometimes at night or sometimes at lunch-time (First West has a gym), it lets me relax, de-stresses me. I can tell when I haven’t been running enough.”

A member of White Rock’s Semiahmoo Sunrunners, Tom keeps his spirits high by being around positive people and says runners tend to be of that ilk.

“I feed off that,” he says. “It’s an attribute that’s been a common theme in our executive teams, too. I’ve been very fortunate to work with some very positive, hard-working people.”

Going forward, Tom wants to continue building teams and developing people – and has been inspired in both regards by CEO Launi Skinner.

“That’s where Launi’s real strengths are; developing people and building teams. I think that’s another major goal. As I finish off my career I want to leave behind a really strong team so our success can continue to grow for many years.”

Aside from running, Tom enjoys spending time with his family and going on summer camping trips.

“Family’s really important to me. My wife’s support has allowed me to accomplish some pretty great things here at First West. My daughters’ encouragement over the years has been incredible as well—though with one at McGill and one graduating high school this year, they haven’t chosen to become accountants like their dad.” He laughs. “At least not yet,” he adds with a smile.

Tom’s also an avid reader. “I like biographies. Seeing how people respond to challenges and some incredibly stressful situations puts things in perspective.”

“People don’t usually have an easy path to success. Churchill’s a wonderful example. He overcame so many failures to achieve success. So, it doesn’t help to just be a wishful thinker; you have to put the hard work in too.”