For today’s Meet the Team post, we’ll hear from Chari Graham, FactRight’s Chief Operating Officer and tech early adopter.
Title: Chief Operating Officer
Joined FactRight: August 2011
Education: Kellogg Northwestern Graduate School of Management (MBA), Southern Illinois University (BS, Accounting)
Professional affiliations: Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, Corporate Compliance and Ethics Professional
Areas of focus: Operations and process improvement, financial analysis and assessment
What is your client philosophy?
My commitment is to deliver the best possible level of service to our clients. First and foremost, it is my responsibility to connect our clients with the most appropriate FactRight professional for their unique circumstance. We have a very talented team and each individual within FactRight can provide distinct insight and experience. We take immense pride in building strong relationships and helping others distill complex products.
Why do you love working at FactRight?
It’s invigorating to work with a team that has such a high degree of integrity and intellectual curiosity! I am surrounded by very talented and smart people.
What are you working on currently?
We can improve upon everything and innovation is the key to success. Therefore, I am always working to make the due diligence process more streamlined, more comprehensive, and more insightful. That means leveraging internal expertise and technology!
What big industry problem would you love to solve?
I would love to see the industry adopt ways to make alternative products more efficient and more transparent. For me, there is danger in opaqueness.
What is your typical day like?
My typical day begins early with a goal to get a head start on the day. It will include multiple Skype calls with staff and teams. I’ll also intentionally carve out specific hours in each day to perform ‘deep work’—uninterrupted review and concentration. My day ends when Wemo turns the office lights off, and Alexa tells me its time to stop working.
What do you do outside of the office?
My husband, Michael, and I enjoy bike riding and traveling. I also enjoy laughter with family and friends. I have a hilarious husband and the wittiest children. My life is always interesting.
What types of books do you read?
I will read anything about the brain, science, technology or innovation. I’ve recently been completely infatuated with data science and visual analytics—it’s truly an art to communicate data and numbers in a way everyone can understand.
What movie can you watch over and over?
I’ve never watched a movie twice! There are too many good movies and documentaries out there, and life is too short.
What’s in your Netflix queue?
The Wolfpack, Best of Enemies, The Staircase
What is the last music you listened to?
Daniel Jang
What is a quotation you are pondering?
“The price of light is less than the cost of darkness.” Arthur C. Nielsen
Connect with Chari on LinkedIn.
Read about other FactRight team members:
Meet Scott Smith, President and CEO
Meet Kate Stephany, Securities Attorney
Meet Leah Berend, Office Manager/Staff Accountant
