--- title: "Diana Rosella: Inside the Strategy to Build High-Functioning Global Finance Operations and Drive Resilient Business Transformation" url: "https://authoritymag.co/articles/diana-rosella-inside-the-strategy-to-build-high-functioning-global-finance-operations-and-drive" publisher: "Authority Magazine" author: "Parveen Panwar" authorUrl: "https://authoritymag.co/authors/parveen-panwar" interviewee: "Diana Rosella" company: "UST" category: "Business" datePublished: "2021-04-05T10:00:26.907Z" dateModified: "2026-11-12T19:24:05.076Z" tags: "Business" --- # Diana Rosella: Inside the Strategy to Build High-Functioning Global Finance Operations and Drive Resilient Business Transformation *The Chief Financial Officer of UST shares lessons on crisis management, moving past career fears, and taking on the most challenging assignments to accelerate professional growth.* > Shortly after college, I was in a roundtable with Dave Calhoun. I have had the privilege of working for him in two different companies. He looked around the room at all recent college grads and told us to take the tough job that others perceived as hard. --- As*part of our series called “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Began Leading My Company” I had the pleasure of interviewing Diana Rosella.* *Diana Rosella serves as Chief Financial Officer of UST. Diana has worked in several large, global companies spanning five different continents. Before joining UST, Diana was Vice President of Global Financial Planning & Analysis with Xylem Inc. and served as CFO Latin America for Ecolab and Nielsen. She has held further roles at Ambac and GE.* *Diana is a global finance leader with a proven track record in strengthening financial operations, streamlining complex processes, and driving financial performance. She is well-versed in building an organization’s financial processes, systems, and talent pipeline from the ground up. Diana is confident in managing multi-billion-dollar budgets, making high-stakes decisions, and overcoming complex business challenges. She is instrumental in establishing metrics to drive and improve business results.* *Diana graduated Magna Cum Laude from Sacred Heart University with a degree in economics and biology.* *She lives in Ridgefield, CT with her husband and three children.* --- **Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?** I certainly did not follow a traditional path! I’m from a city north of Boston called Methuen. My parents worked hard to give me the opportunity to go to college. I had the great honor of graduating from Sacred Heart University with a double major in Biology and Economics. I debated medical school but needed a break from school. I graduated during a recession, and job opportunities were slim. I jumped at the chance to join GE’s Financial Management Development program, and my love of corporate finance started there. GE’s program allowed you the opportunity to dabble in different types of finance, from supply chain to accounting to financial planning and analysis to capital markets to M&A. After the Financial Development Program, I joined their Corporate Audit Staff program. I travelled the world, seeing different parts of GE’s business in many industries. The breadth of experience was unparalleled. I credit my career success to the skills I learned at GE and the strong network that I built there. **Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?** I’ve been part of three earth-shattering, market-moving events. Shortly after joining GE, I was working at GE Aviation when 9/11 happened. The business impact was tremendous, and the life cycle of an aircraft engine is long. Immediately, our leadership team had to react to dramatic order changes in the delivery schedule. Our CEO made tough decisions to protect the business and help customers around the world. Fast forward seven years, and I was working on Wall Street. I managed a portfolio of guaranteed investment contracts for asset-backed securities, mainly CDOs. The subprime mortgage market was imploding, and the market was struggling to understand how these CDOs worked. Our CEO at the time went on CNBC to quell fears but couldn’t focus on the underlying problem. That company suffered extreme distress, managed to get through bankruptcy, and is a very different company today. The lesson for me after going through both of these events is to act fast. Don’t be afraid to make bold decisions. Delaying actions or overanalyzing can be the determining factor of failure or success. When COVID-19 shut down offices worldwide, it was my turn to make tough, swift decisions. I leveraged those earlier experiences in my career as a framework, and we surpassed all COVID pandemic expectations. **Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?** My favorite quote is from Colin Powell. I have a post-it of this quote taped to my computer screen. “There are no secrets to success don’t waste time looking for them. Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty to those for whom you work, and persistence.” I love this quote. I learned the importance of work ethic from my parents. Take advantage of every opportunity you are given and knock it out of the park. **Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on your leadership style? Can you share a story or an example of that?** There are so many phenomenal leadership books out there. I recently read “What They Didn’t Tell Me” by a former colleague, Jawad Ahsan. Jawad is currently the CFO for Axon. In his book, he talks about the importance of building a high-functioning, resilient team focused on trust and inclusion. He is candid about set-backs, and his self-reflections are inspiring. I highly recommend to read this book. **What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?** For more than two decades, we’ve put one thing at the center: standing next to our clients to transform and shape a better tomorrow. At UST, digital is in our DNA. We’ve always combined our technological know-how, deep domain expertise, and future-proof philosophy with a nimble, creative approach to make a customer’s vision a reality. And we’ve never stopped paying attention to the hidden details of their business — the ones that unlock enormous potential. With equal parts empathy and tenacity, we’ve intertwined our journey with our customers and co-created transformation that evolves, embedding innovation and agility into everything we do. Many of our clients view us as their innovative, trusted partner architecting, building, and running their mission-critical applications, many of which are absolutely core to their business. For example, four of the top five US healthcare payers and 8 out of the top 10 global semiconductor companies rely on us for business transformation, engineering, and operations. In fact, the average tenure of our clients with us is more than 13 years and many of the CXOs who have partnered with us take us along with them as they move onto new opportunities. **The road to success is hard and requires tremendous dedication. This question is obviously a big one, but what advice would you give to a young person who aspires to follow in your footsteps and emulate your success?** Shortly after college, I was in a roundtable with Dave Calhoun. I have had the privilege of working for him in two different companies. He looked around the room at all recent college grads and told us to take the tough job that others perceived as hard. He told us not to shy away from challenging assignments. I remember that roundtable so vividly. Fast forward 15 years, and I was asked to take a CFO job in Mexico City. I didn’t hesitate. I remembered thinking about Dave’s advice. Take the tough job. It was my first CFO role in a country that I didn’t speak the language, with a husband who had to leave a job he loved and three children under the age of five. We packed up and moved. It was an incredible experience professionally and personally. I learned so much in that role, and it gave me the confidence to take bigger, broader roles. **Often leaders are asked to share the best advice they received. But let’s reverse the question. Can you share a story about advice you’ve received that you now wish you never followed?** To be honest, I do not regret any decisions that I have made in my career because you learn from every success and failure. There have a few times that I haven’t followed someone’s advice, though. Shortly after returning from maternity leave after delivering twins, I had an opportunity to take a new role in my organization. The hiring manager asked me to fly to his office to discuss the job. I was prepared for the interview on why I would be a great addition to his team and what I could bring to the role. Instead, the conversation turned into why I wanted to continue to work instead of staying home with my children. He pushed me to take a leave of absence for a few years and assured me that my career would still be there. I wasn’t sure what his motive was or if this was a test. I left disappointed that I didn’t have a chance to express my interest in the job or sell myself on why I’d be a great fit on his team. At the end of the day, I didn’t take that opportunity because a better one came along. I learned an invaluable lesson, though. No one knows what someone’s situation is like at home. We can’t assume that all working moms want to stay home at some point in their career or can even afford to stay home. Working moms are bad ass and amazing multiple taskers. The years my children were young are foggy, but I know I showed up to work every day and continued to be a strong contributor. I’m glad that I didn’t take his advice that day, and I didn’t let it deter me either. **You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?** 1. Integrity: Having a strong sense of trust, honesty, desire to help, and holding true to your word has always been important to me in my personal and professional life. In a corporate culture, you need to set an ethical code at the top of the organization and lead by example. Mistakes happen, but I want to work with companies that acknowledge missteps, confront the problem, and work to do better. When I was interviewing at UST, I loved that integrity was one of the organization’s three corporate values. 2. Positivity: Every day, I want to feel excited to go to work. Your team and those around you will play off whatever tone you set. A “can-do” attitude can lead to new ideas, collaboration, breaking down barriers, and promoting inclusion. 3. Influencing: I’m analytical, but I can analyze data quickly and come to a conclusion. That has helped me throughout my career, but the most important skill is taking those conclusions and influencing employees, customers, and stakeholders. **Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a C-Suite executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what a C-Level executive does that is different from the responsibilities of other leaders?** I find that the most important thing that the C-suite can do is — bring people together. It’s about setting a common vision, motivating a team towards a common goal that benefits our organization, clients, vendors, and community. Without this vision and set strategy, you create chaos. **What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CFO or C-level executive? Can you explain what you mean?** Often, CFOs are thought to be sticklers for budget or hard to get money from. Instead, I usually try to flip the picture to show that we want to help the organization make smarter decisions and allocate precious investment dollars wisely. So many times, I see unique ideas cross my desk. But we don’t have the human capital or investment capital to go after every fantastic idea. We need to focus and prioritize based on whatever strategic goals the business is focused on. **What are the most common leadership mistakes you have seen C-Suite leaders make when they start leading a new team? What can be done to avoid those errors?** I have seen many new C-Suite leaders come in and overhaul their team. I know it’s comfortable to be surrounded by people who you’ve worked within the past, but it’s gratifying to train the existing team with the skill sets you need to execute your vision. **In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?** Absolutely talent development. I remember hearing a former leader say that 70% of his job as CEO was focused on talent development. It was his responsibility to ensure that all areas of the organization focused on talent. Talent development takes time, and investment but employees are more engaged, more motivated, you experience lower attrition across the company, and you see better customer experiences. **Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Began Leading From the C-Suite”? Please share a story or an example for each.** 1. There’s never enough time in the day for 1:1s… but make it. Building strong relationships across the organization, whether up, down, or laterally, is critical to your success. When times get tough, you need allies by your side. When times are good, you want to celebrate success with each other. 2. Be confident making tough decisions because no one else is there to do it. In 2020, we all faced tough decisions when COVID became rampant throughout the world. I’m sure most companies took cost-cutting actions. While no one ever wants to stall a project, real-time decisions had to be made given the uncertainty in the market. We weathered the storm well for our business and made decisions to speed up projects to get them back on track. It’s learning how to balance the risk vs. reward but doing it quickly. 3. Success is earned not given. Regardless of your position, there are always stakeholders. It’s important to earn respect through hard work and executing your goals. 4. Be a continuous learner. That’s where true professional growth comes from. Seek out others in your industry or similar roles. Ask questions about what’s happening in the market, new trends. If you stay current on what’s happening, you’ll be at the forefront of innovation instead of the back burner. 5. This last one is silly. I had no idea how many vendor solicitations I would receive daily. They range from applicable products to off-the-wall products that have no relevance or importance to me. It’s easy to get lost in my inbox! **In your opinion, what are a few ways that executives can help to create a fantastic work culture? Can you share a story or an example?** Work culture is definitely set from the top of the organization. Don’t be afraid to show your weaknesses to your team. Celebrate wins and rally behind mistakes. Take time to get to know people in the organization. What motivates them personally and professionally. What hobbies do they enjoy? How do they spend their time away from the office? In our adult life, we spend more hours in a day with our colleagues than we do with our families. It’s so important to enjoy what you do and take advantage of every interaction with your team. Have fun! **You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.** I’m not sure if I would say I’m a great influencer! In fact, my children might laugh at the thought of their mom being an influencer. But my movement would be improving cultural awareness in our youth across our world. I would love the opportunity for children to experience “a day in the life of ___”. Whether it was virtually or in person, young learners have so much capacity to learn about new countries, different religions, customs, and traditions. Imagine a world where our future leaders were more culturally savvy? **How can our readers further follow you online?** Please find us at [www.ust.com](http://www.ust.com). We recently launched a new brand campaign. The feedback from the market has been incredible. I’m looking forward to seeing additional content to be posted to our social channels in the near future! You can also find me on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-rosella-5b78146/). **Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!** --- Source: https://authoritymag.co/articles/diana-rosella-inside-the-strategy-to-build-high-functioning-global-finance-operations-and-drive (Authority Magazine, Business). Interviewee answers are first-person statements of the guest. Index of all pages: https://authoritymag.co/llms.txt