For Capella graduate Elizabeth Carter, time really is money. And she's using her Capella education to ensure her company spends both wisely.
Formerly a finance director at The Hartford, Carter's new role as assistant vice president of finance planning and analysis for 21st Century Insurance has put her in charge of leading a team of financial analysts responsible for the company's financial planning and reporting. Her team's success depends on her ability to provide many of the performance tools she acquired during her master's program at Capella.
“Capella's curriculum enabled me to develop the skills I use to establish metrics, benchmarks, and goals and the tools needed to assess them,” Carter says.
A self-proclaimed prophet of performance improvement, Carter chose to pursue her Capella master's degree in a field not typically associated with financial leadership because she believed she could create a niche for it in the finance environment.
“I chose a program focused on training and performance improvement because I love getting information and sharing knowledge,” she says. “Capella helped me learn something completely different from my normal realm and leverage it in my work. Being able to apply my education degree in the world of corporate finance has led to big gains for me.”
In addition to her work at 21st Century Insurance, Carter serves as board member and treasurer of the National Association of Insurance Professionals (NAIP) and is actively involved in the CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters) Society as the Atlanta Chapter membership director and National Diversity Committee co-chairperson. Putting her education to extracurricular use, Carter integrated the knowledge she gained during her Capella program with her experience as CPCU membership director to write a handbook for other membership directors on how to be effective in that role.
“Part of being successful is being realistic about what you can accomplish,” Carter says. “Capella helped me fine-tune my ability to lead major projects and initiatives to success. And I don't take on anything that I can't fulfill 3,000 percent.”