Bechtel’s Dan Degagne and fintech specialist Shayly Nguyen share treasury’s approach to integrating tech in treasury.
Breaking down traditional barriers between finance and technology teams is transforming the way treasury departments tackle digital transformation initiatives. At Bechtel Corporation, assistant treasurer Dan Degagne embraced this approach by recruiting fintech expert Shayly Nguyen from the company’s IT team to join treasury, significantly enhancing efficiency and productivity.
- In the latest Strategic Finance Lab podcast you can listen to now on Apple and Spotify, NeuGroup’s Justin Jones speaks with Mr. Degagne and Ms. Nguyen about how hiring someone with a technology background—rather than experience in finance—has improved treasury’s day-to-day operations through increased automation.
Hiring for tech, teaching finance. “We had a lot of tech initiatives we wanted to implement,” Mr. Degagne explains. “But they just kept getting pushed and pushed and pushed because some of these things, especially in a large organization, are really complex to deploy and implement.”
- That’s where Ms. Nguyen came in. After being struck by her drive and resourcefulness when collaborating on an internal IT project, Mr. Degagne realized that her passion for technology, coupled with a growing interest in finance, made her an ideal fit for his team.
Tech integration leads to efficiency. The two share that Ms. Nguyen’s transition from IT to treasury was seamless, thanks to her familiarity with Bechtel’s systems, quickly leading to new automations that streamlined daily treasury processes. Within a month, she had mastered the essentials and fully integrated into the team.
- In an early challenge Ms. Nguyen faced, outdated templates and manual input errors for letters of credit led to inefficiencies and risks. Her solution involved creating a simple online form that guides users through the process of inputting key information, then automatically generates and emails a finalized letter of credit using an up-to-date template.
- “It’s really helpful not only in time, but also reducing some of the risk within the organization,” she says in the podcast.
A model for the future. Bechtel’s approach of hiring tech talent for treasury roles highlights a growing trend in finance: blending treasury expertise with technological know-how to stay ahead in an increasingly digital world. As AI and automation become more prevalent, having team members who understand both finance and tech is crucial for driving innovation and maintaining a competitive edge.
Listen to the full podcast episode on Apple and Spotify.
