Meet Tommy — Charm's Controller

Tommy - let’s start from the beginning. Tell us about yourself and where you grew up?

I’m originally from a small town in Southern Illinois. Growing up there instilled in me a strong sense of integrity and the importance of relationships, which really shaped my approach to my career.  I was lucky to have a mentor who introduced me to accounting, sparking my interest in the field.

Tell us about your career journey. How did you end up at Charm?

I’ve had what I would consider a relatively traditional career path for a corporate accountant.  After completing school, I started off my career in public accounting, which gave me a strong technical foundation and exposed me to a variety of industries and clients. Working in public accounting taught me the importance of accuracy, efficiency, and compliance in high-stakes situations.

After a few years, I transitioned into corporate accounting, where I could focus on a single organization and help drive long-term financial health. Moving through various roles and a few different industries, I've had the chance to work on everything from day-to-day financial management to strategic projects that help shape the company’s direction. I’ve spent a lot of my time creating processes and controls where they were previously non-existent or in a state of deficiency.

My experiences and accomplishments prior to Charm matched up perfectly with Charm’s needs as an early stage company trailblazing in an early stage industry.  The carbon removal industry, (and thus carbon accounting) is lacking in specific accounting rules and regulations.  What does exist is tangential to the industry and helpful, but requires a bit of creativity and is subject to interpretation. This is a known problem and the Financial Accounting Standards Board has taken on the project of Accounting for Environment Credit Programs. Although several standard setting projects have been attempted in the past, there are currently no accounting requirements under US GAAP specific to carbon offsets, allowances, and credits. When the opportunity for Charm came before me, I quickly jumped to solve for these challenges.

What’s a project you’re most proud of working on at Charm?

Though I’ve accomplished a lot in my short time here, nothing stands out quite like the time I headed out to Kansas in the depths of winter to get my hands dirty with the Minifinery build out.  When the opportunity opened up, I jumped at the chance to go out into the field and see what we were doing firsthand. Trading in the comforts of the office and my laptop, I was given a pipe wrench to put the finishing touches on the build out and welcome the first truckload of bio oil to be processed!  Though I certainly felt like a fish out of water, the team was super welcoming and glad to have an extra set of hands.  I’ve had the chance a couple of times in my career to put on my operations hat, and it is always a great way to learn.

What’s something most people don’t know about your line of work?

Often when someone thinks of an accountant, they immediately think of taxes.  Tax work can be highly specialized.  Having focused on corporate accounting most of my career, I have very limited experience in tax work, often outsourcing the needs when they are incurred.  I, like many others out there, utilize Turbo Tax for my own filings and have only been useful for the simplest advice to my friends and family at tax time.

What’s your favorite aspect of working at Charm?

My favorite aspect of working at Charm is getting to solve problems.  My role is unique at Charm in that my problems are not directly related to decarbonization, but I am still able to make big contributions.  I spend my time analyzing financial data, identifying discrepancies, and implementing changes to improve every day. Many of those changes I look to implement results in efficiencies to process and net more carbon underground!  It’s rewarding to know that my efforts are impacting our strategic decision-making and long-term goals.

Thanks for chatting with us today, Tommy! Make sure to subscribe to get more stories like this in your inbox.