Eric Silverman
EVP & CFO
Service Coordination
Eric Silverman is the EVP and Chief Financial Officer for Service Coordination, Inc. (SCI), the largest case management organization in Maryland, supporting over 50% of the eligible individuals in the State. Eric is a seasoned financial executive with over three decades of experience in strategic financial management. He has previously served as CFO for two major health service organizations, spent over ten years with Deloitte Consulting and started his career as an auditor with Arthur Andersen. Eric holds an MBA in Organizational Leadership and a BS in Accounting from Drexel University.
Fun Fact – Eric currently lives in a house from 1756, on a small street that is a National Historic Landmark and major tourist attraction. He has approximately 250,000 visitors to his street each year.
Learn more about the Washington, DC CFO community here.
Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
My career has always focused on bringing solutions to financial leadership with growing levels of responsibility. That has been coupled with an increasing focus on mission-driven organizations. The combination of those factors brought me to my last 2 CFO positions. I believe that all of those elements combined, put me on the track to my current role, which is the most challenging and rewarding of my career so far.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
Shared Leadership. I believe for an organization to be successful, it needs to build a culture of trust and respect, where leadership responsibility is dispersed and especially not centered around one individual. This creates an environment of strength that enables the organization to be successful for the long-term beyond its current leadership.
What is the greatest challenge CFOs face today, and how are you addressing it?
My organization has grown over 20% each year, for the last 5 years, and we forecast continued material growth for at least the next 3. We have also been able to achieve this growth in a fairly structured and managed approach, but as we get exponentially larger the challenges to maintain and adapt policies, procedures, and practices and maintain our culture, while still managing financial operations, risk and governance become uniquely challenging. Joining this community and benefiting from its shared knowledge is one element in my approach to managing our challenges.
What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CFO?
Take the time to listen. No matter how great your ideas and experiences are, you are new to the organization and leadership team. Meet with your peers and your team. A better understanding of the landscape will enable you to be more targeted and effective.
How do you measure success as a leader?
I measure success in terms of measuring the success of the entire organization. It is not about my success or even my team's success but ensuring that everyone in the organization is "rowing in the same direction" and the organization is moving forward towards its goals.
What is the value of being a member of the Evanta community?
When one is at the CXO level, you are part of a team of strong leaders; however, they all come to the table with different expertise, no one else is a CFO. The challenge is to find a way to interact with peers and continue to grow your "CFO" experience from outside your organization.
The Evanta CFO community is the perfect setting to do this. It is the type of community that often exists for CEOs, but is less common for other CXO positions. The criteria to join ensures that it is truly a peer group that will enable valuable insights, conversations, and growth for all members.
Evanta Governing Body members share their insights and leadership perspectives to shape the agendas and topics that address the top priorities impacting business leaders today.
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