Rising Stars of the Profession 2021: Sharon Bhalaru

Since Sharon joined Armanino in 2012 as a Senior Consultant, she has helped contribute to 15% year-over-year growth in technology software services. Sharon develops leaders, increasing her team of star managers by 150%. Her oversight and responsibility has increased from a team of 25 consultants to over 100 consultants in three years.

Sharon has been the executive sponsor building trusted relationships on ERP and CRM implementation projects, providing excellent client service on global, multiyear digital transformations with 46% performance above sales plan. She adeptly manages teams, rallying members around a common goal and vision.

Sharon is a leader in Armanino's Executive Access Program (EAP), which connects women to executives as sponsors and advocates to achieve parity in partnership and leadership. Formerly a participant in the program, Sharon is now an advisor to 28 women and has built a stronger, more diverse pipeline, identifying rising women stars and empowering them with career-building skills.

Sharon credits an environment where she is surrounded by people who share the same values as she does as one of the most critical factors in her and her team's success. "When I started at Armanino almost nine years ago, I found a group of leaders who encouraged me to be my authentic self, to take risks to try something new and to challenge the status quo. That type of environment was the perfect incubator for me and my colleagues to experiment with new methodologies, improve our internal communications, build new tools and find ways to work smarter, not harder."

"Our shared cultural values and beliefs are also how we grew from a small team of 75 consultants to now over 250 across the department. When bringing in new team members, we looked at hiring not just for technical and behavioral fit, but also cultural fit. We recognize that our mindset is at the core of how we behave, especially in times of stress, and having that common framework to come back helps us be resilient and overcome the most extreme challenges. We are constantly challenged by external forces, and I am so proud of the resiliency of our team, especially with the innovative culture we've created."

Sharon says, "I am proud of being a vocal leader in building people leaders and managers who care. We focus on building relationships with our clients, not with the system or solutions. We know that technology change is hard for all organizations — it means changes in job functions, changes in business processes and changes in the tools many people use all day. I am inspired by the change agents we have cultivated at Armanino who are looking out for the people and balance that with making organizational improvements in process and technology.

"I am guided by Maya Angelou's quote as we inspire our team to build close relationships with our clients: 'People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.'"

Regarding outstanding advice, she recites, "'Sharon, do more through others.' One of my mentors shared this nugget as I was leading my team. I was struggling with too many tasks and initiatives, and never-ending fires to put out. I was overwhelmed and burned out. I needed a different path and had to admit to myself that I could no longer participate in everything. I had to let go of the day-to-day and trust my team. Making that transition from working in the business to working on the business was a difficult one. It meant I could not value my time based on my individual output, but instead had to base it on things outside of my control, like my team's output and our long-term success."

What would this recognition mean to you?

"When I was in school, I had no idea what consulting entailed; however, I knew I wanted to excel at whatever craft I chose. No one in my family could give me insights into the professional services world. I grew up in a blue-collar family with immigrant parents who instilled the values of knowledge and perseverance. With the encouragement of my parents, I knew I could venture out, try new things, take risks into the unknown and explore whatever path I chose. I took on that entrepreneurial spirit and kept challenging myself in each of the roles I took on: President of the Student Consulting Association at the University of Southern California, volunteering locally as well as globally in organizations I believe in and as a technology consultant who is now responsible for the largest practice in our department.

In the book "Aligning the Stars," the definition of a star is not an over-performer, it's someone who has the highest future value and has the most impact in the years ahead. A star is someone whose goals align with the firm's strategies and goals; if they left, our clients and firm would notice. I want to keep making a positive impact for decades to come, continuing to build a team of rising stars. To be recognized and awarded this honor would mean my belief in investing in people and retaining our stars is real. We can have a successful organization with a focus on the most important asset: our people."