The 2022 Women Leaders in Consulting: Gayla Bella

Gayla is a managing director and an experienced financial executive with extensive experience in turnaround management. Gayla joined the company in 2017, having previously served as the chief financial officer for a professional services firm and a large retailer. She also has significant consulting experience and expertise in the areas of cash management, debt restructuring, divestitures, due diligence, mergers and acquisitions, profit improvement and valuation. Gayla has been instrumental in the restructuring and turnaround of several organizations across various industries including manufacturing, retail and consumer goods, automotive, aerospace, pharmaceuticals and health care.

What do you consider your greatest personal or professional achievement?

Working with clients in my role as a managing director focused on business restructuring and turnaround scenarios is my greatest professional achievement to date, and it keeps me striving to improve every day. Today's market has presented unique opportunities as consultants and leaders to be deeply involved with our clients as we have all navigated unprecedented times in the modern era through the pandemic and other business constraints across the supply chain, labor and inflation.

When facing these constraints, client teams often feel daunted about future possibilities and contending with market forces that seem out of their control. In these scenarios, I use my leadership and experience to help clients proactively focus on the aspects of their finance and operations that they can control. I've helped companies take action to work with their lenders, vendors, and customers in proactive and strategic ways so that they can maintain the cash flow to support their labor force and effectively manage inventory and other critical aspects of the business. In challenging times, our stewardship helps companies uncover possibilities and realize a profitable path forward—impactful results for clients seeking clarity amid an uncertain landscape.

I continue to work closely with Riveron's executive leaders to help clients navigate these challenges and be the leader they call on whenever help is needed. To extend guidance more broadly, I've also partnered with colleagues to engage in knowledge-sharing among industry-focused groups and authored thought leadership content.

What advice would you give to a female consultant just beginning her career?

Be your own advocate. First, by exploring opportunities because some of us know exactly what we want to do right out of the gate, while others don't or aspirations change over time. Embrace it. Consulting uniquely allows professionals to be curious, experience myriad opportunities, and work with various clients to uncover your preferences and what you love. Gaining restructuring career skills provided invaluable opportunities to apply all my learnings and work as a chief financial officer, which then revealed how much I loved being in a restructuring role helping various c-suite, lenders and other leaders. Loving what you do is important—if you can't smile and laugh every day, the hours and travel may become a sacrifice versus an adventure.

Second, surround yourself with people who enhance your career growth and give weight to their guidance—they likely have "been there, done that." A mentor today may be the person you're negotiating with on your next deal. For instance, one of the people I first learned restructuring from became the lead advisor on the other side of the table much later in my career. Our confidence in each other helped our respective clients navigate a particularly tough situation, resulting in better outcomes for all parties. Building relationships with people around you allows others to grow with you, and some might eventually become your best client.

The takeaway: an open and curious mind enables a successful career, expanding possibilities and perspective through a variety of experiences and a network of mentors and allies.

What do you enjoy most about your consulting career?

When consulting, every day presents new opportunities, uncovering innovative ways to serve as a trusted advisor and work through the challenges at hand. Despite similar contexts, company cultures always vary for each consulting engagement, which allows me to constantly work with new people, locations, and learnings—while applying each idea differently. I look forward to working arm in arm with the executives and "boots on the ground" teams alike to drive change and succeed together. It is rewarding to overcome challenges that seem impossible to tackle at the start, to reconsider old habits, and to be a part of that moment when each person involved believes we can get it done.

What's the best advice—personal or professional—you've ever received?

My grandfather always told me to do everything in life with strength, honor and loyalty. As a child, the importance of these words didn't weigh on me the same way but evolved for me over time through life's many experiences. Today, these three values guide how I approach my life and consulting career. (1) Strength is your strength of self and conviction. This means a business consultant stands up for herself but also is the person willing to stand in the storm next to those who need it and those who deserve it. (2) Honor means acting with integrity toward yourself, your family, your friends, and your company in everything you do. In business and life, honor means each person must be as good as your word. Don't lie. Don't cheat. (3) Loyalty means being committed to yourself and those who have earned it. Trust slow but once earned, be there for those people and those relationships you committed to. Stand by what is right, even if you are standing alone. Be an ally. Be an advocate.

In my work advising distressed businesses through restructuring and turnaround scenarios, I seek to tackle challenges with strength, to maintain integrity when executing strategies, and to serve as a trusted partner, ensuring that client teams and colleagues alike are able to realize value in an ethical and strategically aligned manner.

What does being honored as a Woman Leader in Consulting mean to you?

As a consulting professional, I love my work and the clients and colleagues I engage with each day. This recognition would be a celebration of a 15-plus-year career that I continue to value and enjoy. I have been fortunate throughout my career to be surrounded by professionals, many of whom have become my friends and have supported me along the way. Client engagements have allowed me to explore myriad opportunities, improving the finance and operations of organizations across consumer products, aerospace and many other industries. Knowing how rewarding the career journey can be, I seek to contribute to strengthening others' professional journeys as an ally, mentor, and advocate so that others can love their consulting careers as well. As I continue to grow and work in an oft male-dominated setting, I have come to appreciate how important it is for women in leadership to serve our future women leaders—championing them in our field. This recognition means to me that those efforts are being realized and that people not only recognize my individual contributions but the overall importance of those efforts. I am grateful to the people and opportunities that have led me to where I am today, and I look forward to working alongside our teams to realize the many possibilities on the horizon.