2024 Top Consultants: Anne Slattery

Anne is a consulting partner with more than 17 years of experience working with clients primarily focused in the energy sector. Anne is a regional leader focusing on serving clients in areas of program and project management, risk management, operational and financial internal audit, internal controls, Sarbanes-Oxley readiness, and process improvement for both public and private organizations. Anne brings both industry and public experience to her clients. This experience allows her to have a better understanding of her client position and objectives.

In May 2020, Anne was selected as a senior analyst in RSM's cutting edge Industry Eminence Program, which positions its senior analysts to understand, forecast and communicate economic, business and technology trends shaping the industries RSM serves. These senior analysts advise clients on conditions influencing middle market leaders. Anne's focus is on all aspects of the energy sector, including oil and gas (upstream, midstream and downstream), oil field services, renewables and petrochemicals.

Prior to joining RSM, Anne served in industry as the internal audit director for a Houston based petrochemicals company, where her responsibilities included overseeing the internal audit department, reporting to the audit committee, and serving as co-chair of the Enterprise Risk Management program.

What has motivated you to excel over the course of your career?

I am motivated by the opportunity to reinvent myself and take on new challenges. Some may say that the consulting lifestyle is crazy. In some ways it is. Client service is tough by nature, but inside the firm is a whole world of roles, challenges and opportunities that one must navigate. I have discovered that this constantly changing and dynamic world motivates me in the best way. A great example of this occurred during the three years I spent in the industry eminence program at RSM, focusing on learning and growing the energy industry. In those three years I learned skills I never thought I would have, including speaking to the media, analyzing data on Bloomberg, and honing my writing skills. This very challenging experience allowed me to come back to the business as a better client server. Knowing that I will constantly evolve and grow keeps me coming back for more.

What has been the biggest factor in your success so far?

Setting my own bar. Someone once told me – set your bar so high that even on your worst day you are still above water. I have high expectations of myself and my team, and I do not believe in comparison. I have found that if you set your own standards and focus on achieving them, you will almost always come out on top. How can we go above and beyond when serving clients? What are we doing for them that they will not expect? On the flip side, how can I go beyond expectations in leading and serving my team? This motto has served me well both inside and outside of work. Limiting comparison and creating my own standards has allowed me to succeed not only by firm standards but more importantly, my own.

What do you enjoy most about your career in the consulting industry?

Changing the compliance/audit experience for our clients. We arrive at many clients when they are struggling through compliance and audit activities, or on the heels of discovering a major problem. I learned early on that technical expertise was table stakes in this job. The real differentiation (and challenge) is outside of the technical work. There are many ways to create value and impose lasting change through our work. If we can take a project that is viewed as "check the box" by the client and turn it into an opportunity to improve the business in some way, I view that as success. Creating process efficiencies, implementing activities that prevent future compliance issues, informing strategy through project insights – these are ways where we can truly change the business's perception of compliance activities. I find satisfaction in leaving things better than we found them.

What is your proudest achievement to date?

I have two achievements I'm extremely proud of: My team and my family. When I started at RSM, there was not a team built out for the process risk and controls service line in Texas. Over the last six years, we have built our client base and a team that is the strongest I have worked with in my career.

This week, we had a client/team mixer/teambuilding event before a large project kick off. As the team was chatting and throwing darts with the client team, I stood back and realized how incredible it is to have a 15+ person team, where each individual is growing and excelling in their professional journey. As a national firm, employees work with teams across the country, and I often get calls and feedback from other RSM partners, praising the work ethic and standards that the Texas team brings to the table. Our clients ask for team members by name and have formed their own, unique relationships with them. I feel a huge sense of pride toward and am extremely grateful for my talented team. Outside of my work team, I feel exceptionally proud of being a wife and working mother to three young girls. Balancing my work accomplishments with my commitment to my family makes me extremely proud. I strive to set a positive example for them and am immensely proud to call them mine.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

Bad news should travel fast. While I am not sure this is the best advice I have EVER been given, it has become my go-to advice in the current phase of my career. I noticed a shift a couple of years ago, where I went from trying to prevent issues to fully embracing my role as a problem solver. This change in mindset has allowed me to explore and discover the art of conflict resolution without the anxiety that used to come as issues arise. Whether a client issue, a team issue or a firm issue – communicating tough information quickly and tactfully is almost always the right answer. In the compliance world – this is even more important. By the nature of our work, we are going to find issues – that is our job. Managing through these issues is where we can differentiate ourselves as trusted partners – these are the crucial situations that can take us to the next level. When I think about my strongest client relationships, they all stemmed through getting through a tough situation together. My goal is to help clients use compliance and audit problems to improve their team and organization on the other side. In order to do that – bad news has to travel fast.

What does this recognition mean to you?

The first thing I should do is thank the leaders that have taught me and the team that supports me – as they are truly the force behind any success I have achieved. This recognition also gives me a platform to demonstrate the impact that is possible in this profession. I am passionate about showing others how the work that we do in the compliance and audit field can be valuable far beyond the compliance aspect, and this recognition is a wonderful way to spread that message.