Kate Anthony

Where do you work?

I work as the Chief Financial Officer at Khan Lab School and then at Khan Schools Network and Schoolhouse.world.

Where did you work previously?

Prior to this, I worked as the chief operating officer for an organization within Arizona state that did non-degree education, so K through 12 and Workforce Education. Prior to that, I worked as a consultant and a manager at McKinsey in their education practice, and I started out my career as a high school history teacher.

What made you choose to go into your specific occupation?

So I think I've always been interested in education, like right from right from when I graduated college, and that has been kind of a common thread. I think the, you know, becoming a CFO has been maybe a little bit more of a gradual evolution. I did a lot of finance work when I was at McKinsey, and I found it really interesting. And then when I left McKinsey, knew that I wanted to go into kind of an operating role and see, yeah, just see what it took to get things done at an organization. And then through that work, realized that the part that I really love is the finance part. So chose to move into kind of a smaller organization where I could manage the finances end to end

Earlier you mentioned that you were a history teacher, could you talk a little bit more about that?

So I, right out of college, I taught for a year at a school in Southern California as a AP, European and world history teacher, and I, I loved it. I actually loved being in the classroom.

What grades did you teach?

I taught sophomores. Yeah, only sophomores. And just like the whole, yeah, whole range of sophomores, wonderful.

So currently you are into finance, what was the moment when was it like you knew that you wanted to go into that field?

I think throughout my time at ASU, I had a great mentor and boss who had herself been a CFO previously, and we had a lot of conversations about the parts of my job that I liked, that I didn't like, and at the time, I was doing as the COO like, truly everything that you could think of. I managed that technology team. I did all that legal work, I managed their HR, I did that strategic planning processes. I did all that data work. It was a lot of different things. And so it gave me a really good window of insight to be able to say, Hey, these are the, you know, these things are really interesting. I love getting up in the morning and doing these, and I'm happy to work on them. And these things are really draining to me. And so I think that was like, that was kind of the evolution. But I didn't know when I applied, when I applied for and then got this job as a CFO. I didn't necessarily know that it was going to be, like, 100% a great fit. It was just a hypothesis. So I think actually, the like, the process of being in this role has been the thing that confirms, for me that that being a CFO, particularly, I think, in a nonprofit setting, is is a great career for me.

If you weren't a CFO at the moment, do you think you'd be a history teacher?

I think I'd probably be an economics teacher, or, like, a college professor of economics or history. I think that's one world I'm trying to think about the careers that I've considered, I think that's a big one. And then I think if I wasn't in education, but was still working in finance, I'd like to work on like, the Environment and Conservation side.

When you were a kid, was there any occupation you wanted to be, any career you like or dreamt of being?

It's funny, when I was a really little kid, I I liked pretending to be a teacher, and I would make my sit. My younger sister, she was two and a half years younger, play school with me, which she hated, but I loved that. And then when I was a little older, when I was in high school, I did a lot of Model UN and I wanted to work in, like, international development, and in that kind of, that kind of wealth, I went to Georgetown to the School of Foreign Service, and, yeah, was really thinking about going that career path, but found at the end of at the end of college that I just didn't want to travel that way, that like life, like. Lifestyle wise, that wasn't what I wanted to do, and so kind of wanted to keep some of the same themes, like, really wanted to work in a job that was helping to make the world better, but maybe wanted something that was a little more local to the US

Can you see any connections between your current job and the job you wanted as a child?

It's interesting. I think I really like jobs that involve some level of kind of analytical and critical thinking. And so, yeah, I studied economics in college. I wanted to do the sort of international development economics route, and then the, I think that's very similar thinking applied in being the CFO of a nonprofit. So I think that's one common theme.

You went to Georgetown for college, right?

Yeah. I did.

What other college did you apply to? And why did you choose Georgetown?

I applied to a bunch because I was in Switzerland, and I was applying both to England, like to colleges in the UK, and then to colleges in the US. The other ones, I was seriously considering, I think I decided in the end that I wanted to state that I wanted to go to the US rather than the UK, and I was deciding between Georgetown and brown. And it's really funny, because at the time, at the time in my mind, like if I went to Brown, I would have become a completely different person than the person that I became if I went to Georgetown. I don't know if that's true. Maybe I would have ended up somewhat similar either way. But I chose Georgetown because the School of Foreign Service was just really exciting to me. And it was, it was kind of like a small COVID of people who all took very similar classes, and it was really focused on that international experience. That was one of the reasons. And then it's funny, one of the other reasons was that Georgetown sent me this, like, now, thinking about admissions, they sent me this handwritten note I remember, like, during the Christmas period, and I just remember thinking, Wow, maybe this will be a place that, like, actually cares about me as a person. I think it was just a good admissions team, but I do remember that feeling.

What major did you intend to take in college, and what did you end up graduating with?

I don't think coming in I necessarily had an intent, an intended, meant major. The way that the School of Foreign Service worked was that you took two years of CO curriculum like you had to take you had to demonstrate fluency in another language. You had to take economics all the way through macroeconomics. You had to take statistics and economic metrics like you had to take a really rigorous core curriculum. So you kind of didn't think about your major until your second year. So I got a really broad experience, and then I ended up double-ish majoring in economics and history, which were the two subjects that I loved. And my advisors at the time were like, Why are you trying to do both of these? They're very different, but I was able to find a way to kind of merge them together. That was, yeah, that was super interesting. And I ended up doing a master's, off to college in economic history at Oxford. So it was like a Yeah, a nice coming together of those two things.

What are all the colleges you've attended?

I did my undergrad at Georgetown. I did a master's in economic history at Oxford, and that's it.

What was your first full time job out of college?

My first full time job was before college. I took a gap year that was supposed to be traveling, but I ended up having to get, like, I had a pretty bad injury, and so I had to get surgery and rehabilitate. And so while I was rehabilitating, I worked as a sample manager in a clinical lab at a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland, which was where I lived, which I would never do again. It wasn't a great career, it wasn't a great job for me, but that was my first that was my first work experience. And then in college, every summer I worked in kind of like corporate strategy or consulting. So did, like, three months of a full time job every summer, wonderful.

What is one thing you love and enjoy about your current job?

I think finance is very useful. Like, I like that. My job is useful. I think every nonprofit needs somebody who can manage their money. Like, ultimately, that's what makes a lot of impact possible. And I like being in the in the role that can help to do that. Well, I. And I think I also like that most conversations about anything at some point in time are going to come back down to resourcing, which is going to come back down to money. So there's, it's always a strict like, you're always in a role that gets to be strategic.

Do you have a favorite memory or a favorite project you worked on at your job, your current job?

My current job, I've only been here a year. Um, any memory, though. So my actually favorite memory was, um, we haven't talked about this very much, but I worked from from when I finished my masters, for three and a half years at McKinsey and Company, which is a consulting firm, and they just have a really interesting work environment that, to be honest, I'll never experience again, where you're put on small teams for a couple of months with with one manager and then a couple of other People who are kind of your similar age and experience level, and they just end up becoming really good friends because you're working, you're working really hard, like very long hours, interesting problems, like very high pressure, but those late nights all working together on something were really bonding. So I worked for actually eight months for a university out in Colorado on one of these studies with just a wonderful team of people who are still some of my best friends today. So that was, yeah, I think that's a good memory.

What would you say had been a major milestone in your career?

I mean, I think the two titles that I remember thinking about like, Wow, if I got to this level, I that would be, that would be making it, I think becoming a Chief Operating Officer and and getting all the full breadth of experience of what that was, that was a big milestone. And then I think becoming a chief financial officer and as a CFO of a nonprofit, every year, you have to go through what's called an annual audit, which is where an outside entity takes a look at all of your finances and how you've been managing things. And kind of one, checks that you're doing it correctly. And then two, kind of works with you to make sure that you're that all the numbers are correct, so that you can report out publicly. And that process was a little scary, to be honest, to go through the first time, but I think getting through to the end of that process and being like, Okay, I know how this works. Now, the next time I do it, I'll feel a lot more comfortable. That was another big milestone.

What was one big obstacle that you had to overcome to get where you are today, any challenges you faced?

I think one obstacle that I'm constantly overcoming is like figuring out a way to have work life balance while having, you know, a stimulating, exciting job that I'm passionate about, and I don't think that I've overcome that obstacle. I think it's just kind of a continual checking in with how I'm feeling, and how balanced I feel as a chief financial officer, what do you think are?

What do you think are some things you wish you knew before you began your journey?

I think maybe not as a CFO, but just generally, I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to get like a specific thing. I remember in college, I was obsessed with becoming, with getting a consulting job out of college, and I worked really hard, and it felt like if I didn't get that, just the world was going to end. And I, I wish, I think now with the benefit of hindsight and experience, but also of success. I feel, I don't feel that way anymore about jobs, that it's like life or death if I get it or I don't. And I wish I would like to have had more of that perspective early on, because, you know, I've had a lot of friends and who didn't feel that way, and they've ended up doing just like very fine in jobs that they care about, and they didn't have all of that pressure at the start.

So you mentioned it was a lot of hard work getting into a consulting firm. How did you try to prevent burnout throughout your career?

I try not to work on the weekends. I try to have that as like a real rule. I haven't worked on the weekends significantly since I was at McKinsey, where they made you work on weekends, that's really important to me, and I try to spend that weekend, time disconnected, not on my phone, outside, with my partner, I think that's a big one. I'm trying to think of the other. Yeah, and then I just try to spend all of my time when I'm not working outside or with friends, doing things that bring me a lot of joy. And like I remember, I had a mentor at McKinsey who, because I used to talk to them about work life balance, and they and he gave me a piece of advice, which I thought was helpful, which was that work is going to fill up the space that you leave for it, but if you fill your life with other things that you're excited about, there's just going to be a little less space for work and like that might be how you get to balance.

What is the biggest piece of advice you'd want to impart on high school students today?

Oh, that’s hard. It's been a while since I've been in your shoes. And I think the world, you know, the job market, looks different than it did when I was there. I think it's going to be probably more okay than you think it is, and you're probably going to change your mind around what job you want. Like, I know that I have changed multiple times, so don't, don't worry so much, and be comfortable listening to yourself when you're feeling when you're feeling like maybe what you want is changing.

What are some changes you foresee in the future, in your field, or even beyond?

Yeah, it's tough to know right now. I do think that the finance field is changing with with generally automation and then specifically will change with AI, it hasn't. It's starting to change. It hasn't changed that much. I think hopefully that means that more of the kind of menial work is going away. But it's also slow, so it's tough to know exactly how quickly it's going to change. And then the nonprofit world is interesting. I think there are just a lot more models for what, for how to be a nonprofit, or how to do impact driven work, maybe not necessarily as a nonprofit, that are kind of emerging. And I'm curious to see where, where that'll go.

Thank you so much for your time!