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Young professionals can learn a lot from Maria Ortega, her career, and leadership evolution, whether they know what they want their long-term paths to look like or not.
“Early in your career, you have the biggest opportunity to explore and be curious about what you want to do and where you want to work,” she says. “Some people start with a focused path, but there are so many jobs out there that you don’t know about. So, you should look for a job you know you’ll like doing, but also know you’ll learn new things that might be a steppingstone to something different.”
That’s what she did.
After getting an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Riverside and a master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame, she started her career at Deloitte in external auditing and then at Hughes Electronics as an internal audit manager. Up until that point, Ortega always had a knack for numbers, performing analysis, and understanding how things worked. The Burbank, California-native thought she’d leverage those traits to pursue accounting positions but wasn’t sold on where she wanted to end up.
Ortega found herself gravitating toward the processes behind the numbers as she moved through her internal auditing responsibilities. If she hadn’t had those experiences, maybe she’d never go on to become the vice president of finance transformation at Sony Pictures Entertainment that she is today.
“You should look for a job you know you’ll like doing, but also know you’ll learn new things that might be a steppingstone to something different.”
Maria Ortega
“Now, I’m more a project manager, figuring out the puzzle pieces of how we’re going to get a finance transformation project done, who are the people who need to do it, how much time will that take for a team, and then working on the execution and making sure things are running the way they should,” she explains. “Each job and project was a progression that set me up for this point.
“My journey underscores the importance of keeping your eyes and ears open and exploring different things,” she continues. “Opportunities aren’t always presented, but you need to listen out for them.”
The VP stepped into her current role in 2010 because of her ability to listen and seize an opportunity. After serving as an executive director of corporate finance compliance at the company for five years, she heard Sony Pictures Entertainment was going to build a department focused on improving finance processes, including implementation of a accounting services framework with two international shared service centers.
She approached her boss and asked to be a part of the group because she would play a pivotal role in designing and driving the implementation of changes rather than auditing a process after the fact She focused on determining the delivery models for the accounting close and tax processes.
Maybe Ortega’s leaders brought her on board because of the years of expertise she had garnered as an auditor, her relentless appetite to improve, or her demonstrated ability to get things done.
One thing is for sure: they saw potential in her as a leader and supported her growth.
Ortega went on serve on the board of Women and Allies of Action, Vision, and Empowerment, an employee business resource group that helped her hone her leadership qualities. She connected with this group’s mission to promote gender equity through Sony’s creative content, culture, and organization. In her VP role, she took on important process improvement projects and oversaw larger teams of people. She went from documenting or making recommendations about new processes to directing the professionals doing that work.
“My journey underscores the importance of keeping your eyes and ears open and exploring different things. Opportunities aren’t always presented, but you need to listen out for them.”
Maria Ortega
That journey has given Ortega, a self-described introvert, the confidence to lead in her own way. It has also taught her about one of the most important abilities a leader can have: the ability to listen.
“Serving on a board, you’re trying to understand what people are thinking, the challenges they face, and listening to suggestions about solutions,” she explains. “On process improvement projects, I’ve had to listen to the people involved and how they will be impacted by changes, understanding their challenges. You take all of that to create a better outcome for everyone.”
She has also seen the power of how leading by example can drive change. A few years ago, Ortega wasn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves as she and her team experimented with a new project management method that would change the way accounting was done.
“Everyone saw that me and my boss were using this new approach for the first time,” she explains, “so it wasn’t just us telling the team, ‘Do this going forward.’ They saw how we went through a process of figuring it out and then, being successful with it.”
That ties into a final piece of advice Ortega has for future leaders: you can’t do it by yourself. “You need a team, and the people you’re working with should be people you like working with,” she advises.
In learning from Ortega’s journey, any future leader can find their own success.
Book Recommendations from Maria Ortega
The Digital Mindset: What It Really Takes to Thrive in the Age of Data, Algorithms, and AI
By Tsedal Neeley and Paul Leonardi
“I read it because it’s directed at organization leaders, and [each chapter] describes a different aspect of digital technology and some of the practical applications being developed, like artificial intelligence and machine learning. It’s something finance organizations are moving toward to find cost effective and efficient tools. As leaders, we need to understand what these tools are and know the type of mindset and skills that’ll be needed to get work done.”
Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance
By Erica Dhawan
“It offers advice about ways of navigating behaviors in a remote work environment. For example, how do you coach team members that are in remote offices around the globe? Or, how do you show support for a colleague’s proposal when listening on teams?”
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