|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Careers are built on a combination of skill and luck. Monica Fernandez-Valiente, vice president of tax for LATAM, Canada, Caribbean and Spain at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), has benefited from both.
“I’ve had lucky opportunities and coincidences that allowed me to move from one great company to another great company,” Fernandez-Valiente says. “Being authentic and building relationships have been key in my career.”
Her current position at WBD is a direct result of one of those relationships. A former boss and mentor from FedEx recommended her to a headhunter. That recommendation is one example of how both meaningful connections and chance, along with her unique skill set and experience, have shaped her career.
Born and raised in Miami, Fernandez-Valiente, whose parents fled Fidel Castro’s communist regime, initially enrolled in the engineering program at the University of Miami. But she switched to accounting. “The fact that I found my accounting and tax courses interesting and exciting told me I made the right move,” says Fernandez-Valiente. She ultimately graduated from the University of Miami with a BA in accounting and a master’s in taxation.
With less than a year until graduation, Fernandez-Valiente attended a job fair where she chatted with a KPMG representative. That conversation led to a summer internship, a job offer, and the start of her career in tax.
While at KPMG she was introduced to FedEx as a client and closely collaborated with their LATAM tax team. Having built a strong relationship with that team, when a tax role became available at FedEx, the company immediately offered the bilingual Fernandez-Valiente the role.
After five years at FedEx, a headhunter called about an opportunity at Royal Caribbean International, and she jumped at it. It was hard leaving a boss who had become her mentor and her advocate (the same one responsible for her current role at WBD). But like any good mentor, “he wanted to see me grow,” she says.
Royal Caribbean allowed Fernandez-Valiente to widen her taxation scope in a more global role, work in her beloved Miami, and grow her career. But after just over a year, she had become pregnant with her first child and decided she needed something closer to home. “I thought, maybe this isn’t going to be conducive to having a family,” she says.
Luck intervened again. Fernandez-Valiente received a call from a headhunter looking for a head of tax for Latin America at the Discovery Channel. “It was an exciting opportunity, first because of the great brand and also because it felt somewhat entrepreneurial. I was the first head of LATAM tax for the company,” Fernandez-Valiente says.
“Being authentic and building relationships have been key in my career.”
Monica Fernandez-Valiente
Although she was entering her third trimester with her first child, the Discovery Channel offered her the tax director, Latin America role. “It spoke volumes about the company that they were hiring me, knowing that in a couple of months I’d be going on maternity leave. They were looking at the bigger picture,” Fernandez-Valiente says.
After several years at Discovery, Fernandez-Valiente was promoted to VP of international tax. Additionally, she had expanded her scope to include Asia-Pacific. “I had my day job and my night job because of the time zone differences,” she jokes, “but I gained a wealth of knowledge.”
When Discovery merged with Warner Media in 2022, Fernandez-Valiente gave up the Asia-Pacific piece to focus on Latin America, Canada, and Spain, and to oversee a team of ten tax professionals spread across the regions. “Since the merger, there’s so many things going on. We are dealing with what were essentially four separate companies: the HBO business, Turner business, the Warner Brothers studios business, and Discovery,” Fernandez-Valiente says.
Projects Fernandez-Valiente and her team have been involved in since the merger include aligning operating models, legal entity restructuring, and ensuring tax efficiency and compliance across the regions.
“For me, it’s been about ensuring we are taking consistent and supported tax positions in the various local jurisdictions and trying to simplify the structure as much as possible while of course looking for opportunities to drive savings. We have many entities across the regions as a result of the merger, and it just creates complexity,” Fernandez-Valiente says.
Fernandez-Valiente strongly believes that one of the advantages of being in tax at WBD is the key role they play in many of the company’s initiatives, as well as their strong partnership with EY. “We need to weigh in on the best way to do things from a tax efficiency standpoint and ensure that we’re being compliant across the globe,” Fernandez-Valiente says. “We are not an afterthought; tax always has a seat at the table.”
Fernandez-Valiente calls herself an authentic leader who is transparent with her team, giving them “a lot of autonomy because I trust them,” she says. “I’m here to set priorities, engage with the business and support my team.”
A few months ago, Fernandez-Valiente was asked to share her experiences as a Latina in finance during a mentorship program. Initially, she hesitated. “I was teamed up with the CFO of CNN. We had about eight folks in our cohort,” says Fernandez-Valiente. “Tax is a very specific thing. I was worried I wasn’t going to have a lot of guidance or advice for them.”
Yet the experience turned out to be invaluable. “It was a rewarding experience. I learned just as much from the mentees as they learned from me,” Fernandez-Valiente says.
“It spoke volumes about the company that they were hiring me, knowing that in a couple of months I’d be going on maternity leave. They were looking at the bigger picture.”
Monica Fernandez-Valiente
About navigating a constantly evolving business environment, Fernandez-Valiente says it can present some challenges, requiring adaptability and resilience. However, staying authentic and empathetic while fostering strong relationships and trust has been key to her growth as a leader.
“These qualities have not only helped me navigate change but also empowered me to lead with confidence and try to encourage those around me,” she says. “We work in an exciting industry with a great product, so it makes it easy to want to come to work and be the best version of yourself every day.”
EY has had the privilege of partnering with Monica Fernandez-Valiente. Monica is an outstanding Warner Bros. Discovery executive and we are thrilled and grateful that she has been recognized for her accomplishments.
