#TeamTuesdays: Meet Our Manager of Finances Charlotte Romero

05/29/2018

There are many important aspects of a company that often stay behind the scenes, one of those is the iTN Worldwide finance department. iTN has specialists dedicated to keeping each department on track for growth and success, but this responsibility is not all about crunching numbers.

iTN’s manager of finance Charlotte Karpf-Romero is the COO’s right hand, but she’s also responsible for human resources and bridging management and the operations staff. She said even though her role comes with much responsibility the small tasks also matter.

“My current position is Finance and Administration Manager. In finances, I do a lot of reporting, analysis, and I work with our COO Daniel Grimes directly to strategize and forecast the company’s financial results,” Romero said. “The Administrative side is a ‘catch-all.’ This side of things can range from being a liaison between operations and HQ and HR, working on procedures with the managers, to setting up birthdays and anniversary celebrations. I can forecast one minute, discuss insurance the next, and make arrangements for the next company outing the following. ”

Like many people who work in logistics Romero said her path into logistics and subsequently to iTN was entirely by chance. Romero traces her career in finance back to high school. As a freshman, her mother enrolled her in the banking and finance magnet program. She recalls that while most students were taking physical education, she was taking accounting courses in 9th grade. Her first job after high school was working bank reconciliations for a property management company that provided financial services for condominium associations. Eventually, she graduated with a Master’s in Accounting from Florida International University.

After spending eight years at a management company, she was offered an opportunity at a logistics provider. Later a recruiter called her about an opening at iTN. Upon meeting company controller Todd Vitko and COO Daniel Grimes, she was sure that iTN was a fit and I never looked back.

“Hands down, what I enjoy most about working at iTN is the culture that we’ve built through Daniel’s leadership. My role has evolved over the years, and I find myself a part of the management team that makes strategic decisions on how to move the company forward,” Romero said. “This has been an incredible learning experience which has exposed me to aspects of running a business that I hope to one day use in a CEO role.”

Naturally, iTN has evolved, and Romero has been able to witness the changes first hand. She said five years ago, iTN was a very different company. They’ve also invested in technology and programs like implementing Magaya and embarked on initiatives to design metrics reporting that they can incorporate and use in the decision-making process. Recently, they developed a dashboard that helps them understand their customers, trade lanes, and workflow for a swift process.

“Our culture, our business, and our customers were different five years ago. Through Daniel’s leadership, we have built a Family First culture that focuses on teamwork and that extends the family inclusion to our customers,” Romero said. “One of the first initiatives I had was to design a flash report that we can look at daily allowing us to see how our different products are doing and projecting each day.”

When she’s not working Romero likes to spend time with her family and explore her city. She’s been calling Miami home since her second birthday. Born to Cuban parents and raised in Westchester, Romero loves Miami and said she’s happy to be planted in the Magic city and plans to continue building her family’s future here.

“I have two little boys in preschool, so I dedicate my weekends to their social calendars, which is surprisingly more exciting than mine. We are an outdoorsy family, so we like to swim, splash, and slide at the pool, local splash pads, and love the beach. We also spend time crafting during the rainy season,” Romero said. “We go to the park often, we fly kites, build sand castles, build forts, go camping in the backyard, catch cucuyos, and look for age-appropriate places to hike. We like to explore the community – you’d be surprised how much there is to learn about Miami.”

To stay in touch with Charlotte, you can email her at cromero@itnworldwide.com or find out more about our Culture Follow @iTNWorldwide on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

Written by: Christian Portilla