Nebraska-native Sheila Dormann recently relocated back to her home state, joining Spreetail in July 2022 as the company’s Global Controller and Vice President of Accounting. In her new role, Sheila is joining Spreetail’s Finance division, building the Accounting department’s foundation to ensure efficient, timely, and accurate financial results.
"I am thrilled to have Sheila joining our team as our Global Controller and VP of Accounting. Sheila's experience leading Worldwide Accounting and Finance functions at Fortune 1000 companies, as well as leading a $1B+ IPO, will help take Spreetail to the next level as we continue to expand in the coming years,“ said Joshua Ketter, Chief Financial Officer of Spreetail.
Sheila comes to Spreetail from White River Marine Group (the world’s largest manufacturer of fishing and recreational boats), where she effectively served as the CFO and Global Controller. Prior to that, Sheila spent nearly 10 years with Cabela’s as the Controller and VP of Accounting, leading them through an IPO over $1B.
After starting at Spreetail, we sat down with Sheila to learn more about her first couple of weeks and her priorities moving forward.
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What attracted you to working at Spreetail?
Definitely the culture. Spreetail operates with transparency and is very inclusive and collaborative, and that culture really aligns with my leadership style. I like challenges and I like to partner with others so that we can achieve success together. Spreetailers work hard, but they also celebrate and recognize the wins along the way. As an added bonus, it gave me the opportunity to move back to Nebraska, which is where I'm from.
What surprised you the most after starting at Spreetail?
The comprehensive onboarding program that all new hires go through to learn about every division within Spreetail. I like to understand the global view of a company and how all the different divisions interact, and so this in-depth training has certainly set me up for success.
What are your immediate priorities at Spreetail?
First, I want to get to know my team better and then I really want to focus on making sure we have a good foundation so that we are efficient, timely, and accurate with our financial results. I really want to make sure that the data that teams use every day for decision making aligns with the same data that we're using for the financial statements. I also want to make sure that our vendor payables team is set up for success to maintain those positive working relationships.
What are your dreams and aspirations to build at Spreetail?
Fortunately in my career, I've experienced some pretty big transactions. I've been involved with a lot of acquisitions, a significant merger, complex international tax planning, and even been through an IPO. As we grow in value, I’m excited to guide Spreetail as we work to achieve our future vision.
Spreetail attracts and hires ambitious people who want to grow, how do you see yourself personally growing here?
When I was early in my career, my manager saw potential in me, and he invested in my leadership development. I'm very thankful for that because I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for his trust in me. Now, I want to pay that forward - I want to invest and help team members grow and achieve their goals as well.
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With over 10 years of your career spent working in retail, what experience is going to be the most beneficial in your new role?
When I worked in retail, we grew very quickly, and we opened dozens of massive retail stores across the United States and Canada. I would say an accounting team is a support function, but we play an important role in setting foundational controls, policies, and procedures.
When you have a company that is growing rapidly like Spreetail, it's important to make sure accounting isn't known as the growth anchor or the sales prevention team. We don't want to slow down that growth, so we need to adapt, be agile, and make sure we're keeping up with the growth trajectory and supporting it while maintaining controls and policies.
Spreetail partners with thousands of top brands, how will your experience working at a large manufacturer impact decisions you make now at Spreetail?
In the last few years, I learned a lot working in manufacturing. The key to success for manufacturers is a consistent, steady stream of raw materials and human resources at a steady cost to manufacture products efficiently while keeping costs low. With this knowledge, I can make sure Spreetail is offering the best vendor payment terms.
The pandemic certainly disrupted the supply chain and caused all kinds of problems for vendors, especially smaller and mid-size vendors who didn't have the resources to compete. In my prior role, we used our size and our resources to begin importing directly from international locations to help our vendor partners. That aligns with what Spreetail’s Cross Border team is focused on accomplishing. It’s exciting to see that we're moving in that direction, but at the same time, accounting and vendor payables need to be prepared to adapt and be ready as we expand internationally.
Do you have any advice for aspiring women leaders?
A lot of times women are juggling that work life balance, but don't forget to invest in yourself, in your own growth and development, and keep pushing.
What are you doing when you're not working?
I absolutely love the outdoors, so my favorite thing to do is go hiking, especially in the woods. It's so peaceful and calming, but I also like boating, water sports, or even just lying on the beach reading a good book. I love to travel, especially internationally, trying new foods and learning a lot about new cultures.
