John Orton

PASSIONATE ABOUT PURPOSE, PEOPLE & PROFITABILITY. This is my mission and challenge to meet every day at work, home, and in the community. I have been blessed in my career and enjoyed some success along the way, most earned working together with great people. But I have made mistakes, which provided the biggest a-ha lessons of my career, as mistakes are where growth happens if you put ego aside and you desire to improve. I have a robust intellectual curiosity and am fascinated by different organizations and how to improve them. My parents were teachers, so I come by this curiosity naturally. I learned that serving a purpose and people is critical to long-term success. EARLY CAREER PROFILE I grew up in the Midwest before reaching Texas when my late Dad took a job in Austin. That move enabled me to go to UT-Austin where I earned Finance and MBA degrees and later a CPA. I worked in Dallas at Ericsson for a few years and learned how much I like FP&A. I returned to Austin to work for a small company named Dell and have been in Austin ever since. I managed Dell’s FP&A Dept and drafted the business plan for their first overseas plant, as well as their 10K’s and 10Q’s. That rich experience prepared me to become the CFO at Littlefield, a small public firm, where I learned to manage a public company and raise capital, and do M&A. STARTUP EXPERTISE I later formed a start-up that became the largest U.S. Antique mall owner. We raised venture capital to roll up that industry and had a great run from 1998-2001. However, we hit the wall after 9-11 when sales fell and lease costs spiked. Our fixed cost model ate our lunch (one of the lessons noted above). I worked several more years as CEO, restructuring operations through a Chapter 11 re-org, producing a successful exit. FINANCIAL SERVICES EXECUTIVE I was then recruited to Amplify, a small $300M asset CU with big aspirations. I helped grow Amplify to over $3B Assets Under Mgt during my tenure as CFO. I was later recruited to UFCU, the largest Austin-based credit union with over $4B of assets and the leading mortgage lender in Austin. I have been fortunate to work with great leaders at Amplify and UFCU who instilled the importance of people and culture. Profitability is critical, but we must grow people as well. So that is my career arc. I love finance but managing strategy, operations and people is even more satisfying. Giving back is deeply rewarding, which is why I serve on the board of The Arc and other non-profits. This service is a passion as I strongly believe that to whom much is given, much is expected.