Charmy Shah

SVP, Hilco Global

Charmy Shah serves as senior vice president, Strategic and Financial Planning, at Hilco Global, where she is responsible for coordinating overall corporate strategy.   

Charmy joined Hilco in 2006 as a financial analyst at Hilco Receivables and progressed to more senior roles over the next five years to vice president at Equable Ascent Financial (EAF), the successor company to Hilco Receivables. She returned to Hilco Global in 2014 to start up the financial planning and reporting department.  Among her many responsibilities are overseeing the annual and strategic planning process, acting as a key liaison with Hilco’s lenders, and evaluating investments and M&A opportunities. Among her many achievements at Hilco are the development of its management reporting and forecasting models and processes; negotiating numerous credit agreements and amendments; and managing the financial diligence process to facilitate a partnership with Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec. At EAF, Charmy was involved in the valuation of over 300+ portfolios.

Charmy has earned an MBA in finance from University of Lincoln, UK, BCom from University of Delhi and has also passed the CPA exam. Growing up in Dubai and moving across the world has sparked her passion to travel the world. She lives in Buffalo Grove, IL with her husband and beautiful twin daughters.

What advice would you offer to women just starting out in the industry?

Looking back at my career and years in the industry my advice would be threefold.

• Always be willing and excited to take on new challenges and opportunities when they present themselves. Working on projects outside your comfort zone are key steppingstones to continuous growth. One of the keys to be able to continuously expand your responsibilities is to think out of the box and find smart, creative solutions. 
• Be passionate about what you do. Deliver excellence in your work product every single time, thinking not only about the immediate answer to the question but predicting subsequent questions and potential recommendations.
• Change is the only constant and the ability to adapt to change while maintaining a positive attitude is a key element to success. 

What do you enjoy most about your role? Least?

My role has steadily grown over the years and offers a rare combination of three roles in one. I have had the opportunity to expand from FP&A into treasury and corporate strategy. Being in corporate, I have a bird’s eye view of all Hilco businesses which spans across a broad spectrum of industries and services and provides a unique experience. We commonly say in Hilco, “There is never a dull moment.” In my 15 years at Hilco I have seen it grow and evolve severalfold. Hilco and its members are very entrepreneurial, which tends to keep my role challenging and exciting as we try to evaluate new investments, acquisitions, and strategic growth opportunities. I have had the opportunity to be in the forefront of this growth and work alongside the leadership team as we formulate the go-ahead strategy.

How do you balance work / personal time?

The pursuit of balancing work and personal time in my opinion is a myth and can be very stressful. I find it better to simply embrace the imbalance and constantly reprioritize between work and home. There are days and times when work demands my undivided attention. This is then balanced at home by spending quality time with my daughters playing games or watching movies, taking a family vacation, pursuing my hobbies, and finding some “me” time doing meditation and soul searching. I have realized it is extremely important to unplug, which gives space for new thoughts and ideas to evolve.

What do you think work will look like in the post-pandemic world?  

Covid has changed the way we look at traditional workspace. Employees have been highly productive in the remote work environment. On the flip side, there is a definite benefit of going to a physical workspace for collaboration and idea generation.  Post-pandemic, a hybrid workweek with lesser travel requirements is a definite possibility. 2020 has proven that companies can deliver results without the need to travel with technology. In the post-pandemic world, it is the time to leverage from the lessons learned without having the need to go back to old ways.