In the past year since Kathleen Neuheardt was named a Titan 100, she has pursued growth at Bonfire Funds Inc., improving the healthcare of operations holistically. “My approach was to look at where the market is going and how we are positioning our services, understanding and focusing on the customer experience and evaluating what financially makes sense,” said Neuheardt. This approach, under Neuheardt’s leadership, created $30 million in value to date.
Neuheardt is chief financial officer for Bonfire Funds Inc., a tech company that monetizes its platform services through the delivery of customized merchandise. The company’s mission is to help individuals create stronger and kinder communities by providing an easy, and risk-free, means of fundraising for personal, local and global causes, nonprofits and other organizations that better lives and society.
Her journey to this role began after Neuheardt took the risk to leave a Big 4 firm on the cusp of invitation to a partnership for the sole reason of investing in her children. She stepped out of the traditional career path and took that opportunity, while focusing on her young children, to continue to learn and explore.
She found this decision to be beneficial when she joined Bonfire Funds Inc. “I have benefited from that ‘off-roading’ by bringing a much more confident, decisive and grounded leadership with much greater empathy and a more holistic approach than I believe I personally would have had if I had not taken the path I did,” said Neuheardt. “I love that my now grown children can see that each person is called to their own path and that there is not a singular approach to achieving great things.”
In the past year, Neuheardt has been instrumental in implementing formal structured planning, long-term objectives with supporting initiatives and investments across functions all the way down to individual goals that are aligned. Neuheardt led the leveraging of the operating system, improved the supply chain, built key vendor relationships that did not exist prior and restructured the firm’s people investment.
“I achieved all of this while maintaining a positive culture, improving team member satisfaction and buy-in as a result of the restructuring of our benefits plan, incorporating formal performance reviews and compensation plans, and improving company communications,” she said.
Neuheardt has also participated in events that would allow her to give back to the business community. She served as a mentor at the BizWomen Mentoring Monday event, hosted a podcast interview with CXO Conversations and was selected to join the Women’s Initiative committee for ACG-Denver.
“Assisting in broadening younger professionals’ networks through inclusion and introductions to relevant professional contacts has been rewarding,” said Neuheardt.
