Roy Sundermeyer, senior vice president and chief financial officer, Central Bancompany
Family: I am currently single and have no children. My parents and brother live in New Bloomfield, where I was born and raised, and my sister and niece live in Columbia.
Education: I hold a Bachelor of Science and master’s degree in accountancy from the University of Missouri. I am also a CPA.
Community involvement: Having just moved to Jefferson City in late October, I was recently asked to join the Management Advisory Board in the Trulaske College of Business at MU. I want to get more involved with the community as that is an important part of my personal values and those of Central Bank.
Why I’m passionate about my job: I work for a great company, and I am continually amazed by the number of people I have met who have worked 30-plus years at Central Bank/Central Bancompany. After all those years, they still have a tremendous amount of passion to grow this organization each day. I hope I can follow in their footsteps for the next 30 years of my career.
Biggest career obstacle I’ve had to overcome: I’m currently overcoming the biggest obstacle subsequent to accepting the CFO position at Central Bancompany. I have audited many companies in many industries, most of which were actually larger than Central Bancompany; however, I did not have a background in banking and capital markets, so the regulatory environment in particular is completely foreign to me. However, I have had several people tell me recently that they did not realize I had never worked in this industry before, so I am taking those comments as a sign that I must be learning quickly.
Favorite Jefferson City charitable organization and why: The Jefferson City Rape and Abuse Crisis Service. I cannot imagine the trauma that the persons served by this organization have encountered, but it is encouraging to know that organizations such as this exist to support victims of these terrible tragedies.
Accomplishment I’m most proud of: I worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (a very large public accounting firm) for more than 12 years, and I was fortunate to work with many accountants of exceptional intelligence and work ethic. My favorite job responsibility at PwC was to develop numerous individuals into highly skilled accountants and auditors through teaching complex accounting principles and auditing standards, though I never anticipated becoming a lifelong adviser and friend to a significant number of these individuals. I am very proud of that.
Favorite place to spend a Saturday afternoon: At Memorial Stadium watching MU beat its SEC opponents in football.
Last book read: When Genius Failed. It’s the story of the failure of Long-Term Capital Management, which was a hedge fund that caused the first “too big to fail” risk to the U.S. financial system in the late 1990s.
Favorite TV show: My favorite show is probably The Universe on H2. I love shows I can learn from, and I seem to learn something new every time I watch that show. The Big Bang Theory and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are favorites as well.
Favorite comfort food: I’m not sure if this technically qualifies as comfort food, but I’m a big fan of the burgers at Paddy Malone’s and the shakes at Zesto. I also enjoy pizza at Shakespeare’s when I’m in Columbia.
Favorite app: My Yahoo! Finance app is my lifeline to the market when I’m not in front of my laptop. I also like virtually any travel app, as I love traveling and tend to have an unhealthy obsession with my travel status for airlines and hotel chains like George Clooney’s character had in the movie Up in the Air.
Dream vacation: I love cruises for the simple fact that you are surrounded by others who are on vacation with you and tend to be in the same vacation state of mind. I’d probably choose to go on a Mediterranean cruise to interact with different cultures and individuals whom I normally would not encounter.
What is something that has changed your life: The fact that I chose to go into the accountancy program at MU totally changed my view on the world. I never thought I would move away from central Missouri until being accepted into that degree program, which is a perennial top-20 accounting program. The largest accounting firms in the world are practically tripping over each other to recruit the students who graduate with accountancy degrees from MU, so that resulted in my accepting an audit position in St. Louis to start my career with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Secret aspiration: I’d like to win a massive lottery jackpot and then use the proceeds to build a new football stadium at MU. However, because I don’t play the lottery, that aspiration probably isn’t going to happen any time soon, so I’ll go with being president of the United States instead.
Source of inspiration: My parents. Our family never had very much money, yet I don’t recall ever feeling as though we were struggling or that I had to go without. I want to make sure that I can support my parents’ aspirations in retirement and that my niece can attend the college of her choice (though I’ll strongly be encouraging her to become a Missouri Tiger some day).
Favorite hobbies: Working out, traveling, golfing (despite being terrible at it), attending MU football and basketball games and watching Cardinals baseball and Chiefs football.
