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Tyler Reddien didn’t get into finance specifically to help large companies and departments execute complicated financial turnarounds, but it turns out he’s both good at it and he loves it.
“I enjoy the pace and sense of urgency,” Reddien says. “I think I would get bored without these kinds of challenges.”
Reddien’s current gig, at Estero-based Hertz Global Holdings, is less high-pressure than another stint at an iconic brand, when he worked for United Airlines for a decade. He held multiple positions at the airline, and also worked on the United-Continental merger. Beyond the challenges, Reddien says he learned a lot working under two mentors at United, then President John Tague and then Vice President Jeff Foland.
Tague is now president and CEO at Hertz and Foland is a senior executive vice president and chief revenue officer. The opportunity to work with the pair again, says Reddien, lured him to the car rental giant in August 2015, when he was named a senior vice president of finance.
While the pressure is different at Hertz than United, Reddien’s tasks still revolve around finding efficiencies in the financial operations. He has found more than $120 million in cost savings so far at Hertz, and helped set up systems in field operations that allow employees to have more transparent accountability. He also worked with a team implementing a new IT system for the Hertz’s Dollar and Thrifty units.
Reddien says his get-out-of-bed motivation at Hertz, one of the largest companies along the Gulf Coast, is to “keep driving the company forward.”
— Mark Gordon
Name: Tyler Reddien
Age: 39
City of residence: Estero, Fla.
Twitter handle: @treddien
Employer: Hertz Global
Title: Senior Vice President, Finance
Birthplace: Santa Monica, Calif.
Years on the Gulf Coast: 1 yr
Marital status/children: Partnered, no children, dog Paxton
Alma mater: Duke University undergrad, Ross School of Business (University of Michigan) MBA
Best place to network: Most of my networking has been company oriented recently, however the app MeetUp has some great opportunities to meet people with common interests.
Coolest business experience: Hosting an event for potential investors for the first aircraft debt instrument to finance a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the US. We held the event in a hanger with Boeing test plane, and after the event we flew the test plane from New York to Chicago. It was very cool.
Messy desk or clean workspace: Messy desk, but there’s a system
Best business lesson ever learned: Hard work isn’t enough. You have to also focus on understanding how the work you do fits in to the big picture strategy and then communicate. How you communicate can be as important as what you communicate.
A website that makes your job easier: Two sites I use frequently – Bloomberg, to keep up on industry and market news, and as recruiting has been a very important part of my job, I have found LinkedIn to be invaluable.
Community group you’re most involved with: Recently the vast majority of my time has been consumed with the new job, but I am involved in the Duke University club in South Florida.
Favorite off-hours activity: I love to travel and am a bit of a foodie, so I spend most of my off time trying new restaurants and exploring the world. I recently had the opportunity to experience the great service Hertz provides globally by doing a road trip around Eastern Europe and Italy. The food was incredible.
Two people, dead or alive, you’d like to have dinner with: I am fascinated by history and great leaders so I would have to say Martin Luther King, and I would love to sit down with my Great-grandfather who immigrated from Sicily to the US providing me and my family with the incredible opportunities we have had.
What you would be doing if you could pick another career: I love to cook and to travel, so I have thought about hosting food tours of international cities after I “retire.”
Top item on your bucket list: African Safari
Skill you’d like to learn: My partner’s family is from Italy, so I have been working on learning to speak Italian, but in fits and starts due to my busy schedule. I’d like to really learn it!
Who would play you in a movie about your life: I’d like to say Matt Damon, but I know better. Probably some B list celebrity.
If I had a magic wand I’d: Stop persecution of people that are “different” all over the world. Among other things.
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