To China and Back

As controller of Asian operations for South Carolina-based textile firm Springs Industries, Michael Briers oversaw the shipments of $500 million worth of product to the U.S.

Briers, now 39, was promoted to the Shanghai posting in 2005 and he was well on his way up the global corporate ladder in his accounting profession. Armed with a masters' degree in tax accounting, Briers became an expert in international accounting. “The opportunity to go to Asia was huge,” he says.

But as the global economy slowed and the American textile industry faltered, Briers returned to the U.S. in 2007 like many other expatriates and wondered what was next. He turned down an offer from Caterpillar in part because of the manufacturing slowdown and because he'd be based in Peoria, Ill.