Karen Ettredge

Vice President, Corporate Controller & Principal Accounting Officer, QUANEX BUILDING PRODUCTS

Employee Spotlight with Karen Ettredge

🎥 Feb 18, 2022 📺 Quanex Building Products ⏱ 2m 👁 280 views

Director, SEC Reporting & Assistant Controller, Karen Ettredge shares why working at Quanex is such a stable environment to ...

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About Karen Ettredge

Karen Ettredge, Vice President, Corporate Controller & Principal Accounting Officer at Quanex Building Products, discussed her career and views on the company in a 2022 employee spotlight. She stated that she had been with Quanex for about seven years, serving as Director of SEC Reporting and Assistant Controller, after spending five years as SEC Reporting Manager. Ettredge said she appreciates the work-life balance and flexibility at Quanex, noting that employees can work hard while maintaining time for family or outside interests. Ettredge described manufacturing as "the basis of our economy" and "the building blocks of accounting." She characterized Quanex as a lean organization where employees who ask to be involved in new areas often receive opportunities. She said recognition from management, including CEO George, occurs frequently after milestones are achieved. Ettredge acknowledged that unexpected challenges arise but said they keep the work interesting and prevent stagnation. She emphasized the importance of understanding personal motivations to push further, and stated that Quanex offers opportunities for improvement and growth.

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Transcript (6 segments)

Karen Ettredge0:10

I am Karen Ettredge. I am the Director of SEC Reporting and the Assistant Controller here in the Houston Office, and I've been here for about seven years. Here at Quanex, I spent about five years in the SEC Reporting Manager Role, and I then moved into the role that I have now, where I'm overseeing still the SEC reporting, and I'm also working on consolidated financial information.

I really like the work-life balance here and the flexibility that we have, where you can work really hard and still have time with your family or outside interests.

So I'm an accountant, and manufacturing really is kind of the basis of accounting, right? We make goods and we sell them, so it's kind of the building blocks of accounting in general. I think that manufacturing is just the basis of our economy, right? I mean, we sell goods for purchase, and I think it drives everything we do.

I think it's a great stable environment to be in. I think Quanex is definitely one of those places where that saying of ask and you shall receive happens. We're very lean, and so when I see something that I want to learn about or want to work on, if I raise my hand and ask to be involved, the opportunity is always there. That's one of the things that I enjoy about Quanex actually, is I feel like recognition comes pretty often. When you work really hard and when you achieve a milestone, we'll often see George, we'll see the management come in and tell us, or sending us an email thanking us for the efforts that we've put in.

Some of the challenges have just been the fact that there are always things popping up that are new things to work on. When those pop up, you've got to dive in and figure out what to do. But that also keeps it interesting. It keeps it from being stagnant.

I think for me, it's always important to think about why I work, what I work for. If I know what drives me, then I can help myself push a little further. The opportunity is there, and the work is there, so I think it's a great place to improve and grow.