The Smith School’s executive education
programs give executives in the workplace access to thought
leadership from the superstars of Smith labs and classrooms.
Shane Shrader has gone far in his career. He is the
director of internal audit at Hughes Network Systems, LLC
(HUGHES), a company that provides broadband satellite
networks and services to governments, businesses and
individual consumers. Shrader has been with Hughes since
August 2006 and leads the internal audit group that is
instrumental in ensuring the organization’s compliance with
the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which created new standards
for public company boards, management and public accounting
firms to follow.
Before working at Hughes, Shrader did consulting and worked
as a public accountant for a few years, gaining an expertise
in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. He graduated from Towson
University and worked for a small accounting firm for about
eight years.
Recently, Shrader took part in the leadership development
program that the Smith School developed for Hughes. He was
nominated by the company and Hughes’ chief financial officer
to attend three classes: financial acumen; beyond budget
cuts; and leading for success.
Shrader, a CPA and certified internal auditor, said he
learned a lot about models, the drivers of the cost of
capital, return on investment, and how that affects
investors. He added that he imagined the course “was even
more helpful for those who aren’t accountants by nature.”
Shrader says the class helped him look and think about
the big picture, particularly in understanding risk
assessment from a company perspective. “We discussed several
factors — fraud, key drivers of management manipulation,
what investors want — and how we needed to have controls
around those areas.”
Shrader had taken leadership courses before, but never quite
like the Smith School’s program. “In a breakout session we
were talking about how we could be more productive,” Shrader
says. “A lot of folks said ‘We have meetings to have
meetings.’ That was a major concern from a Hughes
perspective. I realized I might have fallen into that habit
as well; that maybe I needed to work with my team on keeping
meetings shorter, on point, and making sure we come
prepared.”
After the final session, Shrader and the other members of
the class had a lunch with senior executives to continue the
discussion, something Shrader says “empowered us as a group
to reexamine how we do some of our day-to-day processes.” He
valued the input of other senior executives and appreciated
the opportunity to hear their thought processes.
“The class motivated me,” Shrader said. “What can I do
better for my company; what can I do better for my career;
what can I do better for my employees’ careers?”
To learn more about the Smith School’s custom executive
education programs, contact
Greg Hanifee.