Poole College of Management Advisory Board<\/a>, he brings decades of leadership experience that spans technology, finance and crisis management.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAt Sonic Automotive, Byrd's responsibilities include the traditional CFO areas, including accounting, finance, treasury, procurement, internal audit, financial planning and investor relations. He also oversees the company\u2019s information technology division and the human resources department \u2014 something unique to his position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIT and HR are not normally under the CFO, but since I was a partner in an HR and IT outsourcing company early in my career, it made sense,\" Byrd says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Career Full of Pivots<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Byrd's path to the CFO began with a series of pivots in his career plans. He enrolled at the United States Air Force Academy after high school with plans to be a pilot, however asthma and allergies kept him from achieving his pilot qualifications. So he chose to pursue another passion, enrolling at NC State in pre-veterinary studies with dreams of becoming a large animal veterinarian. But as luck would have it, his health issues and large animals also didn\u2019t mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was his third career pivot that really started him down the road to CFO. Byrd enrolled in Duke University\u2019s Master of Health Administration program, which the university moved from the Medical Center to Fuqua School of Business during his second year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hospital administration followed, then management consulting, before he eventually became a partner and president of an IT and HR outsourcing company that he operated out of North Carolina and India. It was while running that company that he first encountered Sonic Automotive's leadership team, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Byrd and his partners sold the company in 2007, Sonic brought him on as Chief Technology Officer, and he later transitioned to CFO in 2013 when his predecessor retired. From there, it wasn't long before he was tasked with guiding the company through some challenging years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Challenges and Transformations <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges, from learning how to make sales in a different environment to how to safely operate a salesroom when businesses re-opened. Yet Byrd embraced it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI love the war room mentality,\u201d he says. \u201cEveryone gets in the room and doesn't leave until things are solved and a plan is put in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnce you go to battle with people, you don't forget that; it creates lifelong relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s something he\u2019s taken forward with him at Sonic Automotive, as he and his team have faced everything from the technological transformation that has come with the use of AI and digital tools, to economic changes such as the recent tariffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Home With the Wolfpack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Though he\u2019s traveled far and wide in the years since he was at NC State, Byrd says he still feels connected to the university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy true undergrad connection is NC State,\" he says. And that\u2019s a bond that grew when his son attended Poole College, giving Byrd firsthand insights into the business school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So as he looks ahead to his future with Poole\u2019s Advisory Board, Byrd thinks about those connections as well as a growing relationship between Sonic Automotive and NC State. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Already, NC State interns are among those who have enrolled in a summer rotational program Sonic Automotive developed to attract talent early in students\u2019 college careers. NC State graduates are also part of the three-year Leadership Development Program that prepares them to be future leaders in the Sonic organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd we're trying to find additional ways to work with Poole, to have feeders into Sonic,\" Byrd says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Byrd sees the Poole Advisory Board's primary role as keeping the school \u201caware and informed of what is reality in the professional world, and the skills that everyone is looking for.\u201d He hopes it will be an opportunity as well to strengthen the pipeline between academia and industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Byrd is also excited about Poole's ability to leverage NC State's STEM reputation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNC State can be known as a STEM school, but every engineer and scientist needs to understand business,\" he says. \u201cEmbracing the need for a strong business foundation for all degrees can truly make Poole unique for students regardless of their main area of study.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Giving Back<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For Byrd, giving back is about paying it forward. He recalls facing the real possibility of homelessness at one point during his company\u2019s startup years, and deciding to volunteer at the homeless shelter. This experience spurred a long-term commitment to Charlotte\u2019s Urban Ministries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBad things can happen to good people,\u201d he says. \u201cEveryone needs help somewhere along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s committed to doing even more for NC State in the future, looking beyond board duties to potentially working with students on case studies or in a teaching role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs my time frees up a bit more, I would love to share my experience with students in an academic environment,\u201d he says. \u201cI believe I could provide some sound advice for kids who are about to embark on their own life journey.\u201d<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Byrd brings decades of leadership experience that spans technology, finance and crisis management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39405,"featured_media":225304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"Lea Hart","ncst_show_custom_author":true,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"displayCategoryID\":1146,\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"subtitle\":\"Byrd brings decades of leadership experience that spans technology, finance and crisis management.\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1811,286,1146],"tags":[1800,2128,1822],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-225303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-newswire","category-profiles","tag-advisory-board","tag-heath-byrd","tag-poole-advisory-board-spotlight"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":1146,"name":"Profiles","slug":"profiles","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1146,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":124,"filter":"raw"},"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225303"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225317,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225303\/revisions\/225317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225303"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poole.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=225303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}