MAC Alumni Spotlight: Worth the Risk

Since graduating from the Jenkins MAC Program in 2007, Hunter Lane has tried to embrace all the career opportunities that come his way – even ones that require some pushing. 

After five years working at Deloitte’s Raleigh office, one of his corporate clients, Laurie Krebs – who at the time served as the tax director at Cree – asked him if he’d consider leaving the Big Four firm to take a position that had recently opened up on her tax team.

“I honestly spent about five months weighing the decision. I loved the firm and people I worked with, but Laurie saw potential in me, and I trusted her. Joining Cree was one of the best decisions I could have made,” Lane says. “From day one, Laurie put me in situations to challenge me and help me develop.”

Lane spent five years working alongside Krebs before she moved to Red Hat to take over as the company’s senior vice president of finance. “Before Laurie left, she pushed for me to take over Cree’s tax department and our chief financial officer gave me a shot,” Lane says.

For two years, Lane led Cree’s tax team before getting the itch to try his hand at something new. He decided to approach the CFO about taking on a new role. At that time, the company was working to expand the corporate development team. Cree’s vice president of corporate development reached out and asked if Lane would be interested in joining the team. 

“Once again I spent at least three months weighing this decision, and in the end it was an opportunity I could not let pass,” Lane says. “My view of the company has changed significantly over the last eight months since taking the position. The vice president of corporate development is a great mentor, and like Laurie, is putting me in situations that challenge me to think in a completely different way and develop a new skill set,” says Lane.

Lane credits his time with the Jenkins MAC program for not only shaping the way he views the practice but also for giving him a willingness to tackle challenges.

“I still remember turning in a paper, and I knew it wasn’t my best work. The professor, Dr. Bruce Branson, had every reason to mark it up and giving me a failing grade,” Lane remembers. “Instead, he wrote a note on the paper saying that he knew I had more potential than what he saw in that paper. And do you know what? To this day, I keep that paper in my desk at work, and a couple of times a year, I pull it out and read that note again. That memory motivates me to work harder.”

This story is the fifth in our “Life After MAC” series.  All Jenkins MAC alumni are encouraged to share their stories with us. If interested, email, Andrea Young. All stories in the series can be found on our alumni website.