CFO Janice Stucke of CREW Network shares her journey from humanitarian aid to financial leadership, global strategy, and empowering women in finance.
, the premier business networking organization dedicated to accelerating success for all women in the global commercial real estate industry. More than 14,000 CREW Network members in 85+ markets represent nearly every discipline within the industry.
CREW Network’s mission focuses on four key initiatives: business networking, leadership development, industry research, and career outreach. Members are known for the quality they bring to the commercial real estate industry. With this large and diverse network, its members have the resources to create new and different ways of structuring deals, to focus on the bottom line, and to inspire others to get the job done. Janice and I discussed how she went from humanitarian aid to leading financial strategy, how she navigates financial leadership across 50-plus global entities, “The Finance Sisterhood,” competing in full Ironman triathlons, and more.Stucke serves as CFO and COO for CREW Network, a global association advancing women in commercial real estate across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the UKGrowing up in Richmond, Va., Janice Stucke had a mission: going to Japan and speaking fluent Japanese. It was a goal that occupied her thoughts during her middle and high school years. Her parents, successful restaurateurs and bar owners, exposed her to business and hard work, but the desire remained: She wanted to go abroad. It’s something that shaped her major at The George Washington University. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s of Asian Studies and Economics, where half of her time involved studying Japanese. Eventually, she was able to build on that talent and even turn that passion into a career. “I spent fifteen years studying Japanese,” Stucke said. “I went to Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto and worked for the Japanese trade bureau. I got to live abroad and learned a lot about international business that way, which was hugely helpful. Having to do business in another language, that’s also a very formative set of lessons about communication and cultural aspects, and understanding how everything is not U.S.-centric also was very helpful.”She also spent a number of years working with refugees in East Africa. Both experiences provided her with a broad perspective on options for problem-solving. An international perspective sharpened her soft skills as well, especially how to communicate a message effectively. It was key to her transition into finance. That transition happened in her 30s; she decided to pursue her CPA. Armed with some fundamentals from studying economics, Stucke considers the financial skills a tangential piece of her success rather than the core of it, thriving more on team building, how to manage systems, and manage programs. In addition to her CPA, she pursued a Master’s degree in public policy and international relations.“In my 20s, I never dreamed of going into finance and accounting,” Stucke explained. “It was once I was in international development, on the ground, that I saw you cannot help people without resources and funds behind it. I wanted to go back to figure out how to manage those resources. I see finance and accounting as the greatest pivot to helping people and humanitarian aid, and helping individuals in the world. Resource management is key to everything. A lot of people don’t think about accounting and finances as being so humanitarianly focused, but it is. For me at CREW, like having a strong company that pays employees well with good benefits, that’s a mission and a focus to help. For me, I see that as helping make the world a better place.”CREW Network is a global association for women in commercial real estate. It has about 14,500 members in 13 different countries. Although women dominate the real estate space and commercial real estate, roughly eight percent of representatives are women; therefore, its mission is to grow that by supporting a global network of women in their career development and deal-making, which helps to elevate them into higher-level leadership roles within the industry. After working in international trade post-Japan, she took on a paralegal role at Steptoe & Johnson LLP. She knew the legal space well, which strengthened her accounting skills. She transitioned to tech and later became the finance director at the Society for Human Resource Management . The variety she has seen in her career highlights how interesting and varied a path she has had. After SHRM, she took on her first CFO role at Achieving the Dream, where she took on a full-scale digital transformation and upgraded all of the accounting systems, which was key to her growth . “I became a CFO at 39,” she said. “I’m a millennial and definitely felt isolated being so young in that role when a lot of the peer organizations and individuals were much older. It was definitely like learning how to carve out a space for me and find that network of people and mentors to help guide me. I needed support and advice from the outside, which was how I ended up at the CFO Leadership Council.” Stucke found mentors in other places, too. She has kept her first mentor from 10 years ago, Joy Sistrunk, with Premier Group. While Stucke was trying to get her CPA license , most people told her that it would be difficult for her to pass the test. When Stucke asked Sistrunk about why she should even try, she was met with encouragement. Sistrunk said, “I’m here to support you. Let’s do this together.” It’s support that has endured over the last 10 years and through each role. Finding someone who provided such pivotal growth has meant a great deal to her–so much so that she now extends that gift to others through individual mentorship and a bigger initiative. “I’ve helped develop something called the Finance Sisterhood, which is those in a similar age bracket who were in finance at various levels and various-sized companies,” Stucke explained. “We have a WhatsApp group, we meet at conferences, and we support each other on the journey of juggling family and trying to navigate ambitious career goals. It’s key, especially for women who want to keep accelerating in their careers and juggle all those different venues. It’s not easy, and not everybody understands that exact place. It’s good to have each other.” Stucke’s team is built on the support, radical transparency, and relationship building that she puts front and center. She encourages her team to bring what she calls the “whole person” to work to ensure the team functions well. It does–with staff retention serving as one of her key KPIs. Many of the team members have been with the organization for 10, 15, or 20 years. A strong team with strong values becomes key as they tackle large organizational challenges. Originally, Stucke was hired for her digital transformation skills; however, CREW Network has approximately 50 business entities, more than she has ever worked with before. Additionally, with conversations surrounding the potential to accept multiple currencies to accommodate international members, global expansion is front and center. The technology piece will require time–Stucke expects it will take two to three years. She says that the constant managing, changing, and upgrading of systems is a sign of the times. “You’re flying the plane and building it at the same time, all the time,” she explained. “That’s just the new normal. With the new AI layer, that’s making things interesting and more complex all the time. I know we’re all focused on how to get ROI out of AI and how to layer that onto the systems. There are new challenges that I’m excited about, but sometimes it’s also overwhelming to think about all the details and nuances that go into everything. It’s exciting and daunting all at the same time.” It’s an era where the days of plugging information into spreadsheets is over. And it requires finance professionals to be more dynamic in their roles. Stucke herself leans into dynamism and is not defined by the old-fashioned idea of CFOs of the past. Outside of work, she is involved in several nonprofit boards, the American Institute of CPAs , and is in a coalition for adult English literacy.“It’s something I had to learn at one point, because I would work all hours all the time,” she said. “Now I have to cut it off at a certain point, which can be uncomfortable because I feel like all those things are undone. I try to leave room for self-care and mental wellness. For me, that’s giving back. I want to give back to the profession that helped me get here through the support of others.” In particular, she wants to help women and people who are underrepresented see themselves as leaders. She does that by working with non-traditional accountants or people early in their career, asking them if they see themselves as controllers, CFOs, or the director of finance. Being the source of support helps those individuals envision their futures. It reminds her of the role Joy Sistrunk played years ago. Stucke’s life is also very physically active; she recently completed her first full Ironman. It was such a priority that it came up during the interview process. “I was very clear,” she said. “I explained that my first Ironman would involve 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, and then a 26.2-mile marathon run. It was an audacious goal. I didn’t plan to switch jobs in the middle of that because it was quite daunting to tackle my first IronmanThey saw the bigger picture of who she is as a CFO and supported it. The result was one of the top-five moments of her life, and also relates to concepts that will be useful for any future CFOs. “I tell every CFO never to give up,” she explained. “I remind myself all the time, ‘I’m brave. I’m courageous and can tackle whatever’s coming.’ Learn to never give up, really hone that gut instinct, and dive in no matter what it is. That’s what’s asked of all of us in this role. You have to harness believing in yourself.”
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