A baseball CFO gives her all.
It’s late July 2015, and Texas Rangers executive vice president and chief financial officer Kellie Fischer has entered one of the busiest periods of her year. But not for the reason you’d suspect. Though it’s just after the All-Star break, and the trade deadline is little more than a week away, Fischer has already started the planning process for next season.
This is a job that requires continual forecasting, and at a level of detail that most casual fans of the game may not realize. While general manager Jon Daniels is in charge of personnel decisions, it’s Fischer’s job to keep tabs on what happens financially. “You have a forty man roster, and that roster cost can move by millions of dollars within minutes if a player triggers a performance bonus, or if the team makes a trade,” she explains. A difference of a few million dollars can make a big impact on a team’s bottom line.