“I don’t know if it’s working with numbers or the way I was raised that caused me to be a perfectionist,” explained Cherie White, the city of Sedona’s director of finance. “Those do go together. I would say probably in some respect, because my dad was very much that way, and he put that pressure on us as kids. [I] just learned to be very careful about not making mistakes … Not that I don’t, because I’m not a robot. I definitely make them, but I try to keep it very rare.”

White has been working for Sedona since Nov. 9, 2015. With over 35 years of accounting experience, she manages and oversees the activities and operations of the city’s Finance Department, which includes accounting, revenue administration, treasury management, financial planning and budgeting. It is White’s responsibility to balance the city’s $105.7 million budget. She has documented that budget in a 369-page tome that sits neatly on her desk.

Each year, the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada awards the Certificate of Achievement in Excellence in Financial Reporting, one of the highest forms of recognition in government accounting. The city of Sedona has received that award for each of the last 23 years and is the award of which White is the most proud.

She attributed that accolade in large part to the work of her financial services department, recognizing their “participation and support in ensuring financial information is accurate and [our] reporting meets the highest standards.”

Competitive

Winning is important to White, and she admitted that she is extremely competitive, which she said stemmed from her childhood.

“In [elementary] school, we would do these math races where you’d multiply 312 times 658 or whatever,” White recalled. “There’d be two kids at the board — I was always up there, and there was this one kid, I still remember his name — Tim King. He was always so mad at me because he was also very smart … I’d just stop thinking and trust that I knew the answer because that’s the only way I could beat him. When we started first grade, we were the only two kids who knew how to read.”

White said that her mom taught her to read when she was 3.

“When I was in first grade, we were supposed to read one book a month,” she said. “I read well over 200 [a year]. In the second grade, the same thing happened. We were supposed to read one book monthly, and I read over 500 [a year] and that’s just been my thing.”

Her choice of reading material is broad: Nonfiction, fiction and romance novels — anything that seems interesting to her at the time. Currently on her nightstand is “The Great Alone,” Kristin Hannah’s 2018 novel about a family who moved to Alaska and lived off the grid.

White’s father worked for IBM, which relocated them every six months to five years.

“IBM jokingly stands for I’ve been moved,” White chuckled. They went from San Diego, where she was born, to Oklahoma, New York, Oklahoma again, Chicago and finally Tucson.

“I went to three different elementary schools,” White said. “I was able to get through junior high because it was only two years and three different high schools. I’m very much an introvert. It wasn’t super easy making friends. You would make friends, then you’re off to the next place and start the process again. It was just a way of life.”

Off to Arizona

When the family landed in Tucson, her father decided it was time to stay put.

“My mom was born and raised in Phoenix and had never lived anywhere else until she married my dad and he took her all over the place,” White said. “I have quite a few relatives in the Phoenix area and my family, most of them, is still in Tucson.”

White earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in accounting from the University of Arizona. Unsure of her career path, she interned for an accounting firm.

“I became the most senior person at this firm,” White said. “I was getting the largest, most complicated audits. It boosts your confidence when they trust you to do those things and so, I always had that kind of support in the business world, and I demonstrated that I’m capable.”

White become a certified public accountant, certified fraud examiner and certified governmental financial manager. She has since worked for the California cities of San Clemente, Royal Oak and National City. She was also a partner at Heinfeld, Meech & Co., P.C. before moving to Sedona.

White describes herself as “a Type A alpha female.”

“Over the years, it’s proven that I’m a woman and can be just as successful and do all these things,” White said. “I had that type of drive to prove that I can do this.”

She also attributes her demeanor to her father.

“One of the things growing up that my dad said a lot was, ‘always do your best.’ And, when you’re a kid, and you’re impressionable, that stuck with me. That’s what’s formed my personality — the Type A and the always trying to be as perfect as I can get it,” White reflected.

To Sedona

“In Sedona, we’re pretty blessed because we’re in a very good financial position,” White said. “Our finances are strong, and trying to balance everything out has not really been a huge issue.”

She is keeping a close eye on the possibility of an impending recession.

“I know everyone’s concerned if there’s a recession coming and it depends on which economists you listen to because you’ve got some that are saying it’s actually not going to happen, or there’s not going to be one for a while … Who knows? We don’t know what it’s going to be. We don’t have a crystal ball, but we’re trying to plan for the various what-ifs. What if this happened? Would we be OK?” “I can be very, very conservative regarding financial matters,” White added. “So I’m always trying to make sure we’re not being too aggressive on things, and we’re trying to be conservative and be safe with the money.”

Left Brain, Right Brain

While White is immersed in left-brained finances, she also has a right-brain, creative side.

“When I was in California, I was taking acting classes,” White revealed. “I was part of this group, and we were doing Shakespeare in the Park, which I loved, and few other plays. Over the years, I’ve gotten involved in choirs at different points in time, and so I love doing that as well. So I have some of that [right-brain personality], but I’m still pretty analytical.”

Last July, White married in an outdoor ceremony at Submarine Rock in Sedona. Her husband, John, was a photographer in the U.S. Air Force. Together, they care for a menagerie of animals, including two dogs, Brutus and Sweet Pea, her cat Diego and an enormous sulcata tortoise, also known as an African spurred tortoise, named Chirp.

At age of 55, White is thinking about retirement. She says that she imagines animals will always be a part of her life, and at some point, she would love to live in the woods — somewhere secluded — surrounded by nature with “a huge, huge, huge stack of books” by her side.

In the meantime, she admitted to loving both her job and her coworkers.

White brought up a quote from author James A. Michener that she said does a good job of expressing her views on life: “The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him, he’s always doing both.”