Dominique Crozier, 27
Region Finance Manager
Rexel
Dominique started her Rexel career right out of college: Upon graduating from Texas A&M with a degree in Finance, she joined the company’s two-year Finance Leadership Program—but that wasn’t her first exposure to the industry. “My parents own a residential service electrical company, so I had heard of Rexel,” recalled Dominique, noting just how unusual that is. “Many students have no idea what electrical distribution is.”
After graduating from the program Dominique worked for Rexel’s financial planning and analysis team in Dallas, where she also helped manage the financial reporting system. “I left that after about a year to join our vendor relations team, where I managed national rebates for about two years,” she said. “In that position I became really familiar with the supplier side of the world and learned more about our products.” During that time Dominique was also tasked with managing the Finance Leadership Program, a role she still holds in her current position as finance manager for the California region. “This is probably one of my favorite jobs so far,” she said. “I never know what’s coming at me or what I’m going to deal with on any given day.”
Asked about a challenge the industry is facing, Dominique pointed to inflation—understanding the true profitability of the business—and supply chain issues. “The heavy inflation is starting to slow down a little bit, but we’re still affected by the supply chain pieces, and meeting the demand of managing that. I work very closely with our procurement director, and my role is to help manage the working capital targets and the inventory levels while his is to ensure we have enough inventory to service our customers. It’s a delicate balance of having enough safety stock while making sure we don’t eat through our cash flow.”
As for her career goals, “I started in my current role in November 2020 and I want to be in it for a lot longer,” she said. “There’s a lot to do here, a lot to learn. My goal is to help the region of California gain profitability and market share. Beyond that, eventually I’d like to move back to the corporate world and manage or assist in analyzing and doing financial planning for the entire United States.”
To help prepare for her career growth, Dominique is currently enrolled in Rexel’s’ GAIN (Grow, Achieve, Inquire, Network) program. “The GAIN program is very unique,” she noted. “It includes Toastmasters, which teaches you a lot about thinking on your feet and speaking more eloquently, and spending three days in the field really learning about some of the problems they face. My biggest goal outside of general finance is to better understand the field and be a more engaged finance leader from that perspective.”
To someone just entering this industry, Dominique has this advice: “Strive to understand distribution and the different moving pieces of it: the vendor relations and the impact that has on the industry, the SPAs, the value-adds, and the troubles of the field. Regardless of where you are in the company it’s good to understand the struggles at each level so you can better understand how you can contribute.”
Outside of work, “I have a ten-month-old little boy, and he is my hobby,” Dominique laughed, “I also have three sisters—we like to bake what we like to call ‘Instagram cakes’—and then traveling when possible. Over the past year we’ve gone camping in Arkansas mountains and traveled to Paris, Wyoming, and Las Vegas. We really enjoy just getting out there and seeing things.”
Each year tED magazine recognizes 30 of the industry’s best and brightest under the age of 35. Please visit tedmag.com/30Under35 for nomination information and updates about the 2021 program. Questions can be sent to tED Editor Misty Byers at mbyers@naed.org.
Tagged with 2021 30 Under 35, 30 under 35, people, Rexel