Faces of Interface Featuring Jason Fairfield
In today’s Faces of Interface, we had the opportunity to sit down with our CFO Jason Fairfield to discuss his journey to Interface. He shared with us some interesting professional stops in the engineering and manufacturing industries, as well as his passions working at Interface and in life.
As a fourth generation Arizona native, Jason has made his way across the desert a few times over. He was born in Clarkdale, a small town down the hill from Jerome. He and his family moved all around the state as he grew up, including Tucson, Scottsdale, back to Clarkdale, and eventually to Phoenix.
Jason attended Northern Arizona University, earning an accounting degree. During his time at NAU, he also made a little money working as a bartender. He looks back on this experience fondly because he got the opportunity to meet and talk with a wide variety of people, picking up valuable interpersonal skills and collecting a wealth of ‘bartending’ stories he still shares with others today.
After college Jason landed his first accounting gig. Coincidentally, it became his first taste of the manufacturing world working at Honeywell’s large computer products group. He worked in the financial planning group at a Honeywell plant that manufactured and sold mainframe computers. At the time, they employed over 5,500 people, operating 24-hours, seven days a week. As a member of the financial planning team, he saw how the business worked and really enjoyed learning the ins and outs of operating such a large facility.
Over the next few years, Jason remained in finance working mostly in manufacturing with organizations that developed products ranging from plastics to military electronics. He even had a stint as the CFO of an electronic vape company that had online revenues of $30 million annually. And he’s taken on being a successful business owner as co-owner of Goettl Air Conditioning, an Arizona-based manufacturer and servicer of HVAC equipment. It was an experience he enjoyed very much.
Through the prompting of a former colleague who was head of HR at Interface, Jason joined Interface in January 2019 as a consultant and soon transitioned to our permanent CFO in May of 2019.
“Interface is such a great company to work for because every day is different and the applications that we work on across a wide range of industries are always unique and exciting. The team here at Interface is outstanding and the opportunity to work with such a great group of people has been a pleasure.” – Jason Fairfield, CFO at Interface, Inc.
Jason said one of the joys he gets from his CFO role is helping others understand complex financial relationships. He shares his wealth of experience and financial know-how through skills training and career development programs at Interface. He noted that it’s a great feeling when you see the light bulb go on over someone’s head.
When he’s not tending to Interface finances, Jason likes to spend his time with family, travel, golf, and computer gaming. He and his wife have three children ages 29, 26 and 25. His oldest son was just married. Congratulations to Jason’s son and their family.
In addition to time spent with family, Jason and his buddies like to get together to watch mixed martial arts fights, consume adult beverages and tell each other exaggerated truths. The group also enjoys sharing smoked meats and veggies during their time together. He was quick to point out, smoking meat and fish and whatever else isn’t nailed down has become a hobby over the past few years.
It was wonderful getting to know Jason and learning about his very interesting career path, his passion for finance and a brief look into his hobbies. To learn more about Interface’s outstanding team, tune into the Interface blog every month for a new Faces of Interface.
