Co-Managing Partner
Friedman LLP
“The key to my success and the key to our success as a firm is we are an empowering place,” Greenberg, who has been a partner with Friedman since 1985 and is currently a co-managing partner, says. “There’s no in ‘I’ in team, like they say, and that’s how I manage.”
Greenberg’s focus on creating an empowering workplace is what makes her a disruptor in the specialty finance industry, as she promotes flexibility when it comes to creating work environments, something she was doing long before the COVID-19 pandemic caused a reckoning on the workplace status quo.
Prior to the pandemic, Greenberg made sure Friedman provided more accommodating work arrangements, such as giving Fridays off in the summer, but she and her team have been even more vigilant in the era of COVID-19.
Greenberg knows first-hand how important such flexibility can be. Right after she was made a partner at Friedman, she gave birth to her first child, her son Josh, who is now a cardiothoracic surgeon in Michigan. Greenberg admits that she feared her career was over, but she and the firm created its first alternative work arrangement, with her working four days a week with an extended weekend to spend more time with her family.
“Accounting — and to some degree banking — is not a nine to five job. Our people work very long hours,” Greenberg says. “I think it’s not sustainable. People want to have more than just work and home and sleep and back to work. I think that if we could change our industries to be more supportive of that, we’d have more dedicated employees.”
Greenberg hasn’t just been at the forefront of progress in the realm of work-life balance; she’s also been a leader in the accounting industry overall, helping to shape it as it has transformed from when she started after graduating from Brooklyn College in the 1970s.
Prior to joining Friedman, Greenberg cut her teeth at Clarence Rainess & Company, which was an accounting firm for the apparel textile industry at the time. She then transitioned to a role at Main Hurdman & Cranstoun, which would go on to become part of accounting powerhouse KMPG. By 1981, Greenberg sought a new challenge, leading her to Friedman.
Through all her years with the firm, prioritizing entrepreneurial clients has always been a passion for Greenberg.
Due to the nature of her clients, Greenberg has also become partners with many practitioners in the asset-based lending industry, and she brings a consultative approach to those relationships as well.
Future Focus
“You need somebody to help you when you’re having issues, and the Women’s Development Network is a very good way to do that. It’s a mentoring system, it’s an empowerment system and it’s worked at Friedman,” Greenberg says.
“Everybody makes mistakes every day. I wish somebody had told me that when I started working. Mistakes are a learning opportunity and the only really bad mistake is when you don’t tell people. So, own up to your mistakes and use them as a learning experience,” Greenberg says, noting that creating a strong work environment and culture goes beyond forgiving miscues. “Find what motivates people and give them what they want. They want to see value in what they do.”
“I’ve lived the most unbelievable business life,” Greenberg says. “I think accounting is a good place for anyone to start. An accounting background is the language of business.”
