After 14 years, Geary retires from finance team

In 2008, a brief ad in the Rapid City Journal classifieds set Nancy Geary’s career on a new track.

At the time, Geary was the vice president of operations and controller at a Black Hills gold manufacturer in Rapid City. There, she learned how the jewelry was made—through waxing, casting, grinding, polishing and engraving—and priced the pieces accordingly. Geary had been there for 26 years and enjoyed the work, but when the price of gold skyrocketed in the late 2010s, the industry seemed less secure than it had been.

So, Geary scanned the classifieds for new opportunities. One caught her eye: the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) was advertising for a chief financial officer.

“They were looking for someone who was going to stay in the area, someone who would help them build up the department over time,” she recalled. As a skilled accountant eager to continue building her life in the Black Hills, Geary was a perfect fit.

The team Geary joined was small, with just three people handling all contracts, finances and human resources. But over the next 14 years, SURF would scale quickly.

With growth came a learning curve. Geary’s team navigated complex funding streams and budgets. They processed invoices for a gamut of items: phone bills, travel expenses, coffee filters, hardhats, a thousand feet of hoist rope, dewars of liquid nitrogen. And when working with national laboratories, universities and independent contractors, they found that each partner had its own language and lexicon for doing business.

Amid the rush of details, Geary focused on keeping meticulous, comprehensive records and reports. “We’ve always wanted to make sure each thing we do is up to specifications,” she said. “We wanted to do everything correctly.”  

And Geary’s team has the track record to prove they’ve done just that. Every year, SURF is reviewed by independent auditors. And for 13 consecutive years, they’ve received clean audits.

“We work with a lot of different sources of funds, and they all must be managed separately," said Mike Headley, SURF executive director. "Nancy and her team have always done a wonderful job accounting for our funds. These consecutive 'clean' audits are a testament to the professionalism of the accounting and finance team and Nancy’s leadership. We wish her all the best for a great retirement.”

As Geary retires this June, she says she’ll miss the people she’s worked with over the past 14 years.

“Everybody has had their part in building this facility; everybody adds something to it,” Geary said. “It takes everybody, not just the CFO or managers or directors, but the people doing the day-to-day stuff that makes this place what it is.”

Geary’s retirement plans will take her to different corners of the U.S. She plans to go fishing in Alaska, to explore the history of New England, and to see the work of her favorite artist, Georgia O’Keeffe, in New Mexico.

Between travels, Geary and her husband plan to make improvements to their cabin, where they often host a growing gaggle of grandkids, and visit the cattle ranch near Elm Spring, South Dakota, where Geary grew up.

“It's slower-paced out there,” Geary said. “Before, I was a kid that wanted to get out and conquer the world. Now, I love going back to spend the day with family, because out there your worries just go away.”