CFO Horatio Porter on Creating a Culture of CARE

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After more than two decades in the government and private sectors, Horatio Porter understands that an effective finance leader has to be both a numbers and a people person. Accurate numbers earn credibility and solidify relationships with stakeholders. And investing in people helps deliver lasting results.

To balance both priorities, the leader has turned to an acronym as a lodestar: CARE (compassionate, appreciative, respectful, and enthusiastic).

“If you show me that you CARE, I’ll go to bat for you every day of the week,” Porter says. “I also expect the teams I lead to demonstrate a commitment to colleagues and each other—be compassionate, appreciative, respectful, and empathetic.”

Porter leverages that perspective as CFO at the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA), which serves millions of drivers through safe, well-maintained roads. As the head of a department charged with financial management for some of the state’s most critical infrastructure, Porter also prioritizes his team’s engagement and growth. For the past decade, he has used books, TED talks, and other training aids to bolster his and his team’s soft skills. They spend lunch sessions discussing how they can add new tools to their toolkit both at work and at home.

Currently, the team is reading Ryan Leak’s Leveling Up: 12 Questions to Elevate Your Professional and Personal Development and plans to tackle each question throughout the year.

“If you show me that you CARE, I’ll go to bat for you every day of the week.”

Horatio Porter

“There are levels to success and as we demonstrate CARE, I want to ensure we continue finding new ways to be our best selves,” Porter says. “By focusing on professional and personal development, we strengthen our ability to have a meaningful impact in all aspects of our life.”

The team’s growth is paramount to serving an organization that’s been the catalyst for the region’s population boom. According to the Census Bureau, North Texas, which consists of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area, was the fastest growing metro area in the US from 2021 to 2022. According to The Dallas Morning News, it’s the fourth-most populous metro area in the nation with upward of 7.9 million people.

NTTA’s work has a direct impact on the region’s growth, Porter says. Over the years, it has built a network of roads that have provided access to places that didn’t exist before, creating opportunity for new homes and economic and career centers.

“Looking at maps where we’ve either built new roads, extended, or widened existing roads, the growth in economic activity has been staggering,” the CFO says. “One of the best examples is when we extended the Dallas North Tollway (DNT) further north several years ago. After that, the Dallas Cowboys built the Star, the home of their corporate headquarters and a great dining, shopping, and entertainment venue.

“Recently, the PGA relocated their headquarters and have built a world-class resort near the DNT,” he continues. “Also, Universal Studios is currently building a kid’s theme park and resort. This road, like others we’ve built, is partly the reason the surrounding cities are the fastest growing in the country.”

Despite how valuable NTTA’s work has been to not only spur growth but also accommodate it, Porter says it is challenging to help people understand that it costs money to build and maintain quality roads. “Most organizations have limited resources, so it’s important to know the priorities of your stakeholders,” he says. “We advocate for funding for essential services like transportation. I recognize some people believe these services should be free but, unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a ‘freeway.’”

That’s a challenge he’s brushed up against his whole career. At FedEx, he often found himself making unpopular financial recommendations. When he got to serve as CFO for the City of Fort Worth, his hometown, the problems became more personal.

“Sometimes it can be tough to speak truth to power. It takes courage to make those hard, right decisions. Those decisions, however, allow you to gain respect and credibility in the long-term.”

Horatio Porter

“There were tough budget years coming out of the financial crisis of 2008, and like many cities, we struggled with budget shortfalls due to declining property tax and sales tax revenue. We had unpleasant choices about where to invest. I recommended we close libraries and swimming pools, some of which I enjoyed when I was a kid,” Porter says. “People came out and complained, but from a financial perspective, it was the right thing to do. Fortunately, it led to enhanced partnerships with other organizations and local YMCAs that filled some of those gaps, but those were still thorny times.”

Those experiences taught Porter that it’s better to make “the hard, right decision versus an easy, wrong one.” Leaders in a similar dilemma should heed the same advice:

“Sometimes it can be tough to speak truth to power. It takes courage to make those hard, right decisions. Those decisions, however, allow you to gain respect and credibility in the long-term,” he says. “Focus on the mission of your organization, whether it’s government or private. When you continually demonstrate CARE, you are better positioned to find some common ground and, most importantly, deliver results.”

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