Meet Thurman Case, a New Mexican who went on to become CFO of Austin-based Cirrus Logic

Sep. 12—By Matthew Narvaiz

AM, ECThurman Case lived an unassuming life in his early years, one that was not much different than the many others who he grew up with in Albuquerque — where he was born and raised.

But after graduating from Sandia High School in the '70s, Case decided school — at least at the time — wasn't for him. So he went out to Alaska for a couple years and worked on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in "minus 30 degree weather," he said. But, he thought, "I think I'll change my mind — I don't want to do this the rest of my life."

Case came back to Albuquerque, decided to go to New Mexico State University where he graduated with a bachelor's degree and an MBA in economics, and eventually landed himself at Austin-based Cirrus Logic — where he worked for more than 20 years before retiring as chief financial officer.

Case, who assumed the role of CFO in 2007 under new executive leadership, helped turn the company — a fabless semiconductor company that supplies signal processing solutions for mobile products, whose main customer is Apple — into a billion-dollar enterprise. When he became CFO, Cirrus Logic was at roughly $180 million in revenue. By the time Case retired, the company was at $1.5 billion in revenue with a $5 billion market cap.

In an interview with the Journal in late August, Case talked about his career leading up to his role as CFO of Cirrus Logic and advice he has for young New Mexicans looking to make their way in the world of business.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Let's go back to the time you were living in Albuquerque. How long did you live here?

"I was born in Albuquerque, and I lived there for a significant part of my life. I grew up in the Albuquerque school system. And so, you know, my family had been there for a long time."

Where did you go to school?

"I graduated from (Sandia High School in 1974) but I wasn't sure that college was what I was that interested in. So I went up to Alaska for two years and worked on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The money was good and I had connections. My dad was in construction as one of the leaders in that organization in terms of his vocation, and so I went out for a couple of years. And then I was sitting in minus 30-degree weather for about two years (and thought), 'I think I'll change my mind. I don't want to do this the rest of my life.' So I came back to Albuquerque and actually ended up going to New Mexico State. I looked at UNM and the classes were huge. And, you know, you'd be in there with 700 other kids. ...So I packed up and went to New Mexico State. Got my bachelor's degree and an MBA from there."

Where did you begin your career after school?

"I got offered a position at Sandia Laboratories for a project that they were just starting — a group that was just starting to do some modeling. I got laid off before I even started because Ronald Reagan froze all hiring in those types of facilities. And so myself and other people that were being brought in, were all let go. And of course, I had turned down all the other jobs that I was considering and my professor at New Mexico State — one I worked for when I was a grad student there — knew some people. So I went to work for Public Service Company of New Mexico in its organizational development group. We facilitated team building, as well as worked on organizational processes with different groups within PNM. I did that for probably maybe three, four, five years. ...I decided I wanted to get out of some of that stuff and get back into some of the core stuff I liked about finance and accounting. So I went to work for the financial planning group and ended up doing that for several years — became a director at PNM. And then PNM hit some hard times, and so they made the mistake of offering up a very lucrative, voluntary leave process to everybody in the company and I think about 50% of the company took it.

"So then I went to work for a company called Diagnostek, which was a mail order pharmaceutical company. They were acquired by ValueRx shortly after that — it was out of Minnesota. Eventually, you know, I took a leadership role in that facility, not in that overall company. I was there for three years or so. Another opportunity came up — my then wife had her own business and she did consulting and contracting stuff. So she got an offer to move to Germany and do fab startups Advanced Micro Devices there. And they reached out to me and offered me the opportunity to go with her. ...I decided the hours were brutal where I was at and our kids were at a perfect age to go live in Europe. So we moved to Europe and I did that for four years.

"We came back and it just so happened that we were living next door to the then-CFO of Cirrus Logic. He asked me to come to work for him and so that's kind of where that started, and went from there."

How did all of your previous stops help prepare you for your role as CFO of Cirrus Logic?

"Well, I think every experience is a learning experience, right? And so, in a lot of those opportunities, I was doing many different things — and I learned a lot. In the beginning, you're building your career from a more technical side, trying to hone those skills. And then as you step into leadership roles, I'd led very diverse organizations through those years, and many of them did many different things. I mean, a pharmacy and electric company and even within PNM, and all of those experiences really put me in a position to begin to focus on growing as a leader, learn how to build teams, and you know how to be successful through inclusion.

"I think that the biggest piece of it is that I wasn't afraid to move or try different things, and that was very helpful. And then the Germany experience for myself, and, you know, our family was amazing. Having lived my whole life in Albuquerque, four years in Europe really changed my outlook overall. Learning new cultures and understanding new cultures and how things are different was a huge growth experience for me."

What advice do you have for early-career New Mexicans looking to make it big in the world of business?

"Well, you can't be afraid. ...Don't live in your fear of changing a job, or making a lateral move at some point in time because you think it's a better opportunity. The world — there's so much information out there in terms of how to be a leader, and all of these things. Using those resources, but also understanding that everybody's different and (that) there's not one style fits all. Take the opportunity to learn and hone your leadership skills and hone your communication skills. Find mentors who will help you do that. It all starts with being introspective and understanding you're not perfect. Learn to take feedback and all of that stuff. But I think it starts with knowing it's okay to not — especially when you're very young — know exactly what you want. There's nothing wrong with that. A lot of people do, a lot of people don't. ...It takes a lot of work, but I think the advice is — don't ever sell yourself short."

Matthew Narvaiz covers the economy, cannabis and health care for the Albuquerque Journal. He can be reached at mnarvaiz@abqjournal.com or @matt_narvaiz on Twitter.