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In her 15-year career handling finance and accounting tasks for companies involved in real estate and construction, Sonja Saporito has spent more than a few years with firms at the top of the industry ladder. But while the view is impressive, she finds it far more fulfilling to be involved in the ride to get there.

That’s why Saporito, an Oregon native, decided to leave her position as director of finance and accounting at Vancouver, Wash.-based Holland Partner Group to accept the role of chief financial officer at Portland-based Pavilion Construction.

鈥淲orking for mid-sized firms 鈥� I feel like you can get more involved in more pieces,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen I got involved with Holland, that’s where they were at. It was exciting to watch them grow. But in the end, it was time for a change.鈥�

That change didn’t come overnight. Saporito and Pavilion president Brian Gerritz first connected about two years ago. Although they both agreed that the timing wasn’t exactly right to join forces, they found that they had what Gerritz considered 鈥渟hared backgrounds.鈥�

鈥淲e were really looking for somebody with an understanding of the construction industry 鈥� somebody who understood all the way to the front of the business 鈥� estimating, contracting, purchase and operations, and how it all connects and flows through to the back-end financial reporting,鈥� he said.

Saporito fit the bill. After graduating from the University of Portland with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, she took a job as a tax manager in the Portland office of Deloitte & Touche, where she managed a team specializing in small business and real estate partnerships. She then expanded on her real estate experience in positions as a senior financial analyst at PNC Multifamily Capital and director of finance and fund management at Homestead Capital.

In 2010, Saporito joined Holland Partner Group as director of finance and accounting in the company’s construction and development divisions.

鈥淭he construction division was only a twinkle in their eyes when I started there, something they were thinking of going after,鈥� she said.

When the division started, she was the only person assigned to handle the financial aspects of a single project. By the time she and Gerritz reconnected and decided to join forces, Saporito had grown her team in just three years to 30 people handling the finance and accounting aspects of more than 25 projects in four different states.

Her team at Pavilion is smaller 鈥� a group of about six employees focused on between 10 and 15 projects. But a smaller staff doesn’t mean Saporito’s workload has shrunk. Just three months after joining Pavilion, she’s helping the company find new ways to tap into technology to increase efficiency, including moving Pavilion’s monthly billing cycle online.

鈥淏y going paperless, we’ll reduce the workload on our direct staff, and make (the process) more friendly for sub-tiers and vendors,鈥� Gerritz said. 鈥淲e feel that’s one way to certainly position ourselves in a better place with our sub-tiers, to reduce those tasks and let them focus on what they do best.鈥�