Bentley University Career Spotlight: An Auditor Moves Up to VP

Early in her career at Hood, Theresa Bresten learned that, sometimes, being perfect wasn’t good enough.

“At work and at home, I was a perfectionist,” admits Bresten, who eventually rose through the ranks to become the 165-year-old company’s vice president and treasurer, all while raising a daughter and son. “I needed to learn how to be realistic, flexible and adaptable.”

So the Missouri native enrolled in Bentley’s Master of Science in Finance (MSF) program to top off her credentials and broaden her horizons.

“My parents stressed the importance of learning new things,” she says. “I was taught that I shouldn’t limit myself.”

Bresten joined Lynnfield-based Hood after auditing positions at Coca-Cola Bottling of New York and General Cinema Corporation. Over the next 10 years, Bresten moved from internal audit to accounting to finance.

“I’ve seen the company through centralization projects, decentralization projects, acquisitions, divestitures, expansion, contraction and several different ownership scenarios,” she says of her tenure. Her current role at the Hood involves overseeing the full range of finance-related matters: tax compliance, risk management, lender relationships, employee retirement savings plans, external reporting and leasing, to name a few.

Her experience at Bentley’s Graduate School laid the foundation for career success.

“Since I was progressing in my career at the same time, I was able to apply what I was learning at Bentley on the job,” she recalls. “It made me even more invested in the program.”