Newly minted Thomson Reuters corporate treasurer KevanParekh thrives on the fast pace at the $13 billion financialinformation company, but he started his career on a completelydifferent track: as an automotive engineer.

After four years, Parekh wanted to know more about the businessside of the car industry so he headed for an M.B.A. at theUniversity of Chicago. A summer internship led him to treasurer'soffice of General Motors, and after he graduated in 1999, he spent10 years there.

Parekh joined Thomson Reuters in 2009 and just a month ago waspromoted to his new post after serving as vice president of financein the company's $5.5 billion professional division.

Parekh says his two years as regional treasurer in Europe forGM, in 2007 and 2008, were extremely challenging, as he worked tohelp keep the company afloat and get funds from the Germangovernment to do the job to the tune of 1.5 billion euros.

“We had to be very creative about how to maintain stability andrestructure the business, with minimal resources,” he recalls. Theexperience was excellent training for the continuing lean businessenvironment where uncertainty is the new constant. On Parekh's listof what-ifs to consider now—fractures in the eurozone.

Can you talk more about your challenging time in Europe?
Alot of things were happening at one time. The European business wasaffected by the crisis, and it had a big impact on the company'sliquidity. You had to learn how to make decisions very quickly, andyou had to keep the big picture in mind, because you didn't havetime to over-analyze things.

We had to act on some alternatives with the Saab business, andgo through a restructuring process and put it up for sale. And wehad to figure out a way to get money from the Germangovernment.

We went through a significant restructuring and a difficultperiod in the company's history. Trying to work through all of thatwas very complicated and very difficult, but it was an amazinglearning experience.

Was that your first experience workingoverseas?
It was. The first year was interesting,because it was all about growth, in Eastern Europe, for example. Wewere exploring new markets and building the Chevrolet brand. Thesecond year was all about the financial distress aspect of things.It was kind of an interesting turn.

How does the restructuring mind-set compare with growthmode?
Any time you get involved in a restructuring,you quickly come to understand how a business really works. Youhave to get into the heart of what's causing the issues and learnhow to fix them. You really understand what the business model isand what the key drivers are.

What was it like going from manufacturing to informationservices?
The one thing that has struck me is thedifference in the market itself. Information services are a bitmore dynamic, because tech evolves, because customer needs evolve,and software evolves at such a rapid pace. In the manufacturingarea, there's definitely innovation and things change, but not atthe same pace, and not so significantly.

As a consequence of that, business models have to adapt quickly,and the structure of the organization has to adapt. You see morefluid changes there, on a regular basis.

What has been your most rewarding project sofar?
It's hard to pick just one thing, but recently,I helped [professional division CFO] Stephane Bello and themanagement team think about the portfolio, in a challenging marketenvironment, and discover opportunities for growth. We did a lot ofthe analytics and thinking through that from an economicstandpoint, which allowed us to make some key investments in adifficult environment, that serve the company well now from agrowth standpoint. That was a really interesting and rewardingexercise, because it had elements of strategy, and elements offinance. It was an interesting way to think about the future of thebusiness.

What do you like best about your job?
Theculture of the company has been great. It's a performance-drivenculture, oriented to growing the business and driving returns. It'sa great experience to be part of that. I love that we're in a verydiverse set of businesses and in a diverse set of markets. I likethe variety of the things you get to work on. The complexity of thework is interesting; the people I get to work with are reallyterrific.

How do you keep the big picture in mindday-to-day?
It's never easy, but you try to focus onthings you need to get done in the near term. There are things thathave to happen daily, especially in treasury. You also need tothink about managing all the uncertainty and how the economicenvironment can impact your business, in terms of access tocapital, funding needs, and business model, for example.

Being able to provide some thought leadership around some ofthat uncertainty for the management team is important. You're notalways going to know all the answers, but it's good to be able tohelp facilitate the debate, and that's where the finance team andthe treasury team can add some value. An example right now isthinking about what happens if there's a risk around countriesleaving the euro. Thinking through that has been useful andinstructive.

For the complete 2011 40 Under 40 list, see Readyto Take Charge.

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