Linda Sheridan stays busy with career and commitments
LANCASTER - Linda Sheridan is certainly an active woman. Not only is she a managing partner at Snyder & Company, she is also a Fairfield County Medical Center board member.
She joined Snyder & Company in 1998 and became a partner in 2000. Victor Christopher is the other partner. John Snyder formed the accounting company in the 1960s and died in 2013.
“John’s real passion was that he knew we had something special here,” Sheridan said. “He wanted to make sure it could continue on to the next generation. So Vic and I consider ourselves second-generation business owners, even though we’re not related to John. So it’s not necessarily a family business, but it kind of is a family business. He was very much a mentor.”
Sheridan, a Columbus native and Lancaster resident, is a certified public account who graduated from Fisher Catholic High School and Ohio University. She said her company is unique in that it doesn’t bill by the hour. Instead, clients sit down and discuss their needs, and their fee is based on that.
“We don’t even track our time,” Sheridan said. “With traditional accounting firms, you sell your time. We’re just selling the relationship. What can we do to help you grow your business? Because if they grow, we grow. It’s very much a relationship approach.”
She said those relationships go beyond just preparing a client’s taxes. For example, one client thought they had a bank loan approved to buy a building, but the bank then declined the loan. So Sheridan helped the client find another bank that would grant the loan. She said she helped find an attorney for another client who needed one.
“That’s the kind of stuff we like to do,” Sheridan said. “And John, without verbalizing it, that was kind of his mode of operation too. He was the kind of partner I was looking for all my career. Somebody who put people ahead of numbers.”
While Sheridan is passionate about her career, she is also passionate about her volunteer position with FMC.
“That hospital is such an asset for this community,” Sheridan said. “And nobody is going to care more for this community than this community will care for itself. So we’ve got a great opportunity here. We’ve got a strong independent community health system and we’ve got resources to grow strategically. We don’t have resources to grow like crazy, but you’ve got to do it strategically. So we’ve got just a group of dedicated people that want to make sure that community hospital stays the asset that it is.”
Away from work and her civic duties, Sheridan like to spend time with her family. She is also active at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church, where she serves as a reader. A reader is someone who reads Scripture to the congregation during mass.