BusinessReport.com

Cynthia Bridges has spent more than half her life working for the Louisiana Department of Revenue, from starting out as a field auditor to currently serving as secretary of the department.

The department has become such an integral part of her life that even her so-called recreational activities come with an eye on work. “Generally, I read and research ways to improve some things we do here,” Bridges says. “Some of the things we do here are pretty close to what you might find in private industry.”

Bridges, 50, heads her agency with an entrepreneurial spirit, a trait somewhat surprising considering she not only cut her teeth working for the government, but has stayed there for nearly three decades. The Opelousas native worked her way up through the department, with each step adding management and administrative skills to her technical grasp of the goings-on at the department.

She has served as the department’s deputy secretary, assistant secretary over the compliance group, deputy assistant secretary of the tax divisions, director of the excise tax division and assistant director of the research and technical services, field services and sales tax divisions. Mike Foster was a second-term governor when Bridges unexpectedly received a phone call inquiring if she’d be interested in heading the department.

Bridges considered it an honor that her work had been noticed, but says the task was a little scary at first. The quality of people working in the department helped calm her nerves, and she began implementing the vision she had for the department.

Her hard work paid off. When the state went from Foster, a Republican, to Democrat Kathleen Blanco, Bridges was asked to maintain her post as the department. “I think we have undertaken lots of challenges over the years in terms of improving our delivery of services,” Bridges says. “Apparently that work was noticed and recognized.”

Much of Bridges success comes from leaving it to others to recognize her work, while she moves on to the next way to improve the department. Her to-do list today is as long as it was her first day she took over as secretary, with past items tackled successfully being replaced with current weaknesses in the department.

“You can’t become complacent; you can’t rest on your laurels,” Bridges says. “There’s always something else to work on.”

Bridges has focused largely on increasing the effectiveness of communications between her agency and the people it serves. It is the agency’s responsibility, she says, to make sure people and businesses are informed if they are expected to comply with tax laws. She is constantly looking for new ways to get the message out, saying that the old method of sending out press releases is no longer effective.

Bridges has always operated under the belief that she could work hard enough to create her own opportunities. But she is also quick to defer to the workers around her when it comes time to explain her success.

“Without their effort, I don’t think we’d be able to accomplish many of the goals set for us,” Bridges says. “My successes are the result of a lot of good people to work with.”