Rogerio Rezende's journey to become CFO at Dixon Ticonderoga Co. has been an arduous one. It began for the now 31-year-old when he was 18 and managed finances for his family's small construction supply and lumber mill in a rural Brazilian town. His wanderlust took him to Florida in 2000, where he juggled jobs as a cab driver, dishwasher and waiter to pay for his education.

While earning a bachelor's degree from Rollins College and an M.B.A. from Stetson University, Rezende, at 27, helped nurture a small, troubled video production company back to health, he says, by reinventing operations, improving efficiency, renegotiating terms with vendors–and even forgoing his paycheck. The makeover was a success. After that, Rezende managed the first full corporate audit at Bailey Industries as it prepared to be acquired by a public company, he says.

In early 2007, he moved to Dixon Ticonderoga as director of finance; nine months later he was promoted to CFO. And while the art and office supplies company may be small ($125 million), the move fulfilled a long-standing ambition to be finance chief at a U.S. company–immersed in critical international financial issues.