Shows / CFO THOUGHT LEADER
CFO THOUGHT LEADER
CFO THOUGHT LEADER is a podcast featuring firsthand accounts of finance leaders who are driving change within their organizations. We share the career journey of our spotlighted CFO guest: What do they struggle with? How do they persevere? What makes them successful CFOs? CFO THOUGHT LEADER is all about inspiring finance professionals to take a leadership leap. We know that by hearing about the successes — (and yes, also the failures) — of others, today’s CFOs can more confidently chart their…
Episodes
CFO THOUGHT LEADER710: Supply, Demand and Oil in the Gears | Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, CFO, Analog Devices
It was nightly business conversations at his parents’ dinner table that first led Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah to consider alternatives to business when it came to…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER709: Investor, Advisor, Operator | Mark Shifke, CFO, Billtrust
Billtrust CFO Mark Shifke likes to label himself an “accidental CFO”—a tag that a number of our guests have appropriated from time to time when faced with…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER708: Making FP&A Your Cross Functional Glue | Waifa Chau, CFO, Nylas
Several actions proved key as Waifa Chau advanced from financial planning and analysis (FP&A) roles to chief financial officer positions. Collaborating with…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER707: Light From a Distant Star | Ian Charles, CFO, Flexe
Of course, every finance leader needs to understand the mechanics of accounting and know how to identify the financial implications of management’s decisions…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER706: A Career of Build & Scale Moments | Trent York, CFO, Restore Hyper Wellness
Nearly 20 years later, CFO Trent York tells us that he can still hear the finance executive’s exact words. “Trent, I don’t need you tell me how not to do…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERCulture & Competencies | A Workplace Champions Episode
A brief summary of this episode
CFO THOUGHT LEADER705: Expanding the Lane to Organic Growth | Bill Kelley, CFO, TreeHouse Foods
When the TreeHouse Foods financial planning and analysis (FP&A) team notice CFO Bill Kelley entering the room, chances are that a number of team members shoot…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER704: When Investors Come to Mind | Puneet Pamnani, CFO, KORE Wireless
When asked about a personal habit that has served him well over the years, finance leader Puneet Pamnani raises his voice slightly and seeks to mimic the…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER703: Driving Future Performance | Harmit Singh, CFO, Levi Strauss & Co
When it comes time for Harmit Singh to brief Levi Strauss & Co.’s management team regarding the latest performance results, Levi’s CFO will often share a…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER702: Making Relationships Matter | Andrew Kenny, CFO, Scoular
Andrew Kenny still remembers the smell of day-old pizza that lingered in the back of the Cairo conference room as negotiations between his then company, food…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER701: Real-Time Insights, Yet Another Covid Legacy | Adam Meister, CFO, Talend
There’s little question that the pandemic has led business leaders to amp up digital initiatives across most industries. In response, CFOs have more frequently…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER700: Making What Was Once Unstructured - Strategic | Alex Amezquita, CFO, Herbalife Nutrition
Space is not typically the realm that CFOs point to when we ask about experiences that prepared them for a finance leadership role. However, the first 10 years…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER699: The Return of Jimmy Lai | Jimmy Lai, CFO, Acepodia
When Acepodia CEO Sonny Hsiao began developing a list of candidates to fill the chief financial officer role at the biotechnology company that he had…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER698: Decomposing Business Metrics | Ross Tennenbaum, CFO, Avalara
It’s no secret that the herculean effort required to keep corporate board meetings on time frequently involves tracking the arrivals of certain board member…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER697: A SPAC Puts Leafy Greens on the Menu | Guy Blanchard, CFO, AeroFarms
Back in 2014—when Guy Blanchard first entered the CFO office at AeroFarms—the indoor vertical farming company had roughly 20 employees and a commercial farm…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER696: Ascending the Funnel | Darrell Cox, CFO, Vena Solutions
When marketing campaigns get old, they’re like polyester leisure suits that seem to fit okay but look awful, explains finance chief Darrell Cox of Vena…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERTrust & the Individual - A Workplace Champions Episode
Featuring the Workplace Champions CFO Arleen Paladino of Crum & Forster CFO Guy Blanchard of Aerofarms CFO Mike Rasic of Synapse CFO Ross Tennenbaum of Avalara
CFO THOUGHT LEADER695: As Public Perception Changes, Opportunity Advances | Louie Reformina, CFO, Turning Point Brands
Chances are that CFO Louie Reformina never expected to be in the rolling papers business. Having advanced down a career track populated with different private…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER694: Specific and Time-bound, Aggressive yet Realistic | Ana Sirbu, CFO, Nitro
Not unlike other finance leaders, Nitro CFO Ana Sirbu wants you to know that she’s a “prioritizer.” Both personally and professionally, Sirbu has created a…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER693: Building Individual Trust | Mike Rasic, CFO, Synapse
Looking back, Mike Rasic says that his entry into the world of tech start-ups got kicked off with a phone call that he almost didn’t answer. “I have a strict…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER692: Betting on Your Future | Tim Murphy, CFO, REPAY
In 2008, as the subprime mortgage crisis began turning the Street’s brash dealmakers into a squeamish clan of risk-averse bankers, Tim Murphy, an associate at…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER691: Get Out of the Weeds | Rob Krolik, Partner, Burst Capital (CFO emeritus)
When Rob Krolik agreed to join us for a CFO (emeritus) episode, we expected to hear about the successful business turnaround chapter that he added to his…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER690: The Next 100 Years | Arleen Paladino, CFO, Crum & Forster
In the early 1980s, when Arleen Paladino joined Crum & Forster as a 21-year-old internal audit trainee, she was frequently sent to remote office locations to…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER689: Be the Bridge | Terry Coelho, CFO, BioDelivery Sciences International (BDSI)
Within 4 months of her 2019 arrival inside BDSI’s CFO office, Terry Coelho had spearheaded a product acquisition and managed a successful equity raise—two…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER688: Ready for Takeoff | Kevin Ingram, CFO, FM Global
Back in 2014, when FM Global wanted to entice finance executive Kevin Ingram to move back to the US from England, the UK finance director was offered a…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER687: The Room Where It Happened | Ken Kaufman, CFO, Community Dental Partners
Each Wednesday morning, as the CEO prodded his team for business projections and troubleshooting ideas, the midsize company’s top managers would huddle around…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER686: Making “Why Not?” Your Career Door Opener | Hamza Benamar, CFO, Kyriba
Long before growing numbers of digital nomads freely roamed the planet, Hamza Benamar had achieved a borderless professional life inside the world of internal…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERGreetings From the Post-Covid World - A Workplace Champions Episode
Featuring the CFOs: Tom Berquist, CFO, TIBCO, Terry Coelho,CFO BioDelivery Sciences , Kevin Ingram,CFO, FM Global, Robert Linder, CFO, Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar
CFO THOUGHT LEADER685: When Opportunity Knocks | Rebecca Mahadeva, CFO, Greater Than One
For Rebecca Mahadeva, the late 1990s audit of a minor league baseball team was the type of rare career assignment that never failed to intrigue both…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER684: Completing the Job at Hand | Paul Ottolini, CFO, Russell Reynolds
When Paul Ottolini is asked to share a personal trait—one that a family member might divulge to us— the seasoned finance leader tells us that he likes to cut…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER683: When It’s Time to Sit in the Driver’s Seat | Stéphane Berthier, CFO, Uniphore
When Stéphane Berthier joined Uniphore of Palo Alto, CA, as CFO this past January, the move no doubt raised more than a few Silicon Valley eyebrows. For more…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER682: Achieving a Flywheel to Create Long Term Value | John Collins, CFO, LivePerson
When CFO John Collins is asked how his background in data modeling and strategy is influencing the role that finance plays inside LivePerson, the artificial…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER681: Not Settling for Business as Usual | Christian Geyer, CFO, ActiveNav
As Christian Geyer sees it, the path to the CFO office can begin just about anywhere. For him, anywhere happened to be the accounts payable department of a…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER680: Making Sales Success a Must-See Metric | Ron Knutson, CFO, Lawson Products
A little more than a decade ago, Ron Knutson remembers, when he first stepped into the CFO role at Lawson Products, he quickly realized that the productivity…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER679: Making a Business Ripe for Investors | Graham Miao, CFO, AgroFresh
Looking back, AgroFresh CFO Graham Miao says that the decision to change careers early in his professional life was triggered more or less by resource…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER678: The Arc of Data's Evolution | Ed Goldfinger, CFO, Quantum Metric
When Ed Goldfinger is asked to relate a moment of strategic insight that he has experienced as a finance leader, he draws our attention to his CFO tenure at…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER677: Engaging Minds at Work | Michael Pickrum, CFO, ExecOnline
When Michael Pickrum tells us about ExecOnline, the company that he joined as CFO back in 2019, he wants us to know that the education technology firm is…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER676: The Next Transformation Journey | Paul Lundstrom, CFO, Flex
Back in 2015, after nearly two decades of diligent career-building across United Technologies, Paul Lundstrom fixed his career builder’s gaze upon the span of…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERMarching in Step with OKRs - A Workplace Champions Episode
This Episode Features Human Capital Insights & Commentary from: Dynshaw Italia, CFO, Soldo Brad Kinnish, CFO, Aryaka Will Bondurant, CFO, Castlight Health The…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER675: When Complexity Equals Waste | Jim Harper, CFO, Goodroot
According to Goodroot CFO Jim Harper, the best way to transform the current U.S. healthcare system is to replace its connective tissue. “It’s going to be a…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER674: Creating Sensible Options From Hard Decisions | Robert Linder, CFO, Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar
When CFO Robert Linder highlights what distinguishes the dining experience at Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar, it’s easy to imagine him as a friendly host escorting…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER673: Advancing Down the Transformation Path | Will Bondurant, CFO, Castlight Health
Years from now, when Castlight Health CFO Will Bondurant reflects back on the varied chapters of his finance career, he may title the current one “The…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER672: Finance From the Top Down | Tom Berquist, CFO, TIBCO Software
When an inquisitive software analyst takes a seat across the table from TIBCO Software CFO Tom Berquist, the inquisitor may not know that TIBCO’s finance…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER671: Why the Best Laid Plans Are Continuous | Shane Hansen, CFO, Planful
It was a meeting that Planful CFO Shane Hansen tells us that he was not looking forward to. The SaaS developer’s FP&A team had discovered a “fairly large”…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER670: Judgment: At the Heart of Every Decision | Gary Golden, CFO, Cherwell Software
If we were asked to boil down our discussion with CFO Gary Golden to a single word, our answer would be: “judgment.” It perhaps goes without saying that having…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER669: Transactions, Trades, and Treatments | Ozan Pamir, CFO, 180 Life Sciences
We seldom hear a finance leader tell us that they took a pass on a promotion early in their careers, so when CFO Ozan Pamir told us that as a 25-year-old…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER668: Investors Make Room for a Streaming SPAC | Jason Eustace, CFO, CuriosityStream
It was roughly 12 months ago that Jason Eustace was named CFO of CuriosityStream, an upstart streaming media company launched in 2015 by Discovery Channel…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER667: Where Growth & Trust Meet | Brad Kinnish, CFO, Aryaka
The mid-December conference call was 45 minutes old, CFO Brad Kinnish says, when he began to feel edgy. One of the company’s biggest deals of the year had yet…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER666: When Vision is the Plus Multiplier | Manmeet Soni, CFO, Reata Pharmaceuticals
It’s a phrase that has historically never roamed far beyond the corridors of pharmaceutical companies, but now—thanks to COVID 19—the term “clinical trials”…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER665: A Data-Driven CFO Grabs the Wheel | Rob Barnhart, CFO, SimpleTire
Among the experiences that Rob Barnhart credits with having prepared him for a CFO role was an executive training program in which he participated when he…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER664: Good Judgment: Every CFO's Star Attribute | Gary Swidler, CFO, Match Group
Back in 2015, when Gary Swidler was a candidate for a CFO position at Match Group, the seasoned banking executive recalls being told by company management: “On…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER663: Building a Better Product | Hoang Vuong, CFO, Amplitude
We have been speaking with Hoang Vuong for little more than a minute when he mentions the CFO mentor whom he credits with having influenced his early career…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER662: A Thirst for Innovation | Dynshaw Italia, CFO, Soldo
When innovation is a topic for discussion, Dynshaw Italia can’t resist mentioning Cobra Beer—or, to be more specific, “the big bottle.” It was Cobra, of…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERWhen Purpose Eases Workforce Stress | A Workplace Champions Episode
Inside the realm of corporate finance, it’s safe to say that the year 2020 has been unlike any that have preceded it. As more employees have occupied remote…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER661: Finding Your Finance Port of Entry | Dan Stokely, CFO, Ampio Pharmaceuticals
Thinking back to his days as a charter boat captain off the coast of Point Loma, San Diego, Dan Stokely marvels at the responsibilities that he shouldered as a…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER660: A CFO Finds Her Career Cadence Inside PE-Backed Firms | Debra Ricci, CFO, Guidehouse
Back in 2018—when Deb Ricci’s name topped the list of leading candidates to fill the CFO role at Guidehouse, a management consulting firm carve-out—three…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER659: The Rewards of Taking Inspired Action | Brice Hill, CFO, Xilinx
In front of the restaurant’s dozen or more cash registers, customers were standing six or seven deep when Brice Hill raised his voice and began instructing the…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER658: The Technology-Driven Turnaround | Sandra Harris, CFO, Tupperware Brands
When Tupperware Brands CFO Sandra Harris is asked what set her apart from the other CFO candidates who aspired to fill the finance leadership role at the…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER657: From the Ground Up | Yevgenia Fink, CFO, HOVER
It was near the end of her 9 years with Intel Corp. that Yevgenia Fink received a bit of advice that today she credits with having helped her to blaze a path…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER656: A Taste for Disruption | Russell Burke, CFO, Life360
When Russell Burke tells us that his days at Sony Music Entertainment included “huge peaks” such as the release of the hit sound track for the motion picture…