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 LEADER853: When the Fire Burns Brightest | Chip Zint, CFO, Deluxe
After Chip Zint jumped two levels in NCR Corp.’s retail division finance hierarchy, he couldn’t help but savor the moment while reflecting on the fact that his…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERThe Friday Elon Slept Late | A Workplace Champions Episode
Brett & Jack discuss the workforce rantings of Elon Musk and the new Twitter owner's November 16th deadline for employees to decide whether to leave or stay…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER852: Thriving in the Deep End | Jonathan Carr, CFO, Armis
When Jonathan Carr first walked through the doors of the Stryker Inc. plant in Arroyo, Puerto Rico, the boyish newbie accountant no doubt turned the heads of a…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER851: The Rudiments of Scale | Tony Tiscornia, CFO, Coupa
Few finance leaders have better revealed to us the career-transforming powers of IPOs than CFO Tony Tiscornia. Turn back the clock to 2015, and Tiscornia is…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER850: A CFO’s Ultimate Covid Test | Anat Ashkenazi, CFO, Eli Lilly
In March 2020, when Eli Lilly announced that it would begin providing drive-through COVID testing services to the state of Indiana’s healthcare workers, more…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER849: Adding Value to an Academic City | Brett Powell, CFO, Baylor University
When Brett Powell is asked what distinguishes his day-to-day role as a finance leader inside the world of academia from that of his CFO peers residing within…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER848: The People, the Mission & the Innovation | Evan Goldstein, CFO, Seismic
Evan Goldstein tells us that it was at the end of another long day—after a week of long days—as he was walking to the parking lot adjacent to Genentech’s…
- CFO THOUGHT LEADER
When FP&A Takes Rosaline's View - A Planning Aces Episode
A brief summary of this episode
CFO THOUGHT LEADER847: When Minding the Business is a Cultural Mandate | Jim Morgan, CFO, CallRail
We can’t help but cringe when a finance leader tells us that they don’t want to be known as “the CFO of ‘No’”—that shopworn characterization of CFOs who seem…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER846: Influencing Your Operating Inputs | Ambereen Toubassy, CFO, Airtable
When Ambereen Toubassy decided that it was time to start up her own hedge fund, it's likely that no one cast doubt on the experienced investor’s grand plan…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER845: Levers of Growth, Doors of Opportunity | Darren Cooper, CFO, Reveal Group
When Darren Cooper was named CFO of Reveal Group of Melbourne, Australia, in 2019, there was no friendly board member or executive recruiter seeking kudos for…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER844: To Achieve All That Matters | Gillian Sheeran, CFO, Pricefx
Gillian Sheeran’s was perhaps 17 years into an illustrious finance career and on her second CFO tour of duty when she finally met the limits of her CFO…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER843: Making Finance Part of Your Business’s Operating Fabric | Adil Syed, CFO, Rippling
If, as the old maxim suggests, “life” is what happens to us while we are busy making other plans, Adil Syed’s other plans most likely did not include Snap…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER842: Realizing the Potential of Data at Scale | Ross Muken, CFO, Sophia Genetics
It was after Ross Muken had been gainfully roaming the corridors of equity research for more than a dozen years that the acquisition of his firm administered a…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERHires, Fires and a Stable Economy | A Workplace Champions Episode
Brett & Jack discuss how hiring challenges have led certain organizations to be more tolerant of poor employee behaviors – a development that could be putting…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER841: When Every Member Counts | Ilana Esterrich, CFO, American Coatings Association
Inside the world of trade associations, the135-year-old American Coatings Association’s has never wavered in its dedication to advancing the needs of…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER840: Putting a Spin on Your Talent Pinwheel| Bryan Morris, CFO, Demandbase
Among the recruitment milestones that populate Bryan Morris’s CFO resume, few can match the 6-month talent acquisition binge that he launched during the first…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER839: Landing on Both Feet | JJ Pace, CFO, Service Pros Installation Group
When JJ Pace tells us that he was hired in 2002 to build and eventually lead a finance team that would create and implement monthly budgets for a four-location…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER838: The Unseen Levers of Customer Impact | Mike Taylor, CFO, Gusto
When Mike Taylor mentions the customer experience during our talk, his intent—unlike that of many of his CFOs peers—is not to boast of some vast reservoir of…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERLet the Data do the Talking - A Planning Aces Episode
Steve and Jack discuss the data tsunami that many organizations are now facing and what steps finance executives can take to replace their historical…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER837: The Hand in the Air | Rob Young, CFO, National Geographic Society
Rob Young remembers that back in 2001, when he joined the incoming class of newbie accountants at KPMG’s Short Hills, New Jersey, office, there was a 5- to…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER836: Building Consensus to Go Real-Time | Anna King, CFO, Mesh Payments
Several years ago, when CFO Anna King first began to champion the benefits of real-time data, she recalls a sudden clamor around new customer activity afforded…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER835: Understanding Your Business | Andrew Gehrlein, CFO, Park Place Technologies
When Andrew Gehrlein is asked about experiences that prepared him for a finance leadership role, one week from his 25-year career climb quickly comes to mind…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER834: Where Paths Converge and Leaders Emerge | Tracy Curley, CFO, iSpecimen, Inc.
We are nearly at the end of our talk with CFO Tracy Curley when she mentions her two adult children. “I’m really blessed that they knew how important my career…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER833: Keeping the House in Order | Aaron Hartwig, CFO, Edgewood Companies
Turn back the clock to the mid-1990s, and Aaron Hartwig is standing behind the front desk of a Las Vegas hotel, checking in guests and welcoming them to the…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER832: Achieving a Holistic View | Kate Bueker, CFO, HubSpot
When Kate Bueker first left the world of investment banking for a corporate finance role, she was ready to savor the fabled congruity that a business finance…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERThe Employee Value Proposition | a Workplace Champions Episode
Brett & Jack discuss why organizations must have a value proposition for their employees. This episode each of our featured Workplace Champions gives us…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER831: Building Your Credibility | Chuck Triano, CFO, Xalud Therapeutics
Unlike many CFOs who tell us that their finance career paths did not intersect with the investor relations (IR) function until shortly before their arrival in…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER830: Riding the Technology Convergence Winds | Sandra Rowland, CFO, Xylem
When Samsung acquired Stamford, Connecticut-based Harman International for $8 billion in cash in 2017, it was not the first time that the South Korean…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER829: All Aboard for Accelerated Learning | Jamie Britton, CFO, Texas Security Bank
The expression “accelerated learning” has been used by a number of our recent CFO guests to distinguish periods within their careers when circumstances…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER828: When Finance Talks to the Business | Claire Bramley, CFO, Teradata
From the very start of our talk with CFO Claire Bramley, she let us know that she has long been part of the bigger conversation represented by the everyday…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERLet RPA Lead Rather Than Replace - A Planning Aces Episode
Steve and Jack discuss how FP&A is becoming a world beyond finance - where data expertise and insights are becoming as widely sought after as traditional…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER827: The Leap Beyond Tax | Debbie Schleicher, CFO, EasyKnock
When Debbie Schleicher tells us that a football game between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Clemson Tigers became her door-opener to the CFO office, we…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER826: Along the CFO Continuum | Pat Dillon, CFO, Flock Freight
When Flock Freight CFO Pat Dillon thinks back to his investment banking days at Morgan Stanley and considers the variety of CFOs from whom he once sat across…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER825: The Leader's Intent: Helping Others | Bona Allen, CFO, KBD Group
Bona Allen was never a country doctor—but he recollects feeling like one at one point in his finance career. Or, rather, being paid like one. By the early…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER824: An Appetite for Change | Rajesh Gupta, CFO, OakNorth Bank
When Rajesh Gupta tells us that he likes change and fixing things that are broken, we can’t help but wonder how a finance career that has encompassed more than…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER823: Courtside with a CFO All-Star | Larry Angelilli, CFO, MoneyGram
Looking back to the mid-1980s, Larry Angelilli knows now that he was at the time witnessing something that others would not see for decades. Before Jack Welch…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER822: CFO Trifecta: Finance, Strategy & Leadership | Peter Walker CFO, Sterling
When Peter Walker looks back on his career, he never hesitates to highlight “the big asks,” or those times when he asked a boss to “take a chance” on him. One…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER821: When Leaders Want More | Michael Sumruld, CFO, Parker Wellbore
Michael Sumruld recalls that after investing 10 of his finance career–building years in oil field services giant Baker Hughes, he found a deep fog settling on…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERKeeping Leadership in Step with Workforce Priorities | A Workplace Champions Episode
Brett & Jack discuss how the economy's is sending the hiring environment mixed signals and how the inefficiencies of the recruitment function continue to be a…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER820: Establishing Milestones for the Stakeholder Ecosystem | Adam Swiecicki, CFO, Brex
As the 32-year-old CFO of Brex, Adam Swiecicki has a professional narrative unpopulated by the tales of economic and business hijinks that many of our CFO…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER819: Set Your Data Free | Glenn Hopper, CFO, Sandline Global
Just where and how Glenn Hopper came to acquire his finance skillset exposes an organizational dysfunction to which no small number of finance leaders have…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERFrom Euphoria to ‘Uh-oh!' | A Planning Aces Episode
Steve and Jack discuss how pricing strategy has increasingly become top of mind for finance leaders as businesses become more responsive to customer behaviors…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER818: Breaking Finance’s "Glass Wall" | David Bedell, CFO, Lendio
Looking back at the early years of his finance career, David Bedell recalls being frustrated when a business unit leader remained leery about the merits of a…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER817: Fit to Compete, Fit to Grow | Kabir Ahmed Shakir, CFO, Tata Communications
When Kabir Ahmed Shakir first arrived inside the CFO office at Tata Communications, the former Microsoft India CFO quickly determined that there was one person…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER816: Moving to a Multiyear Mind-set | Mike Milotich, CFO, Marqeta
It was the type of assignment that Mike Milotich had been awaiting for most of his career. An innovative product team at American Express had just launched a…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER815: Out Front Inside the Auto Aftermarket | Jeff Shepherd, CFO, Advance Auto Parts
Last winter, when China ordered tens of millions of people back into a pandemic lockdown, executives inside the $170 billion automotive aftermarket parts…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERBonus Replay: Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, CFO, Analog Devices, Inc.
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 LEADERIt's About the Team - A Workplace Champions Episode
A brief summary of this episode
CFO THOUGHT LEADER814: Why Swim Lanes No Longer Matter | Manish Sarin, CFO, Sprinklr
Even after serving in multiple CFO roles and spending 10 years on Wall Street, Manish Sarin still marvels at the plus-size experience that he acquired in the…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER813: A Mandate to Improve | Mark George, CFO, Norfolk Southern Corporation
When Mark George first joined Otis Elevator’s accounting team back in the late 1980s, he found fixed asset accounting to be different from what he expected…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER812: When Leadership Came Calling | Angela Pierce, CFO, Anaconda
Looking back on her career as a corporate finance executive, Angela Pierce says that the call of leadership arrived at a moment of unvarnished frustration…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER811: Satisfying a Cultural Itch With Smart Growth | Jason Keen, CFO, Mills & Nebraska
Among the career milestones that CFOs prefer to highlight for us during our discussions, there’s little question that examples of driving business growth are…
CFO THOUGHT LEADERAchieving a More Agile Finance Function | A Planning Aces Episode
Steve and Jack discuss how growing concerns about a possible economic recession are helping fuel CFO aspirations for creating a more agile finance function…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER810: Following the Data Trail | David Barnes, CFO, Trimble
Generally, when legendary CEO Roger Enrico wasn’t happy, just about every PepsiCo executive from junior grades on up knew about it. So it was that when David…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER809: Leading Inside a Remote World | Danielle Murcray, CFO, AttackIQ
Among the many strategic changes that finance leader Danielle Murcray has helped to put in motion during her multi-chapter CFO career, perhaps none better…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER808: Trading Up to a Macro-Driven Career | Komal Misra, CFO, Starry, Inc.
When Komal Misra, a software engineer turned asset manager, decided that it was time once again to make a career change, she found herself staring at a…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER807: All Things in Common | Ryan Gwillim, CFO, Brunswick Corporation
A dozen years ago, if you had told Ryan Gwillim that within the next decade he would be named CFO of the Brunswick Corporation, he may have laughed. At the…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER806: Being Ready for the Unexpected | Marc Levine, CFO, Tanium
Among the many acquisitions with which Marc Levine became involved during his 25 years at Hewlett-Packard Co., it may surprise few of his former colleagues…
CFO THOUGHT LEADER805: When the Flywheel Begins to Spin | Chris Greiner, CFO, Zeta Global
It was not long after Chris Greiner became CFO of IBM’s fast-growing Analytics Division that the gravitational pull that IBM had maintained on Greiner’s…