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PODCAST

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

The Future of Finance is Listening

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 own

business careers

All Episodes

53:16

1120: Navigating Growth, Crisis, and the AI...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/08/17

Eric Brown vividly recalls his trial by fire at MicroStrategy. Joining a subsidiary, he expected to help deploy hundreds of millions from a planned secondary raise. Instead, “the parent company had a restatement…raised zero,” he tells us. Elevated to CFO, he faced layoffs of two-thirds of staff and operating margins at -40%. Over three years, Brown led a turnaround to +30% margins and a market cap recovery from $55 million to more than $1 billion. “Nothing really phases me,” he says of the

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28:11

Special Episode: In the Room Where it Happens (Part 1)

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/08/13

In Part One of In the Room Where It Happens, we hear from four CFOs reflecting on formative moments when they found themselves face-to-face with legendary industry leaders. Gabi Gantus of Mytra recounts a pivotal meeting at Tesla with Elon Musk, while CFO Jason Child (Arm) shares an FP&A breakthrough alongside Jeff Bezos during Amazon’s early growth years. CFO Brian Gladden of Zelis reflects on leadership lessons from both Jack Welch and Michael Dell, and CFO (emeritus) Bill Korn of MBTC recalls

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48:40

1119: Driving Mission-Driven Growth in the SaaS World...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/08/10

When people Google Bonterra, they often see 2021 as its starting point. That year, lead investor Apax joined with Vista, holder of Social Solutions, and Insight Partners, holder of EveryAction, to unite those businesses under one brand. But, as Matthew Hardy tells us, the company’s history stretches much further back—“We have customers that are 20–25-year-old customers, so (there are) a lot of longstanding relationships.”From its earliest days, Bonterra’s mission has been clear: provide

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44:37

The Prove-It Mentality: Rethinking ROI in the Age of...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/08/07

In Episode 47 of Planning Aces, Jack Sweeney and resident thought leader Brett Knowles explore the evolving role of FP&A through the lens of three forward-looking CFOs. Dan Zhang (ClickUp), John Rettig (Bill), and Josh Schauer (insightsoftware) share how they’re driving enterprise agility, leveraging AI to eliminate inefficiencies, and rethinking capital allocation. From Zhang’s battle against “SaaS overload” to Rettig’s “prove-it mentality” and Schauer’s daily forecasting, each CFO reveals a

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39:28

Controllers Classified: Weathering tariff risks

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/08/06

Host Erik Zhou, CAO at Brex, sits down with Richie Mashiko, Fractional CFO, to unpack the financial complexities of running high-growth e-commerce and CPG brands. From measuring the right things to navigating ad spend, pricing strategies, and fragile supply chains amidst tariffs, Richie offers a unique operator’s perspective on what it takes to drive sustainable growth in today’s market.

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51:52

1118: Partnering for Growth: Finance Meets...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/08/03

Andrew Casey remembers a moment when colleagues truly looked to finance for leadership. At ServiceNow, a then‑$400 million company with little go‑to‑market infrastructure, the team faced a long list of missing elements: no functioning comp plan, no partner ecosystem, and no clear strategy for scaling sales. “Whenever people said they didn’t know how,” Casey recalls, “I started raising my hand and said, I don’t know either, but I know what we’re going to go do… and then we’re going to adjust as we

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42:07

1117: Building a Unicorn with a Finance Blueprint |...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/07/30

When Konstantin Dzhengozov turned down a corporate development role in the U.S., he wasn’t walking away from opportunity—he was running toward a different kind of growth. Having helped lead the FP&A function at a fast-scaling Bulgarian tech firm through its acquisition by a U.S. public company, Dzhengozov knew what came next if he stayed the course. But “the unknown… just felt right,” he tells us. So he stayed close to Bulgaria’s booming startup scene—and co-founded Payhawk.In the early days of

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55:27

1116: The CFO Who Thinks in Full Color | Dan Zhang,...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/07/27

When Dan Zhang joined ClickUp in 2021, she stepped into a company intent on unifying how the world works. Two years later, she entered the CFO office—just as ClickUp’s strategic bet on AI was beginning to reshape its platform and its future.ClickUp is not just a place where work is tracked, Zhang tells us—it’s “where work happens.” The company combines project management, chat, docs, whiteboards, calendars, and more in a single AI-enabled platform. And with the launch of ClickUp Brain Max, the

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34:43

Why Finance Teams Must Learn Faster Than Ever | Tim...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/07/23

When Tim Vipond was asked to help rebuild Newmont Goldcorp’s corporate model, the scale was daunting: “20 tabs across… each tab being many hundred rows deep,” he tells us. The model had to account for the intricate economics of mining—from extraction to refinement—and it all had to tie together in a single consolidated NAV model. It was a hands-on assignment that tested both his modeling expertise and his capacity to navigate complexity. That moment, Vipond tells us, helped shape his understanding

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53:41

1115: The Evolution of a Leader—One CFO Chapter at a...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/07/22

When Lisa Cummins Dulchinos joined Ayar Labs, she knew translating deep tech into a business story would be central to her role. At a company where 85% of the nearly 200 employees hold PhDs, Dulchinos found herself among experts fluent in micro-ring resonators and laser physics. To explain what Ayar Labs does, she took a different approach. “It’s basically a computer chip that allows us to open up the bandwidth in a computing system,” she tells us.That chiplet—named TeraPHY—replaces traditional

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44:55

1114: Building a Smarter Funnel at Speed | Kevin...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/07/16

When Kevin Wall first stepped into industry from public accounting, it wasn’t by accident—it was through a client he already knew well. The company, in the midst of an ERP conversion and preparing to go public, saw in Wall someone who understood both their numbers and their needs. “They were familiar with me. I was familiar with them,” he tells us.That early pivot from audit into operational finance set the tone for a career defined by depth over speed. Wall spent 13 years at Alcatel-Lucent and a

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52:18

1113: The Strategic Leap from Finance Partner to...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/07/13

When Josh Schauer joined Longview, a Toronto-based software company, he had no idea that a transformative chapter of his career was just a few years away. In 2020, Longview was acquired by insightsoftware—a turning point that brought both uncertainty and opportunity. “It’s kind of equal parts fear and optimism,” he tells us. “You wonder: Am I going to have a job coming out of this?”But his then-CFO advocated for him, making clear to the acquiring company, “they can’t lose you.” That moment, Schauer

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36:51

1112: The Value of Seeing Finance from the Front...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/07/09

When Nathan Winters led a supply chain team earlier in his career, he noticed something that would shape his leadership style: “The credibility you get by the operating leaders when they see you out in the field… is incredibly important.” Whether visiting customers, walking a manufacturing floor, or sitting in on operating meetings, Winters found that physical presence fostered trust—and that trust gave finance a real seat at the table.Today, as CFO of Zebra Technologies, Winters continues to

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55:55

1111: Inside the M&A Playbook: Why People Come First...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/07/06

Eight months into his CFO role at Reltio, James Redfern still feels like he’s catching up. “I’ve made some progress, but I’m definitely not where I… need to get,” he tells us. That steep learning curve was exactly what drew him to the company.Redfern didn’t find the Reltio opportunity through recruiters. Instead, it surfaced during a casual conversation with a mentor. “I was actually looking at something else,” he recalls. “And he said, ‘Oh, if you’re looking… I’m on the board of a company that’s

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15:25

The CFO Role in Scaling AI Curiosity

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/07/02

How are finance chiefs steering the AI revolution? In this fast-paced special edition of CFO Thought Leader, host Jack Sweeney spotlights Packer Fastener CFO Brian Hogeland and LinkedIn’s top AI voice Allie K. Miller. Together they unpack why 2023’s “just try ChatGPT” mantra is obsolete, how agent-orchestrated systems will reshape mid-market operations, and where cash-savvy CFOs can safely place AI bets today. Tune in for fifteen minutes of practical insight, provocative foresight, and

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52:58

1110: When Leadership Mattered | Amanda Whalen, CFO,...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/06/29

Amanda Whalen’s first unit CFO role began with a question. “You’re not a finance technical person,” her company’s president told her, “but you’re the strongest leader on my team. Will you be willing to be the CFO and help me transform the finance function?” She accepted.Over the following year, Whalen tells us, her team tackled three major initiatives: fixing broken cost accounting at a dairy plant, realigning sales incentives to drive margin, and overhauling the P&L reporting structure to match

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41:02

From Flailing to AI Forward Motion - A Planning Aces...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/06/27

In this Planning Aces episode, Jack Sweeney and co-host Brett Knowles spotlight three CFOs who are advancing their organizations' FP&A capabilities through thoughtful AI adoption. Andrea Hecht of CSAA Insurance discusses aligning generative AI with enterprise strategy and efficiency. Matthias Steinberg of MindBridge explores combining machine learning and LLMs in finance workflows. Brian Hogeland of Packer Fastener highlights how AI training and grassroots adoption can foster a tech-forward

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43:54

1109: Building Finance Teams for Scale, Speed, and...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/06/25

When the Silicon Valley Bank crisis hit, Larry Roseman was en route to a tennis tournament in Palm Springs. “Literally getting on the plane and landing, and the whole thing sort of blowing up,” he tells us. What was supposed to be a weekend of matches quickly turned into a crisis response. “I was holed up in the hotel room for days,” Roseman recalls. With all of Thumbtack’s cash held at SVB, he and his team faced urgent questions around payroll and liquidity.The experience became a turning point

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01:02:28

1108: Building Value in a Disrupted Industry | Kent...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/06/22

Back in 2003, when a recruiter lined up Kent Hoskins for a finance interview at Boosey & Hawkes, he came prepared to discuss guitar manufacturing. Instead, the executive immediately began quizzing him on music royalties—the recruiter had apparently misunderstood the brief. Hoskins didn’t get the job—at first. But two days later, he got a call: the selected candidate had quit after just 24 hours. Hoskins stepped in.That twist marked a pivotal entry into the world of music IP—one that would shape

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47:46

1107: When Finance Leads with a CEO Mindset | John...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2025/06/18

When John Rettig joined Bill back in 2014, the company had just $13 million in revenue and a modest employee base. What drew him in, he tells us, was the combination of people, culture, and a product that placed finance operations at the center of its design. It marked the first time in his career that he’d worked this closely with a finance-focused technology platform.At the time, Rettig expected a 10x growth opportunity—comparable to the trajectory he’d experienced at a previous company. “It turns

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1,119 results

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