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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

53:01

1179: Why Trust Can Outperform Price | Thomas...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/04/15

As a child in Austria, Thomas Baumgartner bundled unwanted toys into mystery bags and sold them to classmates. Buyers could not see what was inside—they simply paid and took their chances. He cleared out old toys and earned spending money, he tells us. The story is lighthearted, but it reveals something enduring: an instinct to create value, move decisively, and keep looking for the next opportunity.That same mindset has shaped a career spent inside the voestalpine group. Baumgartner began in

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54:46

1178: From Numbers to Narrative: Seeing the Business...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/04/12

David Larson still recalls the moment he challenged conventional thinking inside Thomson Reuters. A shared services team in Hyderabad, long viewed as transactional, held untapped potential. Rather than accept the status quo, Larson pushed to integrate the team into the broader finance function—despite resistance tied to time zones and skepticism. The effort required planning, persuasion, and patience, but ultimately reshaped how the organization operated.That moment reflects a career defined less by

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24:33

Special Episode: Why AI Speed Without Direction Is a...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/04/10

In this special third installment of Suite Voices, featuring general counsels from The L Suite, Laura Belmont explores how organizations can adopt AI responsibly while balancing speed with strategic direction. Building on insights from earlier episodes, she emphasizes that AI success depends on aligning usage with business goals and governance frameworks—not just rapid deployment. Belmont highlights early risks such as “shadow AI” and underscores the importance of CFO–GC collaboration in evaluating

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46:59

1177: Navigating an Acquisition at the Edge of Change...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/04/08

Tom DiDesidero describes a period when SmartRecruiters was actively taking customers from a much larger competitor. It wasn’t just momentum—it was proof. “We were stealing a lot of their customers,” DiDesidero tells us, describing how that traction became a defining signal of value.At the same time, SmartRecruiters was moving quickly on a new front. “We were really the first mover in the embedded AI product,” DiDesidero tells us, emphasizing that speed and execution—not perfection—mattered most. The

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54:49

1176: From Signatures to Systems of Value | Blake...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/04/05

Within his first 90 days at DocuSign, Blake Grayson recognized the company needed to make difficult efficiency decisions following a post-COVID slowdown. Acting quickly, he partnered with leadership to address the issue, noting that “making the hard decision faster is way better than waiting,” Grayson tells us. That moment set the tone for how he approaches finance leadership—decisive, data-driven, and focused on forward momentum.That same mindset now shapes how he views DocuSign’s evolution. Long

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53:21

1175: Inside the C-Suite: Where Judgment Outranks...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/04/01

Late one night in Calgary, Amy Wang was running final checks on a billion-dollar transaction when something didn’t sit right. “My immediate instinct…was to dismiss it,” she tells us. After all, multiple teams and advisors had already vetted the deal. But she couldn’t let it go. Instead, she challenged the work—carefully, respectfully—and was right. The correction prevented more than a million dollars from being misallocated.That moment became a defining inflection point. It reshaped how Wang viewed

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44:24

1174: How a Hard Reset Reignited Momentum | Aidan...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/03/29

In 2023, stepping into the CFO role at Twilio, Aidan Viggiano faced a defining reality: “the first hard call was a layoff,” she tells us. The company had surged during the pandemic as digital communications accelerated, but by mid-2022, growth slowed while profitability lagged. “We can’t be slowing in growth and not be profitable and not generating cash,” she explains, describing the moment that forced a fundamental shift in strategy.Over the next six months, Twilio reduced its workforce by about

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55:49

1173: The CFO at the Crossroads of Code, Capital, and...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/03/25

Early in his career, Rich Schmidt recalls presenting an analysis to leadership—only to be told, “we want you to go fix it” . The assignment marked a turning point. What began as financial analysis quickly became ownership, execution, and accountability across the business.That moment would come to define Schmidt’s path. After starting in public accounting—“a grind,” as he tells us—he gained exposure to multiple industries in rapid succession, from manufacturing to healthcare . Yet it was the

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51:16

1172: Finance Isn’t the Brake—It’s the Steering Wheel...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/03/22

Tony McDonald prefers a different image of the CFO role—one that replaces restraint with direction. “I would like to be considered as one of the people on the stagecoach that helps hold the reins,” he tells us, describing sales as “the horses that I want galloping always full speed ahead.”That mindset was shaped during his time at Oracle, where he operated inside a deeply sales-driven organization. There, McDonald learned that finance could influence growth not by limiting it, but by guiding it. His

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28:22

Special Episode: AI Governance & the Board: What CFOs...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/03/20

In this CFO Thought Leader episode, Jack Sweeney speaks with technology general counsel Akin Adekeye about when AI becomes a board-level concern. Adekeye explains AI crosses into governance when it impacts risk, capital allocation, and competitiveness. He highlights “shadow AI” risks, regulatory uncertainty, and the need for structured oversight. Effective governance includes board involvement, executive ownership, and clear operating controls. CFOs play a central role in balancing innovation with

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45:32

1171: How CFOs Rise by Learning Sideways First | Marc...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/03/18

Marc Mehlman still recalls the moment a senior leader pulled him aside and told him he was “in such a rush” and needed to “enjoy the journey,” he tells us. At the time, Mehlman was part of a leadership program filled with high achievers eager to move quickly into senior roles. Instead, he took a different path—spending nearly a decade moving laterally across FP&A, corporate development, strategy, and operational roles.That deliberate detour became the foundation of his leadership philosophy. By

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47:14

1170: Why the ‘SaaS-pocalypse’ Changed the CFO...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/03/15

Michael Perica had been discussing the market implications of AI with investors for a number of years, but the market didn’t fully react—until one particular moment. In late January and early February, a wave of announcements around enterprise-focused AI models and workflow plugins triggered what has become widely known as the “SaaS-pocalypse.” In a single day, roughly $258 billion in SaaS market value disappeared, he tells us.For Perica, the episode confirmed something he had already been sensing

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46:14

1169: Thinking Bigger on the Road to the CFO Role |...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/03/11

Andrew Bender still remembers a moment from high school football practice when a coach challenged him with a simple question: “Do you want to be all conference or all state?” The comment surprised him. At the time, Bender tells us he wasn’t even sure he had the potential to reach the lower bar. Yet the moment stayed with him because it revealed something important—that sometimes others see possibilities before we do.That lesson about recognizing potential shaped how Bender approached his career

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53:49

1168: How Smart Finance Looks Before It Leaps |...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/03/08

Early in Lucanet’s expansion, two Chinese employees working in Germany noticed something unusual. The consolidation software they worked with functioned so well that they believed it could succeed in their home market. Acting on that conviction, they traveled from Berlin back to China and built what would become Lucanet’s Chinese business. The story illustrates how a tool designed for global complexity could travel easily across borders, Gurney tells us.Lucanet’s origins are firmly rooted in

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21:40

Special Episode: Rethinking the ERP Upgrade Path

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/03/06

Ashley Still, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intuit’s mid-market business, discusses how the expectations of finance leaders are shifting as AI reshapes the finance function. She explains how Intuit is expanding beyond its small-business roots with Intuit Enterprise Suite, designed to serve growing mid-market organizations seeking faster implementation and lower total cost than traditional ERP systems. Still highlights how AI-powered agents are helping finance teams reduce manual

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46:38

1167: CFO Leadership at Venture Inflection Points |...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/03/05

Early in his career, Intekhab Nazeer found himself sitting in go-to-market meetings rather than finance reviews. A CFO mentor had pushed him beyond traditional accounting responsibilities, exposing him to pipeline discussions and sales forecasting. That experience changed how he viewed finance leadership. Instead of simply reporting financial results, he began understanding “how pipeline is generated, how deal flow is measured, how the forecasting really works,” Nazeer tells us. The exposure

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52:49

1166: Building Equity Value in a Capital-Intensive...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/03/01

Fiber is “a lot of investment up front for that stream of cash flow in the future,” Derek Doyle tells us. At C Spire, that reality defines nearly every strategic decision.The advanced technology and communications company has been reinventing itself for more than 70 years, Doyle tells us. Today, it is the largest privately held wireless carrier in the U.S. and operates 22,000 miles of fiber, placing it among the top 20 fiber internet providers in the country by premise passings, he tells us. The

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30:29

Foundations Before Acceleration - a Planning Aces...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/02/25

In this episode of Planning Aces, CFO Kevin Rubin of Zscaler, CFO Bruce Schuman of Universal Technical Institute, and CFO Razzak Jallow of FloQast share how disciplined FP&A leadership is shaping AI adoption. Rubin frames AI as a capital allocation exercise governed centrally to prevent tool sprawl. Schuman stresses foundational readiness—data governance, ERP consolidation, and process redesign—before deploying AI-driven forecasting. Jallow cautions against fragmented “spaghetti AI,” advocating

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49:20

1165: Building a Business That Can Stand on Its Own |...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/02/22

Nearly 90% of Americans suffer from metabolic disease, Manu Diwakar tells us, citing a recent McKinsey & Company study. For Diwakar, CFO of Virta Health, that statistic defines both the scale of the challenge and the clarity of the mission.Metabolic disease, he explains, includes type 2 diabetes, obesity, liver disease, kidney disease, heart disease, and high blood pressure—“branches of a tree,” he tells us, all sharing the same root cause: poor nutrition. Virta’s model blends medical

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56:25

1164: From Boardroom Lens to Operator Reality | Alex...

CFO THOUGHT LEADER ·

2026/02/18

Before his first cup of coffee, Alex Melamud opens Slack—not to scan revenue charts first, but to read customer feedback. “The first one that may surprise you as a CFO that I look at is actually NPS,” he tells us. At Engine, every survey drops into a shared channel so “every executive can see” what customers said, he tells us.That habit fits a finance leader who didn’t grow up in the CFO seat. Melamud started in investment banking and then spent 16 years in private equity, learning to build theses,

en

1,176 results

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