Chris Miorin’s path to the CFO office began in a crucible of leadership. At West Point, and later at Ranger School, he was forged in environments designed to test resolve. Commissioned shortly after 9/11, he knew combat was certain. Leading an infantry platoon in Iraq, he found himself working side-by-side with a colonel “30 years my senior.” The challenge, he tells us, was learning how to add value humbly yet confidently in an environment where everything was fluid. Those early lessons in partnership and adaptability became cornerstones of his leadership style.
When Miorin left the Army, he reset with an MBA at Kellogg, which he calls “two years to really immerse in how businesses run.” Investment banking followed, where he advised some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies. In capital-intensive, cyclical industries, he saw firsthand how major decisions on raising capital, acquisitions, and divestitures shaped enterprise value. “It helped me understand how finance could have that strategic impact,” he recalls.
Read MoreFrom there, corporate development and M&A roles deepened his conviction that the CFO’s crucial role is capital allocation—directing resources to projects that generate the highest return on invested capital. At Ingersoll Rand, he added investor relations to his toolkit, learning how to tell a “story with numbers” that connected business strategy to investor interest.
Looking back, Miorin points to four experiences—Army, investment banking, corporate development, and investor relations—as the foundation for his CFO journey. That foundation ultimately led to his first CFO appointment at SpendHQ, an opportunity introduced through his Kellogg network.
Made Possible By
CFOTL: This is your latest chapter—you only opened it up this past spring. What’s this opportunity about? What’s apexanalytix all about?
Miorin: apexanalytix delivers enterprise risk resolution to the world’s largest companies. Put simply, we help companies find millions of dollars “under the couch cushions” while giving CFOs and CSOs peace of mind about their supply chains. We manage the entire supplier lifecycle—from autonomous onboarding to compliance verification, continuous risk monitoring, and recovery of funds owed to our customers. Our software detects and prevents overpayments, fraudulent bank transactions, and other errors, enabling finance leaders and procurement officers to return money to their organizations and build stronger, more transparent supplier relationships.
CFOTL: Can you tell us something about the company’s capital structure and maybe share an abbreviated history?
Miorin: apexanalytix was founded about 30 years ago as an accounts payable recovery audit business. Early on, we manually audited customer financial statements to recover vendor overpayments. Over time, we evolved into a software company, developing tools that automated detection and recovery. From there, we expanded into broader supplier risk management—covering seven critical areas including ESG, compliance, cyber risk, event monitoring, and financial risk. Today we provide an end-to-end supplier lifecycle management solution. On the capital side, we’re private-equity owned by KKR, our majority shareholder, with Carousel Capital (a previous owner) retaining a minority stake alongside management. As you’d expect in a leveraged buyout, we maintain an efficient balance sheet, using debt prudently to fuel growth. Importantly, the company has built a strong track record of profitability, so we feel confident in managing both debt and balance sheet efficiency.
CFOTL: Now the company intersects with the world of AI. Why is AI and analytics so central to navigating rising procurement workloads?
Miorin: AI is a huge topic right now, and everyone is trying to determine what’s real versus what’s hype. We’ve taken a unique approach to AI by rethinking our technology infrastructure. Unlike most software companies, we run our own native data centers—everything is on-premise. That means customer data never leaves the apexanalytix operating system, which is critical because we’re a risk management company. This setup gives our clients exceptional security and confidence. From there, we can build agentic AI solutions entirely within our ecosystem. For example, we’re developing customizable agents that integrate with third-party systems like ERPs or help desk platforms. One live use case: an AI agent takes a ServiceNow help desk ticket, pulls the relevant data from the ERP, resolves the issue, and communicates the resolution back into the system. These are the kinds of secure, efficiency-driving solutions on our growth horizon.
apexanalytix | wwwapexanalytix.com | Greensboro, NC