Early in his career, Damon Lee questioned why identical parts were sourced from different vendors across two plants. His analysis uncovered a $3M savings—20x larger than any other project. The lesson: finance’s curiosity and willingness to speak up can transform operations, not just report results.
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Now Watch the Complete Episode Featuring CFO Damon Lee of C. H. Robinson
C.H. Robinson CFO Damon Lee shares how a lean, operator’s mindset shapes finance as a builder, not a scorekeeper. He favors GEMBA habits, simplifying to five KPIs and ten slides, and using experimentation and playbooks to outgrow markets while expanding margins. Lee details AI at scale—30 agents, including a quoting agent that lifted RFQ coverage from ~65% to 100% and cut response time from 15–20 minutes to 32 seconds using 200 signals. Pricing decisions iterate minute-by-minute, not monthly. Earlier, his curiosity surfaced $3M sourcing savings. Today he partners with leadership to turn volatility into advantage at a 120-year logistics platform.
| CFO’s Strategy Playbook |
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| • Finance as builder, not scorekeeper mindset |
| • Simplify: five KPIs, ten-slide decisions only |
| • AI agents enable pricing in real time |