What's Rarely Measured Matters Most

CFO Premieres

Special Episode: Why Oracle Chose Hilary Maxson Now

In this special episode, we revisit a past conversation with Hilary Maxson and explore why her appointment as CFO of Oracle Corporation comes at such a consequential moment. As Oracle accelerates investments in AI infrastructure and cloud capacity, the finance role now extends well beyond stewardship into capital allocation, operational discipline, and long-term value creation.…
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1179: Why Trust Can Outperform Price | Thomas Baumgartner, CFO, voestalpine Metsec

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…
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1178: From Numbers to Narrative: Seeing the Business End-to-End | David Larson, CFO, Feedzai

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,…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:54:46)
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1177: Navigating an Acquisition at the Edge of Change | Tom DiDesidero, CFO, SmartRecruiters

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.…
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1176: From Signatures to Systems of Value | Blake Grayson, CFO, Docusign

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…
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1175: Inside the C-Suite: Where Judgment Outranks Data | Amy Wang, CFO, Procurify

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…
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1174: How a Hard Reset Reignited Momentum | Aidan Viggiano, CFO Twilio

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…
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1173: The CFO at the Crossroads of Code, Capital, and Clarity | Rich Schmidt, CFO, Inmar Intelligence

Early in his career, Rich Schmidt recalls presenting an analysis of an operational challenge 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 future career…
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1172: Finance Isn’t the Brake—It’s the Steering Wheel for Growth | Tony MacDonald, CFO, Sama

Tony MacDonald 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…
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1171: How CFOs Rise by Learning Sideways First | Marc Mehlman, CFO, Ascensus

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…
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1170: How the ‘SaaS-pocalypse’ is Changing the CFO Conversation | Michael Perica, CFO, Rimini Street

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…
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1169: Thinking Bigger on the Road to the CFO Role | Andrew Bender, CFO, BNI Global

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…
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