The Source for CFO Thought Leadership

Episodes | CFO THOUGHT LEADER

1112: The Value of Seeing Finance from the Front Lines | Nathan Winters, CFO, Zebra Technologies

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…
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1111: Inside the M&A Playbook: Why People Come First | James Redfern, CFO Reltio

Nearly a year 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…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:55:55)
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46: From Flailing to AI Forward Motion

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. CFO Andrea Hecht of CSAA Insurance discusses aligning generative AI with enterprise strategy and efficiency. CFO Matthias Steinberg of MindBridge explores combining machine learning and LLMs in finance workflows. CFO […]

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

Amanda Whalen’s first 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…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:52:58)
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1109: Building Finance Teams for Scale, Speed, and Smarts | Larry Roseman, CFO, Thumbtack

When the Silicon Valley Bank crisis erupted in early 2023, Larry Roseman was already well-acquainted with market upheaval. A member of the CFO class appointed around 2020—just as the pandemic began—Roseman had weathered previous storms. He began his career amid the dot-com collapse, then advanced through the 2008 financial crisis. “Scar tissue helps,” he tells…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:43:54)
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1108: Building Value in a Disrupted Industry | Kent Hoskins, CFO, Concord

Back in the early 2000s, 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…
Listen to the Episode Below (1:02:28)
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1107: When Finance Leads with a CEO Mindset | John Rettig, CFO, Bill

What sets John Rettig’s CFO journey apart from most is not just its length—spanning more than two decades—but its unusual symmetry. His CFO career roughly divides into two decade-long tenures: first helping scale a digital advertising firm from $15 million to $250 million in revenue, and now serving as CFO of Bill, where he’s helped…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:47:46)
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1106: Scaling Smarter: Inside the Finance Revenue Engine | Tim Ritters, CFO, Gong

During his decade at Google, Tim Ritters worked at the intersection of product and finance, helping to launch financial systems in collaboration with engineering, marketing, and product teams. The role gave him early exposure to cross-functional work and large-scale data environments. “Day one, you’re working cross-functionally,” Ritters tells us. He adds that this mindset became…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:39:37)
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1105: The Steady Climb: Scaling with Purpose in FinTech | Rene Ho, CFO, SAP Taulia

It’s not uncommon for CFOs to exit soon after a major acquisition—especially when a larger enterprise takes the reins. But Rene Ho stayed. Ho had been CFO of Taulia, a working capital fintech, when it was still an independent company. After helping lead the firm through its acquisition by SAP, he chose to stay on,…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:47:40)
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Ep 45: Redefining Efficiency: The Three Dimensions of AI ROI

In this episode of Planning Aces, co-hosts Jack Sweeney and Brett Knowles spotlight the FP&A strategies and AI adoption journeys of three CFOs—Gillian Munson (Vimeo), Dan Fletcher (Planful), and Chad Gold (FullStory). Each finance leader discusses how AI is reshaping their planning processes, from accelerating automation and revenue generation to transforming cross-functional collaboration. Brett introduces […]

1104: Navigating Cardinal Health’s Growth Journey | Aaron Alt, CFO, Cardinal Health

As Cardinal Health nears its second anniversary since the company’s first investor day under CFO Aaron Alt’s leadership, steady progress has been made in its ambitious transformation. Alt reflects on the company’s trajectory since his appointment, saying, “We’ve deployed several billion dollars in acquisitions to drive our strategy.” This shift highlights the company’s focus on…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:38:23)
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1103: Turning Anomalies into Advantage | Matthias Steinberg, CFO, MindBridge

When Matthias Steinberg entered the CFO office at MindBridge in 2022, the audit files displayed on his laptop were already being processed by the company’s own AI. KPMG, he adds, was using the same platform to automate journal‑entry testing—work “traditionally done manual.” That shift marked “a big step toward continuous audit,” Steinberg tells us. CFOTL: Tell us…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:58:26)
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