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Episodes | CFO THOUGHT LEADER

1,043: Career Redefined: A CFO’s Move from Corporate Promise to Start-up Leadership | Aira Pineda, CFO, Scrubbed

As Aira Pineda stared out from her new office at a seemingly endless rice field, a voice inside her asked, 'What are you doing here?" Only a year or two earlier, Pineda had been among the young urban professionals populating the bustling Philippine offices of accounting house KPMG. She had excelled quickly, so much so…
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1,042: From the Diamond to the Boardroom: A CFO’s Journey | Max Krakowiak, CFO, Revvity

Max Krakowiak stood on the pitcher’s mound, ignoring the first drops of a Seattle rain. A shout from a less-than-faithful fan filled his ears as he prepared to throw his next pitch. In this moment, he had no idea that his baseball career was about to take an unexpected turn, as a random off-the-field injury…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:48:07)
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1,041: Rethinking How Metrics Can Align with Business Evolution | Josh Schwartz, CFO, Medidata

By the time Josh Schwartz arrived at Medidata, the life sciences innovation company had found itself entering unfamiliar waters. Having just gone public, the firm was shifting away from being a fast-growing start-up to welcoming life as a more structured, scalable organization. For Schwartz, who initially led revenue recognition, this was the beginning of both…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:48:07)
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1,040: Partners in Leadership: How the CFO, CEO, and CIO Shape a Successful Future | Mark Partin, CFO, BlackLine

Twenty-seven years ago, while in his late twenties, Mark Partin arrived inside the C-suite largely unprepared for the flood of challenges that would quickly breach his desk. Or so Partin tells us as he recounts the circumstances surrounding the first of five CFO appointments that have thus far punctuated his finance leadership career. “I can…
Listen to the Episode Below (1:03:48)
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1,039: Driving Alignment Across Finance, Technology, and HR for Operational Success | Laura LaPeer, CFO, Plante Moran

It wasn’t long after Laura LaPeer left public accounting to climb the corporate career ladder that she encountered her first delicate challenge as a controller. Just a year into her new role, her employer was acquired, and LaPeer was unexpectedly asked to explain complex working capital issues to the new owners. The head of finance…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:50:20)
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1,038: Driving Financial Agility in a Global Tech Landscape | Joey Wong, CFO, Asia Pacific (PCSD), Lenovo

In the mid-2000s, the world's attention increasingly began to focus on Asia, attracted not just by the region’s rapid economic growth but also by the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It was within this atmosphere of excitement and potential that Joey Wong made a very pivotal career decision. Having grown up in Los Angeles after her family…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:56:22)
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Ep 39: Beneath the Surface: How to Manage Complexity and Achieve Greater Clarity

In this episode of Planning Episodes hosted by Jack Sweeney and Brett Knowles, three CFOs—Don McGuire of ADP, Scott Blackley of Oscar Health, and Patrick Fleury of TeraWulf—share their insights on financial planning and analysis (FP&A), with a focus on navigating complex business environments. Through their stories, listeners will gain a deeper understanding of how […]

1,037: Optimizing Growth and Margins: A CFO’s Strategic Playbook | Regi Vengalil, CFO, Trax Retail

When the opportunity to help lead Expedia's corporate travel business arose, Regi Vengalil knew that this was exactly the role that he had been seeking in order to put his CFO career on a new and better track. Stepping into this CFO position meant overseeing a business unit with $600 million in revenue and $120…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:36:11)
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1,036: The Power of AI in Shaping Strategic Finance Leadership | Zane Rowe, CFO, Workday

In 2012, after having spent nearly two decades in the airline industry, Zane Rowe made a bold career pivot. Leaving behind his role as CFO at United Airlines, he stepped into the tech world, joining Apple in a sales position—a move that many saw as risky, but one that would ultimately shape his perspective on…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:37:59)
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1,035: Balancing Growth and Sustainability: The Financial Strategy Behind Health Innovation | Daniel Welch, CFO, Kate Farms

In 2018, Daniel Welch made a life-altering decision when—after having spent a decade in investment banking working on high-profile IPOs and M&A deals at Morgan Stanley—he found himself at a crossroads. The birth of his daughter and a health scare involving his father led him to question the career path that he was on. “I…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:59:29)
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1,034: From Earnings Growth to Long-Term Success: A CFO’s Strategic Shift | Deanna Strable, COO & president (CFO emerita), Principal Financial Group

When Deanna Strable was approached to take on the role of CFO at Principal Financial Group, she was taken by surprise. Having spent most of her 30-year career in leading business units rather than focusing on finance, Strable initially questioned whether she was the right fit for a position traditionally held by financial experts. “Ultimately,"…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:47:46)
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1,033: The “Buy and Build” Moment: Preserving Your Firm’s Entrepreneurial Spirit | Ben Averis, CFO, Yoto

Ben Averis’s journey toward becoming CFO of Yoto was shaped by many diverse experiences in finance, ranging from his early days at PwC in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to leading roles in private equity–backed businesses. His exposure to the "buy and build" strategy during M&A transactions taught him the challenges of scaling businesses while at…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:33:52)
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