Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO John Gronen discusses Yooz’s strategic investment in AI and machine learning to enhance accounts payable (AP) automation, fraud detection, and efficiency. Gronen highlights how AI streamlines invoice processing and identifies fraud risks, reducing the need for manual checks and freeing up valuable employee time. He also shares insights on the […]
Building the “First Team”: How Cross-Functional Leadership Drives Vanta’s Success
Inside The Mentoring Round, David Eckstein shares insights on the collaboration between CFOs and CEOs, emphasizing the importance of shared vision and cross-functional partnerships. He highlights how CFOs, like himself, play a pivotal role in executing long-term strategies by identifying operational levers. Eckstein discusses his focus on building Vanta’s annual and three-year plans, aligning leaders […]
Scaling Fast: Inside the Financial Strategy of a High-Growth Company
Inside The Mentoring Round, Brian Hogeland, CFO, Packer Fastener highlights key themes around leveraging technology, data, and intentional planning to drive business growth. He emphasizes the role real-time financial insights have when it comes to streamlining operations, and supporting the alignment of financial and operational metrics. Hogeland also focuses on balancing data-driven decisions with a […]
How Isabelle Winkles Built a CFO Career Toolkit | Finance Leadership Insights
Inside The Mentoring Round, Isabelle Winkles, CFO of Braze, reflects on her deliberate and evolving path to becoming a CFO. From her early career as an investment banker to 18 years at Morgan Stanley, Winkles emphasizes the importance of building a diverse finance toolkit through roles in corporate FP&A, treasury, and equity research. She discusses […]
A Bold Move: How Family Led One CFO from the Corner Office to a Startup
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Aira Pineda reflects on her bold career move, leaving a high-profile role in the city to join Scrubbed, a small startup, in order to better accommodate her family. As CFO, her priorities for the next 12 months center on improving operational efficiency through data-driven decision-making and enhancing visibility with new KPIs. […]
Transforming Financial Strategy: From Static Budgets to Dynamic Planning
Revvity CFO Max Krakowiak emphasizes three core areas of focus at Revvity: improving budgeting processes, optimizing working capital performance, and increasing internal investment. Recognizing the inefficiencies of static budgeting, he aimed to create flexibility for unexpected needs throughout the year. Additionally, he prioritized improving free cash flow conversion, which historically lagged at PerkinElmer, by addressing […]
Navigating a 29-Year Career: Lessons in Leadership and Continuous Learning
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Shelagh Glaser of Synopsys highlights several key themes from her 29-year career at Intel Corp. First, she emphasizes the value of front-line experience as a financial analyst, where the core business action takes place. She also stresses the importance of continuous learning, having rotated through various roles, which pushed her out […]
The Power of Platform Growth: CFO Sandeep Aujla’s Formula for Intuit’s Expansion
Growth Imperatives in Focus: Inside the mentoring Round CFO Sandeep Aujla of Intuit shares key strategies for platform growth—customer expansion, breakthrough adoption, and a “better together” approach. It’s all about delivering more value across the platform, Aujla explains.
The Mentoring Round | Regi Vengalil, CFO, Trax Retail
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Regi Vengalil reflects on his early days as a CFO, sharing the challenges of overcoming imposter syndrome and learning to trust his own voice. He advises his younger self to have confidence in his insights and not hesitate to share strong perspectives. Vengalil highlights a pivotal moment in his career at […]
The Mentoring Round | CFO Dayton Kellenberger
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Dayton Kellenberger shared a key moment from his time at Coleman Company that reshaped his view of finance. Tasked with addressing declining gross margins, Kellenberger used a detailed price-volume mix analysis to uncover that low-margin products were unintentionally replacing higher-margin ones. His findings led to a transformation in how Coleman priced […]
The Mentoring Round | Daniel Welch, CFO, Kate Farms
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Daniel Welch emphasizes the dual nature of Kate Farms as both a healthcare and consumer packaged goods (CPG) company, with long-term customers who rely on its plant-based medical nutrition products. He highlights the importance of understanding customer lifetime value relative to acquisition costs, particularly in the company’s e-commerce expansion. Welch also […]
The Mentoring Round | Deanna Strable, COO & president (CFO emerita), Principal Financial Group
Inside The Mentoring Round, Deanna Strable revisits some pivotal moments that reshaped Principal Financial Group’s strategic direction. A key decision was exiting certain underperforming businesses, a result of a comprehensive strategic review conducted in collaboration with the board. Strable emphasizes the importance of focusing on a combination of metrics rather than a singular financial figure, noting […]