Chris Sands’ defining moment came when he realized success as CFO depended less on accounting or FP&A expertise and more on influencing the organization. He restructured his team to gain leverage, freeing time to build relationships and drive cross-functional change. By prioritizing collaboration and clarity over control, he amplified finance’s strategic voice across the organization—a […]
Ep 49: AI’s Early Returns
In this Planning Aces episode, Jack Sweeney and thought leader Brett Knowles explore FP&A lessons from three CFOs tackling AI’s promise and limits. Craig Foster (Pax8) sees AI as an efficiency engine, projecting “20% more with 20% less” via agentic tools across functions and for SMBs. David Obstler (Datadog) outlines monetization—AI-native demand, LLM-powered products, and […]
1134: When Finance Becomes a Force for Influence | Chris Sands, CFO, InvoiceCloud
“InvoiceCloud is not just payments,” Chris Sands tells us. Sitting inside the company’s finance organization, he sees a platform built to change habits—helping businesses shift customers from paper invoices and mailed checks to fully digital transactions. The success metric, he adds, is simple: “Do more of their customers stop receiving paper invoices, stop mailing in…
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From Experiments to Engines: Scaling the Mid-Market | Steve Sutter CFO, Celigo
Within 72 hours of becoming CFO at Elance, Steve Sutter uncovered that thousands of customer account balances were commingled with corporate cash—an oversight with serious compliance risk. He immediately convened the board, secured nearly $20 million to correct the issue, and implemented proper segregation—restoring financial integrity and safeguarding the company’s future transactions. Now Watch the […]
1132: Infrastructure First: Where AI Actually Adds Up | Steve Sutter, CFO, Celigo
When Steve Sutter joined Celigo five years ago, he stepped into a company positioned not as another SaaS app but as what he calls “the infrastructure, the piping, the plumbing” of business automation. Celigo, he tells us, moves data between systems like Salesforce, NetSuite, and Snowflake so companies can “create very sophisticated business processes” without…
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Acquisitions As Customer Experience Strategy | Beth Gaspich, CFO, NiCE
Beth Gaspich recalls ringing the NYSE bell in 2008 as RiskMetrics went public amid extreme market volatility. After months of S-1 prep and roadshows, the decision to proceed came “down to the wire.” Executing successfully proved the value of preparation, decisive timing, and clear investor storytelling in uncertain markets. Now Watch our Complete Episode Featuring […]
1131: Building an AI-Ready Finance Engine | Beth Gaspich, CFO, NiCE
In 2008, Beth Gaspich stood on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, ringing the bell as RiskMetrics went public. What made the moment extraordinary was its timing—amid one of the most volatile markets in decades. The IPO decision, she tells us, came “down to the wire.” After months of preparing the S-1, long…
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Scaling Toward One Billion Goal | Laura LaPeer, CFO, UHY
Earlier in her career, Laura LaPeer reframed treasury and procurement from transactional functions into strategic levers—investing idle cash and aligning vendor decisions with business goals. The shift delivered tangible financial impact and taught her to zoom out, reassess timing, and connect everyday tasks to long-term strategic objectives. Now Watch our Complete Episode Featuring CFO Laura […]
1129: Turning Transactions into Strategy | Laura LaPeer, CFO, UHY
On her first day as CFO of UHY, Laura LaPeer asked a simple question: “Do you guys do Copilot?” She had grown accustomed to using Microsoft’s AI assistant for tasks ranging from summarizing documents to creating slides, and she wanted it in place immediately. The request, she tells us, reflected both her pragmatism and her…
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1116: The CFO Who Thinks in Full Color | Dan Zhang, CFO, ClickUp
When Dan Zhang joined ClickUp in 2021, she stepped into a company intent on unifying how the world works. Two years later, she entered the CFO office—just as ClickUp’s strategic bet on AI was beginning to reshape its platform and its future. ClickUp is not just a place where work is tracked, Zhang tells us—it’s…
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Building a Smarter Business with Generative BI | Nathan Winters CFO, Zebra Technologies
While leading a supply chain team at GE Healthcare, Nathan Winters realized that credibility in finance hinges on visibility. By consistently showing up on plant floors and in customer meetings, he built trust with operators—making his financial guidance more impactful and actionable. The insight: proximity drives influence. Now Watch the Complete Episode Featuring CFO Nathan […]
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)