Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Naresh Bansal emphasizes the importance of flexibility and readiness to adapt to unforeseen changes in the business environment, illustrating this with his own experiences of sudden shifts in company strategy and market conditions. He discusses how his role shifted towards more strategic capital allocation, particularly in response to changing economic […]
978: From Silicon Roots to Global Routes | Jeff Woolard, CFO, Velocity Global
Looking back at his 26 years at Intel Corp., Jeff Woolard has more than a few moments of important discernment from which to choose when we ask for a single finance strategic moment. Nevertheless, without hesitation, he takes us back in time to when the giant chipmaker was experiencing a recurring mismatch between the products…
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977: Unlocking Rep Performance for Sales Success in Tech | David Freeman, CFO, Starburst
Joining Intel Corp. in 1999 as a recent college graduate, David Freeman began his finance career as part of the tech giant’s plus-size finance team that supported various business groups. Looking back, Freeman finds that few aspects of the tech giant’s business were more influential in shaping his early career years than the company’s direct…
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973: Cultivating Relationships, Spearheading Change | Alejandro Castro, CFO, Onx
It was during a 9-year tenure at food giant Conagra Brands that Alejandro Castro became involved in a companywide initiative that would forever alter his approach to leadership and strategic thinking. Born and raised in Mexico, Castro had begun his professional voyage at Price Waterhouse, where he launched a public accounting career from the accounting…
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930: Where Leaders Are Made | Tony Boor, CFO, Blackbaud
While the leadership journeys of many of our CFO guests began on an upper floor of a glass-and-steel skyscraper affording a wide-angle view of a cosmopolitan metropolis, that of Blackbaud CFO Tony Boor started at street level in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert. Less than an hour's drive north…
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928: The Strategy Between the Slices | Steven Cirulis, CFO, Potbelly
Perhaps it would be fair to speculate that were it not for the changing dietary habits of Americans and surprise arrival of a global pandemic, Steven Cirulis would likely not be occupying the CFO office at Potbelly Sandwich Shop. The pursuit of new alternative proteins inside the land of agtech has in recent years led…
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How AI is Impacting the Business | Ken Bowles, CFO, WilsonACG
CFO GUEST: Ken Bowles of WilsonACG
918: A Uniform Beginning | Ken Bowles, CFO, WilsonHCG
Back in 2001, the new finance recruits roaming the corridors of General Electric Company prodded themselves along as they confronted the everyday challenges of orienting themselves inside GE’s hard-shell corporate culture. This was perhaps especially true for financial analyst Ken Bowles, whose cultural trial was somewhat more daunting, considering whence he had come. Turn back…
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Under Turo’s Hood a Flywheel Hums | Chuck Fisher, CFO, Turo
CFO GUEST: Chuck Fisher of Turo
911: Moving the Needle | Chuck Fisher, CFO, Turo
The meeting that Chuck Fisher brings to our attention began not unlike hundreds, if not thousands, of other meetings that he has sat in on during his 25-year business career. However, it was at one particular gathering that he witnessed the thinking that would trigger one of the last decade’s greatest strategic bets. Back in…
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903: Making the Data Matter | Ryan Lockwood, CFO, CarParts.com
While April 2020 may forever bring to mind corporate corridors newly silenced by COVID 19’s arrival in the United States, CarParts.com CFO Ryan Lockwood will likely always remember it as the month when opportunity knocked. Having spent the previous 10 years in investment management, Lockwood, a portfolio manager for a Southern California investment house, was…
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886: When SaaS Became the Destination | Alka Tandan, CFO, Gainsight
One key takeaway from Gainsight CFO Alka Tandan's career journey is the importance of being open to new opportunities and pivoting when necessary. Tandan started in investment banking, transitioned to media, and then vectored again to the SaaS industry. Looking back on the first move of her career, Tandan says that she “came to a…
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