Watch as CFO Aneal Vallurupalli reflects on an earlier career chapter when he was tasked with prioritizing hiring and assessing the state of the business at a prior company. At the time team the company’s metrics were aligning well and Vallurupalli suggested to the co-founder that they should raise funds. Despite the co-founder’s initial reluctance, […]
The Role of the CFO in the Age of AI | Mike Ettling, CEO, Unit4
GUEST: Mike Ettling, CEO, UNIT4 CEO Mike Ettling explains how CFOs must guide their peers on the leadership team to focus on areas where AI can improve their company’s “outputs”. Unit4’s CEO emphasizes that the CFO’s role must be about identifying opportunities for improvement and guiding other leaders in the company on how AI can […]
895: Learning to Manage Upward | Paul Sheriff, CFO, NewDay
Back in 2006, when Paul Sheriff had only recently been named group financial director for a midsize banking business based in the United Kingdom, his team noticed that the profit margins of a certain banking product were experiencing a steady decline. What’s more, the customers being drawn to the product were deemed to be at…
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The Enterprise Mindset: When Firm Trumps Function | Julie Swinney, CFO, Zendesk
CFO GUEST: Julie Swinney of Zendesk Julie Swinney, CFO, Zendesk reflects back on a career chapter at Intel Corp. when she stepped into a General Manager role after a GM departed the company. Swinney, a career finance executive, stresses the importance of an enterprise mindset, which involves putting the company’s interests first, instead of just […]
894: The Opportunity That Everyone Must See | Julie Swinney, CFO, Zendesk
By the time the general manager of Intel’s data center chipset business parted ways with the company, Julie Swinney had already advanced into one of their coveted business unit CFO positions. To Swinney—who had already served in a series of senior finance roles—the GM’s departure seemed to leave a startling void in a business that…
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Confronting Difficult Decisions | Craig Conti, CFO, Verra Mobility
CFO GUEST: Craig Conti of Verra Mobility
893: Smart Mobility’s Fast Lane | Craig Conti, CFO, Verra Mobility
Among the keepsakes that Craig Conti collected during the more than two decades of his finance career, the item to which he refers simply as “the list” remains one of his most prized career souvenirs. Having graduated from General Electric’s Financial Management program in 2001, the 20-something Conti had only recently been assigned to GE's…
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892: Understanding Your Customer From the Inside Out | Jason Quinn, CFO, Vendr
When Jason Quinn landed in Europe back in 2008, he was the youngest of five American finance executives being deployed by digital disrupter SMB printer Vistaprint of Boston, Mass. For the next 5 years, Quinn would be involved in a string of business acquisitions that would grow the digital printer’s European revenues from nothing to…
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891: Climbing the Multi-Product Ladder | Jim Cox, CFO, Clearwater Analytics
Back in 2008, when Jim Cox was controller for investment management software company Advent Software, he was invited by that firm's founder and CEO, Stephanie DiMarco, to accompany her to an investor meeting. “I just sat there smiling and hoped that nobody would ask me a question,” comments Cox, recalling one of a number of…
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How an NFL Revenue Marker Gave Way to a New Strategic Plan | Chris Halpin, CFO, IAC
Halpin: The one that sticks with me was in 2017, they asked me to become Chief Strategy Officer and build a long term strategic plan at the NFL. And it was a recognition that, you know, the media landscape was changing so much social media was impacting every part of our business, for the good […]
890: Driving the Internet Sharetaker | Christopher Halpin, CFO, IAC
In 2011, after Chris Halpin had rejoined his colleagues back at Providence Equity Partners' New York offices at the completion of a 3-year stint in Hong Kong, he found himself being confronted by something he had rarely experienced before: boredom. “I had this kind of existential angst—that I didn't want to die and have my…
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889: Whetting Wall Street’s Tech Appetite | Ben Chrnelich, CFO, Symphony
When Ben Chrnelich tells us that the banking sector’s recent unrest is the third period of disruption that he’s “cycled through” during his finance career, we can’t help but wonder about the other two. Of course, they are hardly a secret. As did that of many of his CFO peers, Chrnelich’s early career appears to…
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