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1133: Finance That Explains (and Scales) the Why | Kimberlee Duval, CFO, Cymbiotika

When Kimberlee Duval arrived at Cymbiotika, the wellness company was preparing a leap few bootstrapped brands attempt—moving from direct-to-consumer to retail shelves. “Our two owners, Charlene and Shahab, have done everything direct,” she tells us. “They wanted to build an organization for the long term.” That resolve led the company to take on debt rather…
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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 Finance for the Cloud-Native Era | David Obstler, CFO, Datadog

During post-COVID uncertainty, David Obstler spotted early signs of customer optimization and reprioritized Datadog’s investments. By pulling back selectively while sustaining rapid investment in key areas, he preserved profitability, avoided layoffs, and strengthened the company’s ability to reaccelerate growth—building long-term resilience without compromising culture. Now Watch the Complete Episode Featuring CFO David Obstler David Obstler […]

1130: Building Resilient Finance in Uncertain Times | David Obstler, CFO, Datadog

When David Obstler joined Datadog in 2018, the company’s co-founders had already built momentum with a product that observed modern cloud workloads. What struck Obstler was the alignment with a powerful long-term trend—the shift from legacy, on-premise systems to modern cloud applications. “It was a product that had a lot of product market fit in…
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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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1128: Capital Discipline in a Usage-Based World | Ben Gammell, President & CFO, Brex

In 2018, Brex made a defining decision: rather than rely on middleware providers like Stripe or Marqeta, it built its own payments infrastructure from the ground up. That move, Ben Gammell tells us, gave the company a direct integration with MasterCard and the ability to issue corporate cards in “over 50 plus local currencies.” The…
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Building a CFO’s GEMBA Habit | Damon Lee, CFO, C.H. Robinson

Early in his career, Damon Lee questioned why identical parts were sourced from different vendors across two plants. His analysis uncovered a $3M savings—20x larger than any other project. The lesson: finance’s curiosity and willingness to speak up can transform operations, not just report results. Now Watch the Complete Episode Featuring CFO Damon Lee of […]

1127: Lean Finance in a Volatile World | Damon Lee, CFO, C.H. Robinson

When Damon Lee reflects on his first conversations with C.H. Robinson’s CEO, he recalls how natural the alignment felt. “We spoke the same language. We were finishing each other’s sentences,” Lee tells us. For a finance leader whose ambition had long been to step into the CFO chair, the clarity of vision he encountered at…
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Culture, Strategy, And AI Converge | Jay Peir, CFO, Pigment

Jay Peir’s Finance Strategic Moment revealed how CFOs shape culture as much as strategy. Inspired by Tableau’s CFO Tom Walker, he embraced rituals that united teams and reinforced the mindset: “You either sell the product or build the product,” guiding his own leadership at Pigment toward cultural impact. Now Watch the Complete Episode Featuring CFO […]

1125: Finance Lessons in the AI Era | Jay Peir, CFO, Pigment

At 30, Jay Peir stepped into the CFO role at SunPower, a high-efficiency solar cell manufacturer. The appointment came after leading M&A and venture investments at Cypress Semiconductor, where SunPower was the largest portfolio company. “I had my first CFO experience at the age of 30,” Peir tells us, recalling how corporate development responsibilities opened…
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