Kiavi’s pivot revealed two distinct customer segments—first-timers and high-volume professionals. Michael Bourque helped steer the company toward redesigning acquisition, service, and experience around each group using disciplined unit-economics. When the business remained unprofitable, he supported the move of operations from costly San Francisco to Pittsburgh. Now Watch the Complete Episode Featuring CFO Michael Bourque of […]
1144: Rewiring Finance for AI, Data, and Business Impact | Michael Bourque, CFO, Convera
Jack Welch’s binder hit the floor before Michael Borque had time to react. At just 23, he sat in a Honeywell acquisition review meeting as the “keeper of the numbers,” rifling through a binder he knew didn’t contain the EPS detail Welch demanded. When the answer didn’t come, Welch “swept his binder off the table,…
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The Power Behind Story-Driven Growth | David lee, CFO & COO, WEBTOON
During Best Buy’s Renew Blue turnaround, David Lee helped redirect over $1 billion in savings to reinvent stores as “omnichannel showrooms,” blending digital and in-store experiences. By aligning consumer insight with disciplined finance, the team defied predictions of retail decline—driving one of the fastest stock recoveries in the S&P 500. Now Watch the Complete Episode […]
1142: From Webcomics to Wall Street: Inside a Storytelling Powerhouse | David Lee, COO & CFO, WEBTOON
When David Lee joined PG&E in San Francisco, the company was collapsing under the weight of California’s first energy crisis. “These utility veterans kind of got us into this,” the new CFO told him, handing him an unusual assignment: act as an “anti-CFO.” Lee spent his days testing every forecast and financing plan, proposing contrarian…
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1140: The EQ Playbook for Post-Merger Reality | Niels Boon, CFO, Cint
The moment that stayed with him began at a marketplace where sales dashboards showed 40% gross margin—yet finance closed the books at 20%, Boon tells us. The gap, he discovered, lived in the shadows: rebates, discounts, and “free” services that never touched operational metrics. He manually traced economics to the client level and found margins…
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Bridging Legal & Finance: Closing Contact Risk Gaps – A Suite Voices Miniseries Episode
In this special episode of CFO Thought Leader—the first of three produced in collaboration with The Suite, Shaun Sethna (General Counsel and GM for the L Suite) maps where CFOs and GCs misjudge contract risk and how to collaborate effectively. He spotlights “locked-in” deals that still enable termination via vague clauses or missing notice-and-cure. Start…
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1139: The Global Lens of Finance Leadership | Atsushi Kitamura, CFO, Astellas Pharma
When Procter & Gamble asked Atsushi Kitamura to move from finance analysis into running a manufacturing plant, he didn’t hesitate. “They always give me next challenge to stretch me,” he tells us. Managing one of P&G’s large diaper plants in Japan forced him to apply finance in real-time operations—a proving ground that shaped his comfort…
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When Finance Teaches Innovation How to Scale | Michael Levine, CFO, Fireblocks
Upon joining Fireblocks, Michael Levine discovered engineers building “$400,000 cars” without ROI discipline. He introduced a financial lens to product development—teaching teams to balance innovation with economic viability. By reframing decisions around capital allocation and scalability, he aligned engineering excellence with business outcomes, turning finance into a shared growth language. Now Watch the Complete Episode […]
1138: Stablecoins, Real Utility, and the Next Curve | Michael Levine, CFO, Fireblocks
On a quiet afternoon in Punta Cana, Michael Levine sat alone on a stretch of white sand. The turquoise water and silence offered the perfect scene for rest—until he realized what was missing. “I didn’t have my phone and I didn’t have my laptop,” he tells us. “That’s what makes me happy… I love doing…
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1137: When Finance Leads With Curiosity | Amy Foo, CFO, Ignition
She starts with tape from the field, not the spreadsheet. Listening to enterprise sales calls, Amy Foo heard customers whose usage rose and fell with seasons. Fixed per-seat pricing “wasn’t quite hitting the mark,” she tells us, so she piloted a pooled-seat model that flexed monthly within an annual commitment—turning smaller clips into “one to…
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1136: From Projects to Playbooks: Making Transformation Stick | Joe Custer, CFO, Intrado
When Joe Custer describes Intrado’s purpose, he begins with a story that traces back almost half a century. The company, he tells us, was born inside the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department when someone asked whether there might be a better way to connect a caller in distress with a first responder. “Turns out they were…
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1135: Where Strategy Meets Finance in the Ad-Tech Revolution | Clayton Kossl, CFO, Basis Technologies
On his first day in investment banking, Clayton Kossl was “thrown right into the cauldron.” With few senior professionals in the small aerospace and defense group, junior bankers like him were expected to face company owners directly. “You had to understand the businesses inside and out,” he tells us. The experience forced him to blend…
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