Inside The Mentoring Round, Alejandro Castro recalls his days in Mexico City, where as a new hire at Price Waterhouse, he traveled to various factories, including those in oil-producing states, providing a unique early career perspective. Engagement Across the Organization: Through the GE Workout methodology at Conagra, Alejandro engaged with various parts of the organization […]
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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The Mentoring Round | Rachel Stack, CFO, Cologix
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Rachel Stack highlights the significance of the “small stuff” in finance, such as audits, taxes, and financial reporting. CFO stack points out that while the excitement often lies in mergers and acquisitions or debt transactions, the bulk of a finance organization’s energy is dedicated to these fundamental tasks. Reflecting back […]
972: Recalibrating Your Strategic Lens | Rachel Stack, CFO, Cologix, Inc.
Not unlike that of many of her CFO peers, Rachel Stack's journey toward becoming a CFO has been punctuated by pivotal transactions. No single example of this turns out to have been more complicated or rich with lessons than what Stack refers to simply as "the take-private of Zayo." However, before the path forward for…
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The Mentoring Round | Sam Kemp, CFO, Built
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Sam Kemp emphasizes the importance of understanding the gap between a business’s formal operating model and the actual, informal ways it functions. Recognizing this gap is crucial for new leaders to gain leverage quickly within an organization or a new division. Looking forward, Sam outlined his top three priorities: ensuring […]
971: Navigating Growth and Transformation | Sam Kemp, CFO, Built Technologies
Looking back on his days with GoDaddy, Sam Kemp recalls a pivotal page in the domain registry giant's strategic M&A playbook. As he prepared to present to the executive team his analysis of a recent acquisition, he included a simple slide to convey data that would challenge the company's conventional thinking around acquisitions and how—free…
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970: Growing in Good Company | Dennis Johnson, CFO, Qlik
It's an all-too-familiar tale among the ranks of senior finance executives: A private equity firm acquires a company, reshuffles the finance team, and reserves the top finance spot for one of its own portfolio CFOs. At Qlik, though, this story had a less familiar ending—or at least one that did not include a portfolio CFO.…
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The Mentoring Round | Elizabeth Mann, CFO, Verisk
Inside The Mentoring Round, Elizabeth Mann emphasizes the critical integration of finance and human resources, highlighting the importance of team dynamics alongside financial metrics. Her approach champions continuous learning and revisiting initial understandings as business knowledge evolves. Mann also draws parallels between the challenges of parenting and her role as a CFO, recognizing decision-making complexities […]
969: The Human Equation in Finance | Elizabeth Mann, CFO, Verisk
Elizabeth Mann began her career as a mathematician in academia, spending a decade in the field. Her initial plan had been to become a professor, on a path that would start with a Ph.D. and a postdoc. However, something was missing. Eager to engage more directly with the world at large, she pivoted her career…
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Ep 31: Projecting The Voice of Reason
This episode of Planning Aces sheds light on the critical role financial leadership and strategic planning plays in guiding companies through turbulent times and the importance of balancing short-term opportunities with long-term strategic planning. Each of the featured finance chiefs faced unique challenges related to the pandemic's impact on their businesses, and their responses offer…
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The Mentoring Round | David Snyder, CFO, Coya Therapeutics
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO David Snyder of Coya Therapeutics stresses that biotech companies must not get sidetracked by short-term valuations or minor gains but should focus on the bigger picture of achieving substantial market capitalization. This perspective is grounded in the understanding that success in biotech often hinges on the ability to finance a […]
968: From the Investor’s Point of View | David Snyder, CFO, Coya Therapeutics
It was the type of introduction that any MBA student would envy, and one at which David Snyder, 35 years later, still marvels. Back in the late 1980s, a business school classmate introduced him to notable investor and billionaire tycoon Sam Zell, who subsequently offered Snyder a job. Without hesitation, Snyder accepted Zell's offer and…
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