In this episode, Jack is joined by Jack Gordon, CFO of Harri, an AI-powered workforce operating system serving the hospitality industry. They discuss how Harri helps restaurant operators manage hiring, scheduling, labor, compliance, and employee engagement, and why Gordon views customer usage and satisfaction as important leading indicators of financial performance. The conversation explores AI-driven […]
1214: The CFO Checklist Keeps Growing | Jack Gordon, CFO, Harri
For Jack Gordon, the CFO role at Harri increasingly extends beyond finance—and into the mechanics of how an AI-powered business scales. Harri, a workforce operating system focused on hospitality, has evolved from a point solution into a broader platform spanning talent acquisition, workforce management, and employee engagement. Gordon says the company’s opportunity rests partly on…
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1213: When Constructive Tension Yields Sharper Decisions | Martin Uhrik, CFO, Third Bridge
When Martin Uhrik compared the margins of two visual-effects brands at Technicolor, one appeared far more profitable than the other. Uhrik tells us the reported difference prompted him to investigate. One brand showed project results only to the direct-margin level, rather than revealing fully absorbed profitability. Uhrik says he asked the business-unit CEO why the…
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1211: Mission, Means, and the Will to Grow | Jonathan Ma, CFO, Sutter Health
Jonathan Ma recalls being at his parents’ home in Nebraska one Saturday when his Morgan Stanley boss called with advice: pursue an opportunity at Sutter Health. After nearly 15 years, the mentor believed the retiring treasurer’s position could be Ma’s next step. Ma tells us he had not considered the opportunity. Although he knew Sutter…
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1208: Quality, Trust, and Scale | Cal Brouilette, CFO, Flatiron Health
Cal Brouilette recalls a sleepless night in Houston, speaking at 3 a.m. with someone from Blackstone about a purchase-and-sale agreement and transition-service agreements. It concerned a power-plant portfolio sale at Direct Energy, a Centrica subsidiary, that Brouilette places in 2013. According to Brouilette, the assignment arrived in late September, when the CEO wanted the portfolio…
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1206: The CFO as an Architect of Execution | Phil Fracassa, CFO, Magna International
At Timken, it was generally known that Phil Fracassa knew he would become CFO after the company separated its steel business. But first, he tells us, the board gave him a different assignment: lead the project management office and set both resulting companies up for success. The separation followed pressure from an activist investor and…
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1205: Giving Every Decision-Maker 40 Analysts | Matt Ostrower, CFO, Link Logistics
Earlier in his career, Matt Ostrower remembers losing sleep over a decision that carried consequences for employees, lenders, and shareholders. At Site Centers, Ostrower tells us, the management team was confronting two challenges. Investor fears about the internet’s impact on retail real estate were depressing stock and bond valuations. Then Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico,…
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1204: When Capital Conviction Matters More Than Market Timing | Andrew Korn, CFO, EliseAI
Andrew Korn tracks growth first. EliseAI had surpassed $200 million in annual recurring revenue when he spoke with us, and Korn tells us the company had maintained year-over-year growth above 100% throughout his four and a half years there—“correlation, not causation,” he adds. That growth gives finance a clear assignment. According to Korn, EliseAI monitors…
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1202: Allocating Capital in an Age of AI | Samantha Greenberg, CFO, AlphaSense
In the early months of Francisco Partners, Samantha Greenberg sat in a room on folding chairs with the firm’s cofounders and one other colleague, planning the business. According to Greenberg, the private equity firm was pursuing an idea that many considered impossible in the late 1990s: executing leveraged buyouts of technology companies. Greenberg tells us…
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1201: From Bitcoin Infrastructure to the AI Power Economy | Gary Vecchiarelli, CFO, CleanSpark
In high school, Gary Vecchiarelli received day-old copies of Investor’s Business Daily from a business teacher. Stock prices still appeared in fractions, and the teacher told him that he would know he had made it when he rang the bell on Wall Street. Vecchiarelli tells us that the remark stayed with him for decades. He…
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1200: When Finance Owns the Future | Mark Khavkin, CFO, Rula
Mark Khavkin often finds his best ideas somewhere near the Golden Gate Bridge. The Rula CFO tells us that he bikes from San Francisco across the bridge and into Marin County—not to compete, but to clear his mind, enjoy the view, and stop for a latte in Sausalito. “A lot of times great ideas come…
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