What's Rarely Measured Matters Most

finance leadership

1192: Building Through Disruption | Christina Spade, CFO, Catalant

Five weeks into her role as CFO of Catalant, Christina Spade is helping guide a company that she believes is positioned for a different era of consulting. Catalant was founded out of Harvard Business School in 2013 and began as an independent consultant matchmaking company, Spade tells us. Today, she describes the firm as a…
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1191: From Complexity to Clarity: Building Operational Maturity | David Forlizzi, CFO, Salsify

When David Forlizzi describes Salsify, he begins with a simple observation: “We all use it every day.” Unlike some of the highly technical software businesses where he previously spent his career, Salsify's value proposition is visible to anyone who shops online. Product content sits at the center of the company's platform, Forlizzi tells us. Whether…
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1188: Testing Assumptions Before Burning Capital | Kevin Hettrich, CFO, QuantumScape

Kevin Hettrich walked into a conference room with a whiteboard full of numbers and a problem no one had fully articulated. QuantumScape’s leadership team was discussing how to scale an expensive R&D tool used to produce early battery materials. Hettrich had spent two weeks gathering data, talking with engineers, and analyzing manufacturing economics. Then he…
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1187: Pattern Recognition: How CFOs See Around Corners | Alex Chun, CFO, NEOGOV

Alex Chun already knew the management team at NEOGOV long before he became its CFO. As an investor at Warburg Pincus, he spent more than four years “in the trenches” with NEOGOV’s leadership team, flying to Los Angeles to work through operational challenges alongside them, Chun tells us. His path to finance leadership did not…
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1186: Keeping the Applause in Check | Adam Goldbruch, CFO, DoorLoop

Adam Goldbruch still remembers the celebration. In 2017, he stood inside a Tel Aviv startup office while employees cheered a milestone: a Disney princess quiz had generated “2.8 million page views,” he tells us. Champagne circulated as the founder delivered a visionary speech about changing communication through content. At the time, Goldbruch was young enough…
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Finance Guardrails For Smarter Growth | Blake Grayson, CFO, Docusign

Early in his tenure at Docusign, CFO Blake Grayson identified lingering inefficiencies and moved quickly to act. By making difficult decisions within his first 90 days, he stabilized operations, reset cost discipline, and positioned the business for growth—reinforcing his belief that speed in tough moments preserves momentum and clarity. Now Watch Our Complete Episode Featuring […]

1176: From Signatures to Systems of Value | Blake Grayson, CFO, Docusign

Within his first 90 days at Docusign, Blake Grayson recognized the company needed to make difficult efficiency decisions following a post-COVID slowdown. Acting quickly, he partnered with leadership to address the issue, noting that “making the hard decision faster is way better than waiting,” Grayson tells us. That moment set the tone for how he…
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Judgment: The Ultimate Career Milestone | Amy Wang, CFO, Procurify

During a billion-dollar acquisition, Amy Wang identified a critical error others overlooked. Despite hesitation, she challenged senior leaders, corrected the mistake, and prevented a $1M misallocation. The moment reshaped her mindset—proving that judgment, not titles or credentials, is the true differentiator in high-stakes finance decisions. Now Watch the Complete Episode Featuring CFO Amy Wang of […]

1175: Inside the C-Suite: Where Judgment Outranks Data | Amy Wang, CFO, Procurify

Late one night in Calgary, Amy Wang was running final checks on a billion-dollar transaction when something didn’t sit right. “My immediate instinct…was to dismiss it,” she tells us. After all, multiple teams and advisors had already vetted the deal. But she couldn’t let it go. Instead, she challenged the work—carefully, respectfully—and was right. The…
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When Planning Impacts Company Morale | Drew Laxton, CFO, Outreach

Drew Laxton explains how clearly communicating strategy to sales teams—especially around setting a minimum deal size aligned with the company’s ICP—helped improve performance and morale. By grounding decisions in product fit and disciplined planning, finance drove positive quarterly results and strengthened company-wide confidence. Now Watch our Complete Episode Featuring CFO Drew Laxton of Outreach In […]

1154: When Finance Becomes the Company’s Storyteller | Drew Laxton, CFO, Outreach

When Drew Laxton looks back on the past year at Outreach, one moment stands out—not a transaction, but a plan. The company set its annual targets, executed against them, and then exceeded expectations. “When you see green numbers at every quarterly all-hands,” Laxton tells us, “it’s amazing how that little bit of momentum just builds…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:41:54)
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Why Restraint, Not Reach, Defines Modern Finance Leadership | Manny Korakis, CFO, Presidio

Manny Korakis points to McGraw Hill’s growth and value plan as his defining finance moment, when portfolio management replaced pure accounting focus. Finance drove decisions on which assets to acquire or divest, shifting the function toward enterprise value creation and long-term growth rather than record-keeping alone. Now Watch the Complete Episode Featuring CFO Manny Korakis […]