A Finance Strategic Moment Facing rising downgrades, Tim Ritters led Gong’s finance team to deeply analyze product usage patterns by persona and behavior. These insights empowered customer success efforts and cut churn and downgrade rates by half within two years—proving that in tough markets, usage data can be a powerful lever for retention. Now Watch […]
1106: Scaling Smarter: Inside the Finance Revenue Engine | Tim Ritters, CFO, Gong
During his decade at Google, Tim Ritters worked at the intersection of product and finance, helping to launch financial systems in collaboration with engineering, marketing, and product teams. The role gave him early exposure to cross-functional work and large-scale data environments. “Day one, you’re working cross-functionally,” Ritters tells us. He adds that this mindset became…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:39:37)
Balancing Growth With Risk Insight | Andrea Hecht, CFO, CSAA Insurance Group
A Finance Strategic Moment Facing rapid premium growth and capital constraints in 2024, Andrea Hecht led CSAA to issue a $500M surplus note—a strategic move that preserved momentum without compromising stability. Acting from a position of strength, the finance team avoided slowing growth and secured capital to support expansion beyond $7.6B in premium. Now Watch […]
1096: Why Usage Beats Revenue in Video SaaS | Gillian Munson, CFO, Vimeo
When Gillian Munson pictures a Vimeo customer, she doesn’t start with a filmmaker, she imagines an insurance company executive or a corner grocery store owner uploading a training clip into Vimeo’s ever thirsty player, and hitting publish without ever surrendering control—or ad space—to a third‑party network. That simple embed workflow, she tells us, explains why “eight…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:49:23)
Inside Hybrid Cloud Growth Strategy | Dilip Upmanyu, CFO, Cloudera
A Finance Strategic Moment While preparing IBM variance reports, Dilip Upmanyu first realized numbers persuade only when tied to the actions that create them. He dissected every P × Q driver, practiced explaining causes clearly in NetIQ earnings prep, and won credibility to recommend improvements—transforming finance from scorekeeper to strategic influencer. Now Watch our Complete Episode Featuring […]
1094: Mapping Revenue Levers for Next‑Gen Data Businesses | Dilip Upmanyu, CFO, Cloudera
Back in the 1990s, Dilip Upmanyu sat in a room filled with servers as he pieced together a homegrown database of costs and SKUs. His employer at the time couldn’t tell which products paid the bills; by dawn, the young financial analyst could. That improvised profitability model, he tells us, still informs his investment mindset today.…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:41:53)
1091: Making Finance the Force Multiplier | Chris Greiner, CFO, Zeta Global
It was a morning commute Chris Greiner had made hundreds of times before. Living in old Shanghai and working in the city’s sleek business district, Greiner’s daily drive to the Jin Mao Tower often stretched well beyond an hour. But on this particular day, his driver told him they’d arrive in just 30 minutes. Puzzled…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:38:50)
Debt Down, Opportunity Curve Upward | Jerome Upton, CFO, Genworth Financial
A Finance Strategic Moment Facing a liquidity crunch, Upton convened a cross‑functional team, ran downside‑focused scenario models on every business, and pinpointed one unit for divestiture. A swift minority IPO abroad raised capital at a premium valuation, cut leverage, strengthened Genworth’s balance sheet—and put Upton’s strategic acumen squarely on the CEO’s radar. Now Watch our […]
1090: Broadening the Field: Turning Risk into Reach | Jerome Upton, CFO, Genworth
Jerome Upton still remembers the silence that descends just before a game begins. As captain of a college team, he’d scan the huddle, gauge nerves, and ask, “What does winning look like today?” “That’s where I learned the power of shared goals,” Upton tells us. Years later, the Genworth Financial CFO opens staff meetings similarly—then gives…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:46:32)
1084: Reading the Signals, Not Just the Statements | Brian Carolan, CFO, SailPoint
It was a late-night meeting room lit by the glow of Excel spreadsheets and cluttered with half-empty coffee cups. Brian Carolan, then a rising finance leader, looked around the table and saw not just fellow accountants and analysts but a collection of people relying on him to bridge data and strategy. In that moment, he…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:41:53)
Staying Agile in a Rapidly Shifting Real Estate World | Tim Arndt, CFO, Prologis
Finance Strategic Moment Early in Tim Arndt’s career, he realized that even impressive internal rates of return (IRRs) amount to little if they fail to deliver significant net present value (NPV). This insight reshaped his approach, driving him to focus limited resources on projects that generate measurable, absolute returns. Now watch our complete episode Tim […]
1082: Unlocking Value Through Real Estate Innovation | Tim Arndt, CFO, Prologis
Tim Arndt still remembers the urgency in the air when AMB Property Corporation decided to merge with Prologis at the height of the financial crisis. It was, as he describes, “a merger of equals,” but Arndt tells us that, in the end, it was the legacy management of AMB that would lead the newly formed…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:48:59)