The Future of Finance is Listening

private equity

822: The CFO Trifecta: Finance, Strategy, Leadership | Peter Walker, CFO, Sterling

When Peter Walker looks back on his career, he doesn't hesitate to highlight “the big asks,” or those times when he asked a boss to "take a chance" on him. One such instance occurred when he asked his CEO to sponsor his studies as he pursued an executive MBA on nights and weekends at New…
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801: The Founder and the Future | Ryan Van Hatten, CFO, Prophix Software

Perhaps few CFO career paths better reveal the advantages a founder-led firm may offer career-minded executives than that of Prophix CFO Ryan Van Hatten. Back in 2016—when the firm's previous CFO exited the company—Prophix's founder and CEO, the late Paul Barber, asked Van Hatten, an 11-year company veteran, to step into the CFO office until…
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783: Making Your Career Investment | Sarah Spoja, CFO, Tipalti

It was 2018, and shortly after payables start-up Tipalti had raised its Series C funding round, Sara Spoja recalls, she sat down with Tipalti CEO and cofounder Chen Amit. Having spent the previous 8 years as a senior operating executive for private equity firm KKR Capstone, Spoja was known for asking C-suite management tough questions,…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:55:44)
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769: Beyond the Boardroom | Herald Chen, CFO, AppLovin

When Herald Chen was growing up in a small town not far from Pittsburgh, he dreamed of someday running the town’s steel mill. Years later, when he was graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, the steel mill no longer occupied Chen’s maturing career aspirations. “My two job offers were to either go make soap for…
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760: Transitioning from Platform-Led to Product-Driven | David Brolsma, CFO, WP Engine

"Be a customer-inspired leader who values and fosters positive relationships. A key to success is devoting time and effort to influencing all stakeholders—peers, employees, board members, investors, customers—through building trust, as well as by being an empathetic and humble leader." –David Brolsma, CFO, WP Engine When it comes to FP&A data, WP Engine CFO David…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:46:34)
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748: Keeping the Bees Busy | Shana Rowlette, CFO, Mann Lake Bee & Ag Supply

Minnesota-based Mann Lake Ltd. is a leader in the beekeeping industry, serving commercial beekeeping businesses and backyard hobbyists alike. The company specializes in quality manufacturing, innovation, customer service, and global ESG (environmental, social, governance) matters. “Bees pollinate one in every three bites of food that humans consume,” Mann Lake CFO Shana Rowlette explains. “Colony collapse…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:28:58)
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741: One Step Ahead | Kurt Shintaffer, CFO, Apptio

"An accounting degree or MBA provides a foundational skillset, but that knowledge will not make you a great CFO. What makes a great CFO is the ability to pair that knowledge with critical skills like relationship building, problem solving, leadership, and ability to influence. Don’t lose sight of that." -Kurt Shintaffer, CFO, Apptio In the…
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711: Building Your Network | Nicole Anasenes, CFO, Ansys

Asked to recall the experience of stepping into a CFO role for the first time, Nicole Anasenes doesn’t mince words. “It’s a very lonely, scary moment,” comments Anasenes, as she considers her early days at technology company Infor—a CFO appointment that preceded more recent CFO engagements at Squarespace and now technology firm Ansys. “If only…
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706: A Career of Build-and-Scale Moments | Trent York, CFO, Restore Hyper Wellness

Nearly 20 years later, CFO Trent York tells us that he can still hear the finance executive’s exact words. “Trent, I don’t need you to tell me how not to do something—I need you to help me to figure out how to work through the issue and what needs to be addressed in order for…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:39:26)
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660: A CFO Finds Her Career Cadence Inside PE-Backed Firms | Deborah Ricci, CFO, Guidehouse

Back in 2018—when Deb Ricci’s name topped the list of leading candidates to fill the CFO role at Guidehouse, a management consulting firm carve-out—three career distinctions likely set her apart from other candidates. First, Ricci was a veteran public sector executive whose finance resume included multiple chapters inside the government services sector, Guidehouse’s home turf.…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:38:13)
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590: The Art of Fixing What’s Broken | Terry Schmid, CFO, Topia

Purchasing bananas and moving them through a warehouse in less than 24 hours is perhaps not a professional experience widely shared by today’s finance leaders. Still, as Topia CFO Terry Schmid tells it, mastering banana logistics may just be a worthy prerequisite for many of today’s CFO roles. “It taught me to think about the…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:43:31)
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481: Achieving a Milestone Transaction | Mike Myshrall, CFO, Cyren

Of all the finance milestones that CFO Mike Myshrall uses to illustrate Cyren's appetite for success, perhaps few are more enlightening than the one involving private equity titan Warburg Pincus. Two years ago, Warburg Pincus offered to buy out Cyren shareholders at a 35 percent premium over the current price of their shares. However, unwilling…
Listen to the Episode Below (00:37:48)
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