Earlier in her career, Laura LaPeer reframed treasury and procurement from transactional functions into strategic levers—investing idle cash and aligning vendor decisions with business goals. The shift delivered tangible financial impact and taught her to zoom out, reassess timing, and connect everyday tasks to long-term strategic objectives. Now Watch our Complete Episode Featuring CFO Laura […]
1129: Turning Transactions into Strategy | Laura LaPeer, CFO, UHY
On her first day as CFO of UHY, Laura LaPeer asked a simple question: “Do you guys do Copilot?” She had grown accustomed to using Microsoft’s AI assistant for tasks ranging from summarizing documents to creating slides, and she wanted it in place immediately. The request, she tells us, reflected both her pragmatism and her…
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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 […]
1102: Navigating Growth and Risk in a Member-Driven Business | Andrea Hecht, CFO, CSAA Insurance Group
When Andrea Hecht walks into a finance meeting, she’s not preparing for earnings calls or shareholder Q&A. Instead, her focus is inward—on aligning every financial decision with a mission that begins and ends with AAA members. CSAA Insurance Group, where Hecht serves as CFO, operates in 23 states and the District of Columbia. It’s not…
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Reading the Signals, Not Just the Statements| Brian Carolan, CFO, SailPoint
Upon joining SailPoint, Brian Carolan seized the opportunity of private ownership to transform the finance function—shifting the fiscal year, leading a full ERP overhaul, and driving a SaaS business model transition. Now watch the complete episode featuring CFO Brian Carolan In our discussion with Brian Carolan, CFO of SailPoint, he shares the pivotal moments that […]
1075: Mastering Recurring Revenue: The Next Chapter Unfolds | Kevin Rhodes, CFO, Extreme Networks
Kevin Rhodes recalls one of the earliest lessons in his finance career. “I wanted to understand the business,” he tells us, describing his decision to ride along with a Waste Management truck crew. Clipboard in hand, he meticulously recorded stop distances, tonnage collected, and time spent at each location. By the end of the week,…
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1,041: Rethinking How Metrics Can Align with Business Evolution | Josh Schwartz, CFO, Medidata
By the time Josh Schwartz arrived at Medidata, the life sciences innovation company had found itself entering unfamiliar waters. Having just gone public, the firm was shifting away from being a fast-growing start-up to welcoming life as a more structured, scalable organization. For Schwartz, who initially led revenue recognition, this was the beginning of both…
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1,039: Driving Alignment Across Finance, Technology, and HR for Operational Success | Laura LaPeer, CFO, Plante Moran
It wasn’t long after Laura LaPeer left public accounting to climb the corporate career ladder that she encountered her first delicate challenge as a controller. Just a year into her new role, her employer was acquired, and LaPeer was unexpectedly asked to explain complex working capital issues to the new owners. The head of finance…
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995: Embracing Change to Energize Your Career | Dan Murphy, CFO, Commercetools
The way that Dan Murphy sees it, the CFO position demands that leaders always be kept on high alert. This is a mindset that has led him to habitually monitor updates and alerts related to key vendors, including banking institutions. And so it was, in first quarter of 2023, that he spotted a vague tweet…
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990: From Print to Platform: Strategic Shifts in a Digital Age | CFO Mitch Peipert
Back in 2016, Mitch Peipert stood at a crossroads. With a career foundation deeply rooted in the precision and rigor of public accounting, he had honed his CFO leadership and operational prowess as he navigated his way through the financial landscapes of various companies. Still, nothing could have prepared him for the arrival of a…
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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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945: Achieving a Management Rapport | Doug Lindroth, CFO, Tealium
Doug Lindroth tells us that he is not likely to forget the day that Google filed its S-1 registration statement simply because it was on the same one that semiconductor distributor Memec filed its own S-1. Back in June 2004, Lindroth was CFO of Memec when the firm’s management opted to file a registration statement…
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