Marc Mehlman’s strategic turning point came as a Thomson Reuters general manager, where he realized numbers alone never explain a business. By pairing finance with operating context, customer understanding, and pattern recognition, he reshaped his leadership style—ultimately becoming the kind of operational CFO boards wanted to hire. Now Watch Our Complete Episode Featuring CFO Marc […]
1171: How CFOs Rise by Learning Sideways First | Marc Mehlman, CFO, Ascensus
Marc Mehlman still recalls the moment a senior leader pulled him aside and told him he was “in such a rush” and needed to “enjoy the journey,” he tells us. At the time, Mehlman was part of a leadership program filled with high achievers eager to move quickly into senior roles. Instead, he took a…
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Why Growth Demands Smaller “Chunks” of Accountability | Toby Driver, CFO, Ideagen
As Ideagen scaled from roughly £50M ARR to five times that size, complexity threatened accountability. Driver helped lead a shift to a regional operating model, breaking the business into three clear regions with defined ownership. Finance redesigned reporting and management information, restoring focus, accountability, and execution discipline—leaving the company stronger and more scalable. Now Watch […]
1157: From Deal Advisory to Operator: Learning the Hard Parts | Toby Driver, CFO, Ideagen
At 18, while many of his peers were heading off to university, Toby Driver made a different choice. He joined an accounting practice through an apprenticeship, a decision driven by his desire for a “quick learning curve” and real exposure to business, he tells us. From the outset, he was less interested in credentials than in understanding how organizations actually work. That instinct carried him through years in audit and into transaction services, where he learned to dissect businesses at speed. In deal advisory, Driver was tasked with getting “under the nuts and bolts” of companies, performing financial health checks with significant value at stake, he tells us. The work sharpened his ability to spot value drivers—but it also revealed a blind spot he wouldn’t fully appreciate until later. CFOTL: Tell us about Ideagen and its value proposition today.Driver: Absolutely. When I talk about Ideagen, I like to start with our purpose. We’re a software business, but our mission is about keeping people, processes, and products safe on a global scale. I often explain it by saying we help put safe food…
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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 […]
1152: Value Creation Starts with Portfolio and Capital Discipline | Manny Korakis, CFO, Presidio
In his first “60 to 90 days” as CFO of Presidio, Manny Korakis learned that preparation doesn’t cancel pressure, he tells us. “Now the buck stops here,” he tells us, and he “didn’t really appreciate the pace” required until he was living it daily, he tells us. Korakis traces his move into enterprise thinking back…
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From Experiments to Engines: Scaling the Mid-Market | Steve Sutter CFO, Celigo
Within 72 hours of becoming CFO at Elance, Steve Sutter uncovered that thousands of customer account balances were commingled with corporate cash—an oversight with serious compliance risk. He immediately convened the board, secured nearly $20 million to correct the issue, and implemented proper segregation—restoring financial integrity and safeguarding the company’s future transactions. Now Watch the […]
1132: Infrastructure First: Where AI Actually Adds Up | Steve Sutter, CFO, Celigo
When Steve Sutter joined Celigo five years ago, he stepped into a company positioned not as another SaaS app but as what he calls “the infrastructure, the piping, the plumbing” of business automation. Celigo, he tells us, moves data between systems like Salesforce, NetSuite, and Snowflake so companies can “create very sophisticated business processes” without…
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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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