Inside The Mentoring Round CFO Chikako Tyler reflects on a significant transformation in her approach to financial management. Initially focused on revenue and expense containment, she once viewed expenses strictly as costs. However, after managing a sales team, she shifted her perspective, now seeing expenses as investments with potential ROI. This change has led her […]
1,022: The Power of Lean Thinking | Todd Patriacca, CFO, BVI Medical
Todd Patriacca was more than a dozen years into his finance career when two things happened that accelerated its trajectory. The first was that he found a mentor—or, rather, that his future mentor found him. The second was that he became immersed in Lean culture. Starting his career at Arthur Andersen, Patriacca spent nearly 10…
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The Mentoring Round | Larry White, Commanding Officer (emeritus), U.S. Coast Guard Finance Center
Inside The Mentoring Round, Larry White looks back on his U.S. Coast days and spotlights the shift from a rigorous budget-focused approach to a more strategic, mission-oriented model. He empowered his team, decentralizing budget responsibilities and cutting excess spending by 70% to better align resources with actual needs. His philosophy fostered transparency and trust, emphasizing […]
1,011: Balancing Agility and Structure for Strategic Growth | Carol Lee, CFO, LogicMonitor
Beginning her career as an analyst, Carol Lee honed her technical skills both in pre-revenue start-ups and a multinational corporation with over $10 billion in revenue. These contrasting environments, she tells us, equipped her with a unique perspective on what it takes to be both scrappy and scalable. CFOTL: Tell us about LogicMonitor … what…
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The Mentoring Round | Daniel Bisgeier, CFO, Constellation
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Daniel Bisgeier highlights that the process of defining and refining KPIs is iterative, reflecting changes in the business environment and internal company goals. This adaptive approach ensures that the company remains aligned with its most critical success factors over time. Bisgeier discusses the innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI) within […]
The Mentoring Round | Marc Suidan, CFO, The Beachbody Company
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Marc Suidan reflects on (1) his decision to join McKinsey & Company following business school, (2) a unique approach to stimulating demand in the semiconductor memory business, (3) and why after 17 years with PwC, he decided to join The Beachbody Company during a pivotal time of turnaround and transformation. […]
975: Turning the Tide at Beachbody | Marc Suidan, CFO, The Beachbody Company
When PwC partner and relentless champion of shareholder value Marc Suidan stepped into the CFO office at The Beachbody Company in April 2022, intrigue was bound to follow. Certainly, a struggling fitness and health company may not be viewed by many as the optimal door-of-entry to the operations side of things. However, for Suidan—a 17-year…
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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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927: A Phone Call from Someone Who Mattered | Matt Gustke, CFO, WooCommerce
No matter how many phone calls Matt Gustke receives during the span of his finance career, none will likely be more memorable or important than one he received nearly 22 years ago. At the time, Gustke, a research analyst for a major bank, was spending his days assessing the carnage piling up in the aftermath…
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897: Satisfying a Growth Appetite | Bobby Leibrock, CFO, Red Hat Software
Last October, when it was announced that Bobby Leibrock would become the next CFO of IBM subsidiary Red Hat, finance team members no doubt understood that the open-source developer was coronating not just any IBM veteran but a strategic finance executive who for years had been entrenched along the front lines of IBM’s software acquisition…
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891: Climbing the Multi-Product Ladder | Jim Cox, CFO, Clearwater Analytics
Back in 2008, when Jim Cox was controller for investment management software company Advent Software, he was invited by that firm's founder and CEO, Stephanie DiMarco, to accompany her to an investor meeting. “I just sat there smiling and hoped that nobody would ask me a question,” comments Cox, recalling one of a number of…
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