Perica identifies AI as a turning point for the CFO role, prompting closer collaboration with CIOs and a shift toward enterprise-wide transformation. By moving beyond finance-only automation to broader operational impact, CFOs can now shape strategy, drive technology adoption, and position finance as a central force in organizational change.
Now Watch Our Complete Episode Featuring CFO Michael Perica of Rimini Street
Michael Perica, CFO of Rimini Street, reflects on a career shaped first by Wall Street exposure to senior executives and later by hard-won operating lessons inside complex manufacturing businesses. He explains that effective finance leaders begin with strategy, then push downward into execution. Perica discusses how understanding unit economics requires deeper operational visibility than systems alone can provide, and how mentoring across functions sharpened his view of finance as a strategic partner. He also explores how agentic AI, changing customer demands, and the so-called SaaS-pocalypse are reshaping enterprise software decisions, pushing CFOs to partner with CIOs and lead transformation thoughtfully.
| CFO’s Strategy Playbook |
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| • Start with strategy, then operationalize relentlessly |
| • Learn economics from the front line |
| • Pair finance discipline with technology judgment |