Ross Grainger remembers an early chapter of his career when finance was only one part of the job. After stepping outside a traditional finance path to own and operate a Maako auto-body franchise, Grainger tells us he learned what it meant to “act like an owner.” That sometimes meant cleaning toilets, learning to paint cars, […] The post 1209: Finding a Larger Voice in the Room | Ross Grainger, CFO, Nasuni appeared first on CFO THOUGHT LEADER.
Cal Brouilette recalls a sleepless night in Houston, speaking at 3 a.m. with someone from Blackstone about a purchase-and-sale agreement and transition-service agreements. It concerned a power-plant portfolio sale at Direct Energy, a Centrica subsidiary, that Brouilette places in 2013. According to Brouilette, the assignment arrived in late September, when the CEO wanted the portfolio […] The post 1208: Quality, Trust, and Scale | Cal Brouilette, CFO, Flatiron Health appeared first on CFO THOUGHT LEADER.
Jamie Schroeder’s finance career began on the shop floor at Ford Motor Company. As part of Ford’s rotational development program, Schroeder tells us, he spent a month working in the paint shop at an assembly plant outside Cleveland. The experience was designed around “learning the business and getting your hands on the business” so that […] The post 1207: Putting Guardrails Around Aggressive Growth | Jamie Schroeder, CFO, Premium Guard Inc. appeared first on CFO THOUGHT LEADER.
At Timken, it was generally known that Phil Fracassa knew he would become CFO after the company separated its steel business. But first, he tells us, the board gave him a different assignment: lead the project management office and set both resulting companies up for success. The separation followed pressure from an activist investor and […] The post 1206: The CFO as an Architect of Execution | Phil Fracassa, CFO, Magna International appeared first on CFO THOUGHT LEADER.
Earlier in his career, Matt Ostrower remembers losing sleep over a decision that carried consequences for employees, lenders, and shareholders. At Site Centers, Ostrower tells us, the management team was confronting two challenges. Investor fears about the internet’s impact on retail real estate were depressing stock and bond valuations. Then Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, […] The post 1205: Giving Every Decision-Maker 40 Analysts | Matt Ostrower, CFO, Link Logistics appeared first on CFO THOUGHT LEADER.
Andrew Korn tracks growth first. EliseAI had surpassed $200 million in annual recurring revenue when he spoke with us, and Korn tells us the company had maintained year-over-year growth above 100% throughout his four and a half years there—“correlation, not causation,” he adds. That growth gives finance a clear assignment. According to Korn, EliseAI monitors […] The post 1204: When Capital Conviction Matters More Than Market Timing | Andrew Korn, CFO, EliseAI appeared first on CFO THOUGHT LEADER.
In April 2020, Laura Miller stepped into her first CFO role at Pampered Chef. According to Miller, she was pregnant with her second child, working with a new CEO and joining an executive team that had never worked together in the building before the pandemic sent everyone home. Demand was anything but predictable. Miller tells […] The post 1203: Making Strategy—and the Money—Move Together | Laura Miller, CFO, Strata Decision Technology appeared first on CFO THOUGHT LEADER.
In the early months of Francisco Partners, Samantha Greenberg sat in a room on folding chairs with the firm’s cofounders and one other colleague, planning the business. According to Greenberg, the private equity firm was pursuing an idea that many considered impossible in the late 1990s: executing leveraged buyouts of technology companies. Greenberg tells us […] The post 1202: Allocating Capital in an Age of AI | Samantha Greenberg, CFO, AlphaSense appeared first on CFO THOUGHT LEADER.
In high school, Gary Vecchiarelli received day-old copies of Investor’s Business Daily from a business teacher. Stock prices still appeared in fractions, and the teacher told him that he would know he had made it when he rang the bell on Wall Street. Vecchiarelli tells us that the remark stayed with him for decades. He […] The post 1201: From Bitcoin Infrastructure to the AI Power Economy | Gary Vecchiarelli, CFO, CleanSpark appeared first on CFO THOUGHT LEADER.
Mark Khavkin often finds his best ideas somewhere near the Golden Gate Bridge. The Rula CFO tells us that he bikes from San Francisco across the bridge and into Marin County—not to compete, but to clear his mind, enjoy the view, and stop for a latte in Sausalito. “A lot of times great ideas come […] The post 1200: When Finance Owns the Future | Mark Khavkin, CFO, Rula appeared first on CFO THOUGHT LEADER.
