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659: The Rewards of Taking Inspired Action | Brice Hill, CFO, Xilinx

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

Release Date: 12/16/2020

998: Margins, Metrics, and Payments | Lawrence Herman, CFO, Dwolla show art 998: Margins, Metrics, and Payments | Lawrence Herman, CFO, Dwolla

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

Lawrence Herman’s path to becoming a CFO unfolded through a series of experiences that changed his understanding of the finance world, beginning with his initial role at Goldman Sachs. Here, in the crucible of intense market dynamics, Herman cut his teeth on complex financial models, where the rigor of long hours refined his capacity to handle pressure and complexity—a foundational skill for any leader. Following his stint at Goldman Sachs, Herman transitioned to Prudential Securities, diving into the intricate world of mergers and acquisitions. This move wasn’t just a change of address:...

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997: From Reaction to Action: Capturing Insight for Growth | Daniel Bisgeier, CFO, Constellation show art 997: From Reaction to Action: Capturing Insight for Growth | Daniel Bisgeier, CFO, Constellation

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

When faced with unprecedented challenges, the true mettle of a leader is tested. Daniel Bisgeier, a seasoned CFO, exemplifies how continuous improvement and strategic decisiveness pave the way for corporate resilience and growth. Reflecting on his career, Bisgeier notes that significant progress often doesn't come in bursts but through "persistent effort over time and constant refinement." A poignant illustration of Bisgeier's strategic agility occurred during his tenure at MediaMath, amid the tumultuous onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis had abruptly shifted the demand environment,...

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From Rearview to Road Ahead - A Planning Aces Episode show art From Rearview to Road Ahead - A Planning Aces Episode

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

Leadership in FP&A: All three CFOs emphasize the role of finance in leading and driving business performance through strategic foresight, detailed operational insights, and proactive engagement. Technology and Innovation: There is a strong inclination towards integrating new technologies like AI to enhance the capabilities of finance teams and improve business processes. Collaboration and Influence: The CFOs highlight the importance of collaboration within organizations, where finance must work closely with other departments to influence and drive business outcomes effectively.

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996: Cultivating a CFO’s Toolkit | Aaron Levine, CFO, Prophix show art 996: Cultivating a CFO’s Toolkit | Aaron Levine, CFO, Prophix

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

From his early days in auditing at PwC to his current role as CFO at Prophix, Aaron Levine has had a career that has closely tracked the evolving nature of the financial leadership role. His journey has been marked by a series of strategic transitions and expansions of his skill set that illustrate the broadening demands of being a modern CFO. An important early chapter of Levine’s professional development was his tenure under Steve Vintz, who at the time was CFO of Vocus, where Levine served as a VP managing both accounting and finance. It was under Vintz’s mentorship that Levine came to...

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995: Embracing Change to Energize Your Career | Dan Murphy, CFO, Commercetools show art 995: Embracing Change to Energize Your Career | Dan Murphy, CFO, Commercetools

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

The way Dan Murphy sees it the CFO position demands that leaders always be kept on high alert. It’s a mindset that had led him to habitually monitor updates and alerts related to key vendors, including banking institutions. And so it was, in first quarter 2023 when Murphy recalls spotting a vague tweet hinting at possible financial instability at Silicon Valley Bank. Despite the tweet’s uncertain implications, Murphy recognized the risks inherent in relying solely on one bank. He proposed a strategic move to company management: diversify the company’s financial reserves by transferring a...

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Controllers Classified | Accounting in the Sports World with Patrick Lynch of the Boston Celtics show art Controllers Classified | Accounting in the Sports World with Patrick Lynch of the Boston Celtics

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

On this episode of Controllers Classified, host Erik Zhou welcomes Patrick Lynch, Senior Vice President and Controller of the Boston Celtics, who shares his journey from ball boy to financial leader for the team. Patrick highlights the milestones of his career, including his transition from an internship to working closely with the CFO, and the significant growth of the Celtics organization. He also imparts wisdom on how to seize career advancement opportunities and offers advice for those aiming to enter the sports industry. The discussion then does a deep dive into the world of accounting...

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994: Balancing Top-Line Growth and Bottom-Line Results | Naresh Bansal, CFO, Menlo Security show art 994: Balancing Top-Line Growth and Bottom-Line Results | Naresh Bansal, CFO, Menlo Security

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

Ask any CFO about their career-building years, and they will likely attribute their success to their adaptability and ability to render strategic insight. This tendency was recently amplified for us when we heard about the experience of Naresh Bansal, a seasoned finance executive who during a pivotal chapter early in his early career discovered that his company was about to be acquired by a larger one, Sage. His company at the time—initially an independent entity focused on aggressive growth and innovation—offered a vibrant but challenging environment that tested the mettle of its...

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993: Building Resilient Careers: Lessons from a CFO Expat | Hilary Norris, CFO, GTreasury show art 993: Building Resilient Careers: Lessons from a CFO Expat | Hilary Norris, CFO, GTreasury

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

A little more than 15 years ago, Hilary Norris had the ultimate dream job at a tech company in sunny California, a perfect alignment of professional goals and personal life. However, the idyllic scenario was disrupted when the company was acquired, a common turning point that often spells uncertainty for many executives. Facing a potential career setback, Norris was initially marked for replacement but was later asked to stay on and lead the finance operations of the combined entity. This twist in her career path wasn’t just a test of her professional capabilities but also a...

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992: Unlocking Holistic Company Performance | Udit Tibrewal, CFO, Anomali show art 992: Unlocking Holistic Company Performance | Udit Tibrewal, CFO, Anomali

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

Kicking off his career fresh out of school, Udit Tibrewal joined the audit practice ofPricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in New Delhi, where he set about learning the intricate workings of financial compliance. The ambition to broaden his horizon and a hunger for new challenges led him to make a bold move to the United States, landing him first New York City. The shift from New Delhi’s familiar chaos to New York’s dynamic hustle coincided with a widening of Tibrewal’s finance lens. It was here, amidst the skyscrapers of Manhattan, that he began to embrace the complexity of technology companies...

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991: Transforming Investment Wisdom into Management Strategy | Jeff Bray, CFO, Semperis show art 991: Transforming Investment Wisdom into Management Strategy | Jeff Bray, CFO, Semperis

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

Long ago, the power of focus was a lesson that Jeff Bray learned early in his career while transitioning from the role of analyst to that of portfolio manager. He recalls a strategic moment when he realized that narrowing his investments from many down to just three to five key stocks would greatly amplify his success. This principle of concentrated effort not only transformed his approach to investment management but also became a guiding principle throughout his career, which includes his latest stint as CFO of Semperis, a leading cybersecurity firm. At Semperis, Bray is applying this bit of...

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In front of the restaurant’s dozen or more cash registers, customers were standing six or seven deep when Brice Hill raised his voice and began instructing the hungry mall shoppers to immediately exit the store.

“No one listened to a single word I said,” says Hill, who opens our discussion by transporting us back to the mid-1980s, when as a teenage recent graduate of McDonald’s management training program he was given a surprise leadership test.

Having made a trip to the mall for some holiday shopping, Hill had poked his head into the mall’s marquee McDonald’s only to find a few of his fellow managers nervously waiting for a return call from McDonald’s headquarters.

The restaurant—at the time one of the busiest McDonald’s locations on the West Coast—had only minutes earlier received a bomb threat, and as Hill digested the blank stares triggered by his shouts to clear the store, he realized that more extreme measures were required.

Leaving the customers in their queues, the young manager dodged the doubtful stares of employees as he maneuvered his way to the back of the store, where he found the location’s electricity source and without hesitation cut it off.

“They had told me that 20 minutes was the countdown on the thing—we cleared the whole place with only 4 minutes to spare,” recalls Hill, who estimates that the location may have held as many as 500 customers and workers that day.

Later, police would determine that there had been no bomb, but this has never led Hill to second-guess his actions.

“When you’re in that type of situation, you have to be able to act and act like an owner. Even if you don’t know whether you have the right answer, you have to act. There cannot be a void of leadership,” says Hill, underscoring what might be a recurring theme for his career.

Fast-forward a few decades, and Hill is a senior strategic planning executive at Intel Corp. The venue is an Arizona conference room where a group of Intel executives—including the company’s CFO—has gathered to hear Hill offer an analysis that could potentially lead Intel to begin building idle factories.

This time, the doubtful stares quickly turned to dissenting voices as Hill’s strategic analysis failed to win over many of his Intel colleagues.  

“When I made the recommendation that we should build an idle factory, there was like a melee in the room. All of the CFO staff was arguing, waving their hands, debating different opinions,” explains Hill, who says that in the minds of traditional finance executives, an idle building equals excess cost. To highlight his point Hill repeats the refrain of “You have to heat it, cool it, and guard it!”

Still, what Hill’s analysis had begun to spotlight was the cost of missing out on growth opportunities in a business wielding 60% to 70% gross margins. Suddenly, having idle factories in place to add additional capacity when growth demanded seemed to have merit.

“At the end, the CFO said, ‘Bryce, I want you to go meet with the treasury staff. They’re experts in derivatives and option modeling. I want you to go see if your math holds up,’” remembers Hill, whose analysis received “a clean bill of health” from treasury before getting a thumbs-up from Intel’s CEO, a final affirmation that led Intel to modify its growth strategy as well as its accounting. Going forward expenses associated with serving the idle factories would be listed as strategic investments rather than costs – a change that has perhaps made management think twice before turning off the lights .  –Jack Sweeney Signup for our Newsletter