This episode our Planning Aces emphasize the importance of leveraging one's breadth of experience, stepping beyond traditional FP&A roles, and focusing on execution to bring significant value to organizations. They also emphasize the evolving nature of finance professional interactions and the idea that strategic insights can serve as catalysts for organizational change, prompting shifts in product development, market strategy, and operational execution.
This episode features the FP&A insights and commentary of CFO Jeff Woolard or Velocity Global, CFO Aaron Alt of Cardinal Health and CFO Bob Houghton of Pivot Bio.

Planning Aces co-hosts Brett Knowles and Jack Sweeney discuss the strategic efforts of two CFOs leading organizational turnarounds, and a third CFO, who offers key organizational insights from an earlier career chapter. Emphasizing simplification, strategic focus, and leveraging both human insight and technology, Marc Suidan of Beachbody, Emma Brown of Medius and David Freeman of Starburst share their experiences in cutting costs, enhancing digital experiences, and repositioning product offerings as key strategies for revival and expansion. They underscore the importance of a deep understanding of business operations and the potential of AI in supporting decision-making processes. Their narratives reflect a common theme of distilling operations to impactful actions, demonstrating the critical role of CFOs in navigating companies through challenging transformations towards sustainable growth.

This episode of Planning Aces sheds light on the critical role financial leadership and strategic planning plays in guiding companies through turbulent times and the importance of balancing short-term opportunities with long-term strategic planning. Each of the featured finance chiefs faced unique challenges related to the pandemic’s impact on their businesses, and their responses offer valuable insights into effective financial leadership during times of crisis and change.

In each case, the CFOs demonstrated strategic foresight and adaptability in their planning, ensuring their companies could navigate through and beyond the pandemic’s challenges.

Resident thought leader Brett Knowles provide insights throughout the discussion, emphasizing the role of CFOs as the “voice of reason” in navigating short-term gains and long-term strategies. He highlighted the need for agility and adaptability in financial planning, acknowledging the complexity and unpredictability of market conditions.

Planning Aces Hosts Brett Knowles and Jack Sweeney discuss how AI's integration into FP&A is still in early stages, with many teams 'dabbling' in AI rather than regularly employing it. However, its use has been significant, inspiring creativity and improving team performance.

This episode's conversation emphasizes how FP&A is not just about financial numbers but involves drawing in non-FP&A players into the process. This approach fosters a more comprehensive and collaborative financial planning culture within organizations. They underscored that every member of an organization should consider themselves a 'capital allocator', responsible for contributing to the company's financial health.

This episode of Planning Aces Brett and Jack discuss FP&A’s role when it comes to breaking down silos within departments, and how A.I. is quickly emerging as FP&A’s ultimate silo busting partner. Their discussion highlights the importance of connecting business performance metrics with financial outcomes and the role of AI will play in complex analysis.

• • CFO Lauren StClair talks about leveraging AI for faster analysis, transparency in reporting, and the challenge of maintaining clean, adaptable data.
  • CFO Doug Lindroth emphasizes the shift from closed data structures to open-book management, enabling deeper discussions on profitability and investments.
  • CFO Charly Kevers underscores AI's impact on manual tasks, reshaping organizational charts to prioritize higher-level thinking.

• AI's Role in FP&A and Security Concerns:

  • Discussion on AI's learning mechanisms, potential security risks, and the importance of Microsoft's approach with co-pilot in maintaining security.
  • Insights on how AI-driven tools adapt and evolve based on user interactions, driving advancements in decision-making processes.

This episode features insights and commentary from three finance leaders: CFO Michael Linford of Affirm, CFO Ana Chadwick of Pitney Bowse, and CFO Jason Leet of Zylo.

Imagine if these three finance leaders were to meet and have a discussion about their past roles. Each of them has a unique story to tell. Michael Linford, for example, was previously part of HP's M&A integration group and later became the first CFO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise after the split-off. Anna Chadwick played a key role in GE Capital's divestiture chapter, overseeing more than 50 divestitures globally. Jason Leet, on the other hand, has extensive experience in M&A, having been involved in over 40 different acquisitions during his time at Salesforce and Exact Target.

Brett and Jack draw parallels between the challenges faced by our three featured Planning Aces as they seek to optimize the talent resources and processes in their different organizations.

The pressure to align strategy and execution is increasing, and all three CFOs share their responses to these external pressures. Brett also touches on the adoption of AI in finance. With AI, the depth of analysis and speed of feedback are significantly enhanced, leading to faster decision-making and more innovative ideas as revealed by CFO Steven Cirulis of Potbelly

The episode features planning insights and commentary from Tony Boor, CFO of Blackbaud, Michelle, Hook, CFO, Portillo’s and Steven Cirulis, CFO Potbelly.

OUR COHO

This episode our cohost Brett Knowles suggests that every professional within an organization should have their own “golden KR” or key result that they are held accountable for. As he explains, this would create alignment and clarity throughout the organization.

The Rule of 40 and Gross Margin: TreviPay CFO Joel Campbell discusses two intriguing metrics – the rule of 40 and gross margin. The rule of 40, a blend of top-line revenue growth and EBITDA margin, is a key indicator of a company’s balance between growth and profitability. Gross margin, on the other hand, measures the efficiency and productivity of a business. Joel’s insights into these metrics and their importance in tracking business performance alone make the episode worthy listening for FP&A pros.

In addition the episode features planning insights and commentary from Matt Gustke, CFO of WooCommerce and Rob Goldenberg, CFO of 6sense (see below).