1208: Quality, Trust, and Scale | Cal Brouilette, CFO, Flatiron Health

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1. 

   9 Sep 2026 · 54 min

   1213: When Constructive Tension Yields Sharper Decisions | Martin Uhrik, CFO, Third Bridge

   When Martin Uhrik compared the margins of two visual-effects brands at Technicolor, one appeared far more profitable than the other. Uhrik tells us the reported difference prompted him to investigate. One brand showed project results only to the direct-margin level, rather than revealing fully absorbed profitability. Uhrik says he asked the business-unit CEO why the company was not showing creatives “the true state of the business.” The response was resistance: management feared that exposing weaker bottom-line results could cost the premium brand its talent and luster. Uhrik insisted.…

2. 

   6 Sep 2026 · 37 min

   1212: When Working Capital Rewrites the CFO Agenda | Dan Barzily, CFO, Tipalti

   Shortly after Dan Barzily became CFO of Tipalti, a go-to-market transformation altered the company’s working-capital profile. One quarter later, Barzily tells us, the company missed its forecast across multiple parts of the P&L. The surprise reached back to a subject he had barely considered since his university accounting class. “It really hit me,” Barzily recalls. “I’m now the CFO, and I’m in charge of those things.” Until his appointment, Barzily says, he had never expected to become a CFO. He studied engineering, where he developed skills in analytics, accuracy, modeling, forecasting,…

3. 

   2 Sep 2026 · 39 min

   1211: Mission, Means, and the Will to Grow | Jonathan Ma, CFO, Sutter Health

   Jonathan Ma recalls being at his parents’ home in Nebraska one Saturday when his Morgan Stanley boss called with advice: pursue an opportunity at Sutter Health. After nearly 15 years, the mentor believed the retiring treasurer’s position could be Ma’s next step. Ma tells us he had not considered the opportunity. Although he knew Sutter Health’s mission and some of its people, he says the call “planted” the seed. His mentor had seen something in him that he had not yet recognized. That moment echoed the way Ma describes his development at Morgan Stanley. He credits leaders in San Francisco…

4. 

   30 Aug 2026 · 53 min

   1210: The Best Trade May Be the One You Don’t Make | Shiv Verma, CFO, Robinhood

   Six weeks before Lehman Brothers went under, Shiv Verma tells us, he joined a hedge fund as the world felt like it was falling apart. After building structured-credit and CLO models at J.P. Morgan from 2006 to 2008, Verma says he helped buy back assets originated at par for five cents on the dollar. A mentor there supplied a rule Verma still carries: “The best trade you ever make is often the trade you don’t make.” For Robinhood’s CFO, the line offers a double meaning—and a little fun. In the interview, however, Verma applies it to corporate resource allocation. According to Verma, it is…

5. 

   26 Aug 2026 · 33 min

   1209: Finding a Larger Voice in the Room | Ross Grainger, CFO, Nasuni

   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 Mako 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, welding, doing body work, handling customer service, and making outside sales calls. But the experience also taught him another lesson: even if a leader can do everything, “you shouldn’t do those things forever” if they pull you away from where you can provide the most…

6. 

   19 Aug 2026 · 48 min

   1207: Putting Guardrails Around Aggressive Growth | Jamie Schroeder, CFO, Premium Guard Inc.

   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 finance could become an informed partner to operations. That operating mindset followed Schroeder to Scotts Miracle-Gro, where unfamiliar assignments became a recurring source of development. According to Schroeder, he was repeatedly placed in situations…

7. 

   16 Aug 2026 · 48 min

   1206: The CFO as an Architect of Execution | Phil Fracassa, CFO, Magna International

   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 extensive board consideration of strategy, stakeholder impact, operating performance, capital allocation, risk, and long-term shareholder value, according to Fracassa. Once the decision was made, his team had just under a year to carve out a business that…

8. 

   12 Aug 2026 · 49 min

   1205: Giving Every Decision-Maker 40 Analysts | Matt Ostrower, CFO, Link Logistics

   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, leaving a portfolio of company assets out of commission for months. The immediate pressure was to reopen properties and navigate the crisis. But Ostrower says the team forced itself to “pull back” and consider how the company could emerge…

9. 

   9 Aug 2026 · 41 min

   1204: When Capital Conviction Matters More Than Market Timing | Andrew Korn, CFO, EliseAI

   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 gross margins and burn while ensuring its spending remains prudent and directed toward investments capable of moving the business forward. The company operates in housing and healthcare, two industries Korn describes as representing…

10. 

    5 Aug 2026 · 43 min

    1203: Making Strategy—and the Money—Move Together | Laura Miller, CFO, Strata Decision Technology

    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 us that Pampered Chef’s independent consultants could hold parties online while consumers, confined to their homes, purchased kitchen equipment and looked for ways to earn money. That summer brought a business boom—and immediate pressure on working capital, supply…