Category: The Accidental CFO
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The Accidental CFO — Art Restoration & Leadership
“Stories and lessons from an unexpected journey in finance.” This fall, my daughter Eliza began her sophomore year at Scripps College, where she is studying Art Conservation. For her, this means diving deep into the science and craft of restoring and preserving artworks—learning how to study a piece, understand its history, and carefully bring it…
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The Accidental CFO — Private Equity CFO – What They Really Expect
“Stories and lessons from an unexpected journey in finance.” Here’s the thing most people get wrong about private equity. They don’t just want a CFO who reports the numbers.They want a CFO who shapes the numbers. In a PE-backed company, the CFO isn’t just the financial steward — you’re the value architect.Everything you do ties back to…
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The Accidental CFO — How Great CFOs Make CEOs Better
“Stories and lessons from an unexpected journey in finance.” The relationship between a CEO and a CFO is one of the most misunderstood dynamics in business. From the outside, it can look like a constant tug of war, one focused on growth and the other on control. But the best partnerships I’ve seen (and been…
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The Accidental CFO — Becoming the CFO Before You Get the Title
“Stories and lessons from an unexpected journey in finance.” I didn’t start in audit, accounting, or corporate finance. I led consulting practices, advising executives on transformation and growth. Those years taught me how to connect strategy, operations, and financial outcomes. They also shaped how I would later approach the CFO role. The path to CFO…
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The Accidental CFO — How AI, SaaS, and digital are changing the CFO role
“Stories and lessons from an unexpected journey in finance.” I started my career when finance meant spreadsheets, green-bar paper, and endless reconciliations. Today, the modern CFO’s toolkit looks more like a digital command center — dashboards, data lakes, predictive analytics, and AI copilots. The role hasn’t just evolved. It’s been reprogrammed. The CFO used to be…
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