FP&A Today

Data Science masterclass with Shifra Isaacs

In this masterclass Shifra Isaacs, developer Relations Advocate at Ascend.io, delves into her experience as data scientist, technical writer, and support lead providing fresh insights for FP&A and finance professionals.
In this episode:
Data science vs business analytics 
Pulling data not yet able to be modeled 
Python for Excel 
The right models for risk scoring, variance analysis and forecasting 
Replicating a process with a new tool using AI
How can we survive in an AI first world
Connect with Shifra Isaacs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shifra-isaacs/

Curiosity, Ambition, Service: FP&A at Dashlane

Taylor Otstot, Vice President Finance,  Dashlane joined GoDaddy (now a $30billion valued) domain registry, domain registrar and web hosting company before their IP. In 8 years he climbed to senior Director of Finance running an FP&A team of 14. From this experience and as VP Finance at DashLane he says he hires for 3 things: curiosity, ambition, and finance leaders who are service-oriented. “If you bring those three things to the table, you're able to wade through a lot of the ambiguity that comes with those decision making processes.”
Also in this episode: 
Finance and FP&A as antidote to the machine of Big 4
3- 4 years in audit as the “perfect amount”
Getting to strategy in FP&A
Partnership vs accountability as a false choice for FP&A
Improv comedy having its moment in finance 
The Tarantino approach to finance presentations 
Connect with Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorotstot/
Subscribe to CFO Frameworks newsletter on Substack: https://www.cfoframeworks.com/

Dave Sackett: How FP&A Can Stay Relevant In The AI Age

Dave Sackett is Co-Founder and CFO of ecommerce company, AIOne,  and former CFO of  semiconductor company, ULVAC Technologies. He is a vocal advocate for blockchain and AI and finance, bringing a blend of tech savvy, operational rigor, and a  focus on “servant leadership" - that is putting the needs of the employees first and helping people develop and perform as highly as possible. He's a frequent keynote speaker, a Forbes contributor, and an active member of Financial Executives International.
Cost accountant to CFO and AI leader 
How I practice servant leadership mindset as a CFO 
Being an introvert CFO leader and overcoming the challenges
Costly failures of traditional forecasting in FP&A
Where FP&A Software is going to be in 5 years 
Finance AI use cases 
FP&A as custodians of financial truth in AI age 
Connect with Dave Sackett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davesackett/

Cycling in tariff territory – FP&A at top e-bike brand

Derek Paulson is Director of Finance and Performing Marketing at Rad Power Bikes, a Seattle-based e-bike company changing transportation. In this episode he talks about his approach to  navigating tariffs (“There  no, no word in the English language more scary to a finance professional than the word uncertainty” says Paulson as he discusses required “efficiency” and “flexibility” in their supply chains). He also reveals his approach to the finance transformation required to shift Rad Power from a direct-to-consumer to an e-commerce and retail focused model, that is “starting   with a blank Excel sheet to do the modeling for Rad Power Bikes”.In this episode:
How Honeywell and PepsiCo are top training grounds for finance leaders
Efficiency vs flexibility in supply chains 
Is an MBA worth it in finance?
Data privacy, AI, and finance 
Making the case for SUMIFs
Connect with Derek Paulson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekpaulson/

Big shifts in FP&A – Bryan Lapidus

“The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) is a non-for-profit with a really simple mission, which makes it really easy for me to wake up and know what I’m doing every day,” says Bryan Lapidus, Director, FP&A Practice at the Association for Financial Professionals. “We exist for the success of the corporate finance and treasury professionals. FPAC, our certified corporate FP&A certification has been in the market for about 11 years now and 5,000 people have earned it in more than 80 countries.”
Returning guest Lapidus joins Glenn Hopper  as they discuss the climate for FP&A including:
Evolution of FP&A  and AI 
Certificates vs Certification 
Why business school doesn’t prepare you for FP&A roles
The impact of Sarbanes-Oxley on changing the CFO role 
Why you need different CFOs at various stages of a company lifecycle 
Why FP&A professionals are so hirable and promotable
How to become CFO from an FP&A role  

How I learned to love FP&A again – Annette deYoung

Annette DeYoung, Principal Solutions Consultant at Datarails, is an accountant-turned FP&A manufacturing leader. She has deep experience in leading finance teams at manufacturing companies including Berner Food and Beverage, Rockford Products, Fairbanks Morse Engine, and JL Clark. It was at JL Clark, as Director of FP&A, that Annette implemented FP&A Solution, Datarails to mop up inefficiencies and end drain all-late night sessions at the finance department— she  liked the product so much she ended up joining the company and has since spoken to more than 1000 FP&A professionals seeking to love FP&A again by removing tedious repetitive processes.
In this episode 
Why I fell in love with manufacturing and finance over my career 
How creativity drew me from accounting to FP&A
Why a hard-coded accountant attitude was difficult to reconcile with more creative FP&A 
How to create finance business partnerships on the manufacturing floor 
Why I brought Datarails into my finance team at JL Clarke 
The future of Excel in FP&A
Is finance (finally) making a move with AI? 
The power of getting out of your comfort zone in finance 
Connect with Annette on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahdeyoung/

May the FP&A Be with you: a hero’s journey from Pixar, Lucasfilm, and LinkedIn (with Craig Barry)

Craig Barry has held senior finance roles at some of the most iconic companies in tech and entertainment, including LinkedIn, Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Electronic Arts. At LinkedIn, he led central forecasting, supported more than 10 acquisitions, and played a key role in the company’s integration with Microsoft before becoming Head of FP&A at BioRender- building FP&A from the ground up helping the company scale ARR from $18 million to $50 million. Now Barry is principal consultant at ClearSightIQ.
In this episode 
My winding road to strategic finance 
Junior FP&A Analyst position at Electronic Arts as my first break 
Cost center focus in creative industries at EA with $3b sales
LucasFilm (pre-Disney) run as a sole proprietorship by George Lucas 
Pixar head of finance for their Canadian operations and production planning 
LinkedIn and focus on “revenue, revenue, revenue”
FP&A focus on modeling for acquisitions at LinkedIn and “virtual” P&Ls
Strategy for building out FP&A from scratch at BioRender 
My fractional CFO life 

FP&A from Fortune 100 to Scrappy Startups – Mike Dion

Mike Dion works at a Fortune 100 company. He has previously worked as a finance leader at Verizon-as well as startups and as a mentor to  enterprise giants to scrappy startups—unlocking tens of millions of dollars in value across industries like Entertainment and Telecom.  He does this through Mike’s F9 Finance:  a no nonsense website and newsletter (with 20k subscribers) passing on the skills that have accelerated his career, providing a guide to new tools (based on his experience automating 100,000 hours of labour) and secrets to promotion. He tells Glenn Hopper: “Three things, increasing revenue, decreasing expenses, and making your leaders look good. Those are the three things that move your career, not the reports, not the forecast tools to get to that.”
In this episode 
Passion in media and entertainment 
putting in our first consolidated planning system
At Verizon starting a center of Excellence (after facing a situation where 40 VPs wanted 30 decks based on Excel files   
Lack of approachable finance content: introducing Mike’s F9 Finanance   
Secrets to dynamic modeling and scenario planning 
3 Ways teams are getting overwhelmed with forecasts  
Better prompting and my relationship with AI
A completely new answer for Fave Excel Function
F9 Finance: https://www.f9finance.com/ 
F9 Finance YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@f9finance

Tech, Talent, Tariffs, and Taxes

FP&A Today goes on the road!. Our host city is Boston and the historic Harvard Club with an audience of Boston CFOs and FP&A leaders. Our first live recording sees an all-star panel of Jack McCullough, CFO Leadership Council, Michael Bayer, CFO of Wasabi Technologies, Cathy Yang, CFO Trexon. 
By way of background, Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, talked of “remarkably high” levels of economic uncertainty. “I don’t know anyone who has a lot of confidence in their forecast,” he said. FactSet, a financial-data firm, found that over half of the companies in America’s S&P 500 index cited tariffs in their earnings calls—more than in any other time over the past decade.
In this episode we probe how finance executives can navigate today’s complex geopolitical and technological landscape including: 
The ROI of a CFO AI Strategy  
How to navigate as a financial leader with tariffs and trade tensions
Trexon’s Experience navigating tariffs affecting 12 business units and 16 sites
Tech and AI’s role in enhancing supply chain visibility 
Pricing increases for customers due to tariffs and navigating that from the CFO’s Office 
Back to work or not for finance teams?
The future of accounting

Pitch Perfect Board Presentations – CFO Shannon Nash

Shannon Nash is a chief financial officer, board director, investor, attorney, filmmaker, and CPA. She sits on the boards of Net Scout systems, Lazy Dog restaurants, and Sofi Bank, and most recently was CFO at Wing, the Alphabet-owned drone delivery company, and one of the hottest companies in the US. Here, she reveals the secrets FP&A professionals need to know about presenting to the Board and how to turn numbers into a narrative to advance to CFO and beyond
Explaining the power of the Board to shape a company’s strategy
The finance of film-making and my experience making a major new documentary
 The power of  FP&A in securing $150 million in funding at Reputation.com  
Presenting to boards -what drives us crazy
How improv training unexpectedly revolutionized her executive communication style
Connect with Shannon on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonknash
Watch On Board documentary: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/onboardthefilm