From Rice Paper to AI: FP&A Lessons from 30 Years at the Top of Global Finance - Sébastien Privel

Tom Hinkle, senior leader in data and analytics at TIAA, has  built his career at the intersection of finance, technology, and strategy. He also has a budding YouTube channel (Tom's Data World, which includes instructional videos on Excel, SQL, and AI). He's worked extensively with Excel (is a Microsoft MVP) and SQL, as well as Tableau and Power BI, and has worked with major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and TIAA.  "Nobody really gets excited about spending money on data governance. They get excited about machine learning, about AI, about data storytelling — everybody wants seminars on that. But data governance? At the end of the day, you're coming up with something you thought was right anyway, and then you're asking someone to spend more money just to make sure it's right." Why data governance is the foundation of AI  Trust but verify challenges The two sides of data governance: master data management vs. data quality and controls How FP&A teams should think about their role as downstream consumers of data Why domain expertise is still non-negotiable in the age of vibe coding Tom's Minesweeper-in-Excel story, and what it taught him about prompting

What does it actually take to move FP&A activities into a shared service organization at Coca-Cola— and then transform how a global marketing giant manages billions in spend? Sébastien Privel, Senior Director Financial Services FP&A, has done both. Sébastien Privel career spans pharma controllership in late-'90s Beijing to country CFO for France, being involved in the implementation Coca-Cola's global FP&A shared services from scratch, before leading a multi-year marketing finance transformation   In this episode  Building finance infrastructure from scratch in 1990s China — from rice paper ledgers to SAP, with floppy disks in between.  Business partnering and being the finance voice in multi functions projects (including Coca-Cola buying Tropico an iconic French brand)  Driving transformation in the FP&A area standardizing processes and moving key activities to a shared service organisation Experimenting with AI including baseline forecasting and the real impact

Cindy Vindasius is the founder and CEO of Vindasius Advisory, and former Corporate Controller, and has spent more than 30 years helping high growth and enterprise companies build scalable finance systems. She's led more than a dozen ERP implementations across platforms like NetSuite, SAP, and Oracle, and has supported multiple IPOs, M&A transactions, and global compliance efforts. Her interview provides a wealth of information for FP&A professionals   Why FP&A need to be involved in ERP implementation for enhanced reporting  New wave of AI-driven ERPs: what I really think  The ROI of an ERP Implementation  ERP Mastery Program 6 video course: https://www.vindasius.com/mastery-program

Mykola is Finance Business Partner at Merlin Entertainments – offering some of the most popular attractions in the world including LEGOLAND Resorts, Thorpe Park and Alton Towers. Merlin welcomes more than 62 million guests annually to its diverse global estate in over 20 countries. Before Merlin, Mykola spent several years as a finance director at a fast-growing law firm, where the business tripled in size in just a few years. In this episode: Finance in a law firm - getting from technical finance to business partnering Reducing risk as the Ukraine war started  The business of Merlin Entertainment - from forecasting to cost control Working with procurement on validation of costs key metrics including attendance, guest spends and promotion The power of business partnering: consistency, curiosity and understanding your business 

Adam Hibbs has pretty non-linear paths into finance:New Zealand telecom regulator, OfCom, Vodafone, Cable & Wireless, UK Ministry of Defense, and now Global Director of Commercial Strategy at AICPA & CIMA. Financial modeling, commercial contracts, cloud infrastructure, and leadership across blue-chip organizations was preparation for building Josie, that is AICPA & CIMA's generative AI tool for accounting and auditing. In this episode: What makes Josie genuinely different from ChatGPT or Claude for technical accounting work Curated dataset of 40,000 pieces of proprietary IP, real-time updates to FASB, PCAOB, and auditing standards Josie ($550 per subscriber) named after Josiah Wedgwood and a new form of cost accounting CGMA vs CPA Where AI and finance intersect in the next 12-24 months

Emily Feinstone is an accounting manager at Eventus Advisory Group and unusually tech-forward in how she works. Emily spends her days building better processes, automating repetitive finance workflows, and making high volume operational data usable. And instead of opting for a  traditional CPA first route after 20 years of experience, she is pursuing a degree in data science: “ I want to be the one that teaches the AI and not the one that is replaced by AI. I want to be the one that knows how to use it the best to my advantage.” Emily also talks about accounting vs FP&A: You don't even see overhead. It's allocated…but you don't know that it took me two, two and a half hours to prepare that entry and another two hours to key it in.” In this episode:  Blurring of lines between data analysts and accountants  The future of the accounting profession in an AI era  Transforming an Excel based invoice and commission process  Keeping raceability and controls + automation  Why I wont trust AI to do my accounting journal entries 

The history-making USA Hockey won golds (and millions of fans in the process) at Milan’s Olympic Games. But behind the on-ice glory is a $75 million organization with a finance function as disciplined as its players. Kelly Mahncke , CFO of USA Hockey, joins Glenn Hopper and FP&A Today to pull back the curtain on what it takes to fund the gold-winning national hockey program — with business interests from memberships and sponsorships to restaurants and insurance. Kelly traces her own journey from center ice to chasing the bottom line, explaining how a hockey career shaped her instincts as a finance leader. She walks us through four-year "quad budgets" and the typical annual cycle, and what it took to weather COVID's financial shock, from cash management to the logistical nightmare of paused travel programs. She also gets into the digital transformation underway at USA Hockey. And why she believes curiosity is the defining trait of great FP&A professionals. Catch this fascinating look at finance leadership — at the peak of Hockey USA's Olympic moment.

Sahil Kamani, is a Berlin-based senior finance leader and FP&A professional at Ellie (Volkswagen Group), Starting at a credit rating agency in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis — inspired, fittingly, by a fascination with the documentary Inside Job — Sahil moved through regulation, capital markets, and an MBA before pivoting into operational finance  In this episode:  Being the person handing out credit ratings  Cash burn and the KPIs that matter most in a turnaround What bankers and regulators instinctively look for  How the CFO you work influences your storytelling Being CFO of Berlin's fastest-growing pickleball club.   Sahil R Kamani on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahilrkamani/

John Glasgow, is the founder, CEO and CFO of Campfire AI native ERP with more than $100m in funding, built to help high growth companies close faster, get richer visibility from their accounting data, and scale. John brings his insights as an operator who has spent time in FP&A and strategic finance, including at Adobe and an executive at Invoice To Go, leading that finance company to a $625 million sale to bill.com. Campfire came out of firsthand frustration with legacy ERPs and a need to rebuild the general ledger for the AI era. In this episode: My years in FP&A and strategic finance at Adobe before becoming a founder  CFA Certification  Invoice to Go acquisition what I learned   The frustration and origin story of frustration and why Campfire was set up Why building our own AI model makes sense  Key quote: “If you slap AI on top of an ERP with summarized revenue data, then you’re essentially gonna get no insights that are of any value.”

Marko Horvat has been a public accountant, Controller, head of FP&A and CFO, as well as VP in Gartner's research and advisory practice, specializing in topics most relevant to CFOs and finance transformation. In this episode he talks:  Interplay IT and CISO and organizational politics (“if it runs on electricity, it’s ours”) CFO skillsets gap Real change in CFO’s Office with AI (audit pattern recognition to forecasting) Last mile transformation in finance  Mindset, skillset, toolset transformation  Treating forecast as in perpetual beta  The power of the subtotal function  Recommended books: There's Got to Be a Better Way: How to Deliver Results and Get Rid of the Stuff That Gets in the Way of Real Work Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction