Greatest Hits: How New Finance Leaders Navigate Transition and Build Confidence

In this episode of CFO Weekly, Mike DePrisco, President and CEO of IMA (Institute of Management Accountants), joins Megan Weese to explore why AI cost and ROI are becoming CFO problems rather than pure technology problems, drawing on IMA's own research showing 63% of finance leaders have now deployed AI and 37% of CFOs still don't trust their own data, and outlining what it really takes to evaluate AI investments and build measurable business value.

In this episode of CFO Weekly, Bojan Belejkovski, Vice President of Finance and Treasurer at Voltava, joins Megan Weis to explore why AI adoption in finance is fundamentally about data discipline and operating-model design, not the AI tools themselves, drawing on his path from law to treasury, his work leading major ERP transformations, and his book, Treasury 2.0: Future-Proofing Finance with AI.

In this episode of CFO Weekly, Jessica Trimmer, Senior Director of Revenue and Transformation at Intapp, joins Megan Weis to explore what it really takes to build a finance organization that scales, how leaders should think about people, processes, systems, and governance as companies grow, and why finance operating models must evolve alongside the business. Drawing on more than twenty years of experience leading enterprise-wide finance transformation, Jessica shares why the operating model, not headcount, is usually the real constraint on scale.

In this episode of CFO Weekly, Abir Syed, Co-Founder of UpCounting, joins Megan Weis to explore why the best finance leaders move beyond producing numbers to actively shaping business decisions, drawing from his path from Big Four auditor to hands-on ecommerce operator and fractional CFO for high-growth direct-to-consumer brands.

In this episode of CFO Weekly, Rick Hasselman, Chief Financial Officer at Clari + Salesloft, joins Megan Weis to explore what it takes to lead a finance organization through a major merger, why finance and sales must operate as true partners in driving revenue, and how AI is turning the CFO into an orchestrator of agents rather than just a steward of the numbers. Drawing on more than thirty years of experience spanning PwC, Google, Sumo Logic, Podium, and Expel.

In this episode of CFO Weekly, Wassia Kamon, Chief Financial Officer at ACE | Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs, joins Megan Weis to explore the journey from controller or FP&A leader to modern CFO, the mindset shifts that matter most, and how aspiring finance executives can prepare for a role that extends far beyond the numbers. Drawing from her experience across manufacturing, technology, pharmaceuticals, and the nonprofit sector, Wassia shares practical advice on building a personal board of directors, leading through people, and using AI without losing sight of leadership.

In this episode of CFO Weekly, Jeremy Ung, Chief Technology Officer at BlackLine, joins Megan Weis to explore why general-purpose AI agents are not automatically safe for high-stakes financial operations. Drawing on more than two decades of engineering and product leadership at Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Apptio, Jeremy explains why deploying AI agents in finance requires the same rigor as onboarding a new employee, and how BlackLine is building toward a future where agents, not just people, are the primary users of finance software.

In this episode of CFO Weekly, Jack McCullough, Founder and President of the CFO Leadership Council, joins Megan Weis to explore the Rodman Paradox, the idea that a company's most valuable employee may not be its best-performing one, but the one whose irreplaceable skill set keeps the organization running. Drawing on decades of experience as a CFO, CEO, and board advisor, Jack shares how leaders can identify, reward, and retain the quiet specialists that traditional org charts and performance metrics too often overlook.

In this episode of CFO Weekly, Mike McLain, Chief Accounting Officer at Transwestern, joins Megan Weis to explore what separates mid-sized businesses that scale successfully from those that stall, and how finance leaders can help organizations grow with both discipline and agility. Drawing from his upbringing around his father's insurance brokerage, his public accounting career at Arthur Andersen and Grant Thornton, and fourteen years leading finance and accounting at Transwestern, a founder-led commercial real estate firm.

In this greatest hits episode of CFO Weekly, Kevin Appleby, Head of Partnerships at GrowCFO and host of the GrowCFO Show podcast, joins Megan Weis to explore how new CFOs can successfully navigate their critical first hundred days, drawing from his extensive experience mentoring finance leaders through the challenging transition from technical finance roles to strategic enterprise leadership.