AFP Conversations

Dr. Shawn DuBravac believes we will work more efficiently and stay healthier more easily thanks to digital transformation. However, millennia-old institutions could be completely redefined -- and understanding these changes has only just begun.  DuBravac is an economist and New York Times best-selling author. He will be a featured speaker at AFP 2018 this November in Chicago. Save $100 off registr...

How can retailers better manage bank accounts, cash registers, millions of dollars, and more? Tyler Wolf, has some advice. Wolf is a product manager at Balance Innovations, where he's an expert on retail payments. He spoke to AFP Conversations about payment reconciliation, reporting, deposit tracking, training and more. Discuss retail payments at AFP 2018 this November in Chicago. Save $100 off re...

Bryan Lapidus, director of the FP&A practice with the Association for Financial Professionals, previously worked in financial planning and analysis for American Express and Fannie Mae. He also leads the FP&A Council, a group of finance professionals, and he writes frequently about forecasting, Excel and more. Lapidus joined AFP Conversations to discuss where FP&A is at and where's it's headed. Dis...

Blockchain has the potential to make regulatory compliance for such laws as FBAR and KYC faster and easier to document. Adrian Clarke, founder of Evident Proof, discusses his company's new blockchain-based technology aimed squarely at treasury and finance compliance. Clarke is a former Innovation Director with Microsoft. Discuss blockchain at AFP 2018 this November in Chicago. Save $100 off regist...

The London Interbank Offered Rate -- aka LIBOR -- is the most widely-used benchmark for short-term interest rates in the world. So if LIBOR is so popular, then why is it going away? And what's replacing it? Ming Min Lee, a principal with Oliver Wyman, has the answers.  After you listen, check out AFP's LIBOR transition plan for a rundown of the issue, plus key actions you can take now. Discuss LIB...

Upgrading a treasury management system usually is so complicated that not only can the TMS switch fail, but treasurers can lose their jobs as a result. Jon Burkhead, Senior Director, Global Treasury at OpenText, explains how his company successfully upgraded its TMS -- and, in a clever twist, used one of the company's products to secure a successful transition. Learn more about OpenText: https://b...

For nearly three decades Ron Insana has been a highly respected business journalist and author. In this episode of AFP Conversations the CNBC and MSNBC contributor offers his thoughts on blockchain (bullish), bitcoin (bearish) and how he got his start in television: "Beats the hell out of me," he says. Insana will speak at AFP 2018 in Chicago this November. Save $100 off registration when you use...

In this episode of AFP Conversations master storyteller Doug Stevenson talks about how he got his start in storytelling, his time sharing a movie scene with Chuck Norris, and how treasury and finance professionals can use storytelling at work. Stevenson is the founder of Story Theater International and creator of The Story Theater Method. He's taught storytelling to clients at Google, Microsoft, T...

Futurist, self-described global nomad, and the author of The Dictionary Of Dangerous Ideas, Mike Walsh helps companies design their business for the 21st century. Walsh spoke to AFP Conversations host Ira Apfel about the business organization of the 21st century and what treasury and finance professionals can do to adapt.  Walsh will be a featured speaker at AFP 2018, this November in Chicago. Lea...

What's the payment landscape like outside America? Just travel to Canada and you'll see some really interesting developments -- and here to explain it all is Ryan Stewart, North American Chief Commercial Officer for Bambora, a Swedish payments company founded in 2015. In less than 3 years Bambora has grown to more than 600 employees in 7 countries, processing more than 45 billion in Euros annually...

In this episode of AFP Conversations Tom Klein asks, "Where are all the quick wins for blockchain?" Treasury and finance professionals increasingly are asking this question as well. Klein argues that companies are not asking a simple question: What benefit can blockchain bring in the next 3-6 months? Klein is the founder of Business Block, which helps companies implement blockchain.  

Stephanie Uhl is assistant treasurer of Forest City Realty Trust, a NYSE-listed company with nearly $1 billion in annual revenue. But Uhl didn't start there 13 years ago as a treasury associate. Actually, she was hired as a part-time receptionist. "This was just an entry-level position to get me through college," she says. "And then it leads to a wildly different career. It's pretty amazing, don't...

When you think about who conducts cutting-edge treasury and finance, global Fortune 500 businesses probably come to mind. To that group, you should add World Vision International. World Vision is a humanitarian, relief and advocacy organization with more than $1 billion in annual revenue operating in approximately 70 developing nations across the globe. And yes, World Vision International is defin...

Today's guest, Geetanjali Tandon, has a lot to say -- about FP&A, IT, women in finance, cooking ... even Lego. She's a well-known presence on finance social media, constantly blogging, tweeting and authoring articles.  Geetanjali, who is Global IT Finance Lead for Monsanto, talked to AFP Conversations about her current role and the challenges she faces, why she's so active on social media, her int...

A new study from the Association for Financial Professionals found that more than half of treasury and finance professionals believe robotic process automation will have a moderate or significant impact on their work. Yet only 14 percent said they are confident their organizations are ready for risks that come with RPA. You can download the full report at AFPonline.org/RiskSurvey . Today's guest,...

Everybody is concerned about payments fraud: Consumers. Law enforcement. And treasury and finance professionals. Yet, a new survey by the Association for Financial Professionals and underwritten by JP Morgan found that payments fraud is at its highest recorded level on record. Why is payments fraud reaching new heights every year despite universal concern and millions of dollars spent on law enfor...

Ripple is arguably the leading blockchain-based payments platform today. And it is growing: It has a new partnership to enter the payments market in China, and it is collaborating with multiple financial services companies, including American Express. Marcus Treacher, Ripple's SVP of Customer Success, spoke to AFP Conversations about why Ripple has taken the lead in an extremely competitive market...

When John Drzik was last on the podcast talking about global risk, the world was a very different place. There was a great deal of political uncertainty in the United States and concerns over the global economy. Drzik is back to discuss the state of global risk in 2018 and the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2018, for which his organization is a strategic partner. Drzik is president of...

What was happening in July 2016? Brexit. ISIS. And Pokemon Go, for that matter. Here's what else occurred in July 2016: AFP Conversations published its first episode -- and today we taped our 100th episode!  To celebrate, the first guest from Episode No. 1 returns: Anthony Scaglione, executive vice president and chief financial officer of ABM Industries, a publicly-traded, Fortune 500 company. We'...

There's no question that fintech will disrupt treasury and finance, right? According to Eric Rosenbach, there are three significant challenges that need to be overcome before mass adoption does occur. A former Pentagon Chief of Staff and Assistant Secretary of Defense, for six years Rosenbach led the Department of Defense on cyber issues, including during high-profile attacks on the United States...

Philip Peck is passionate about two things: FP&A and finance transformation. Peck, a vice president with the Peloton Group, tells AFP Conversations host Ira Apfel why finance transformation is so important to organizations today, and he discusses the latest trends in FP&A, enterprise performance management, and business intelligence. Peck will lead a session on FP&A and finance transformation at ...

Darrell West has been researching technological disruption since he founded the Center for Technology Innovation at The Brookings Institution in 2010. West is concerned that our current governing processes are too deliberate and incremental to keep pace with today's rapid technological change. West spoke to AFP Conversations about his book, Megachange, and the implications of his research on corpo...

Chris Ortega does financial planning and analysis for Emarsys North America, but he's increasingly interested in artificial intelligence. In this episode of AFP Conversations, Ortega discusses the future of FP&A and AI, why FP&A may be late adopters of this new technology, and the lessons he's learned on his journey from accounting to finance and employee to leader. Ortega will lead a session abou...

In her new book, Magnificent Leadership, executive coach Sarah Levitt interviewed business leaders for their insights and lessons learned. Levitt will keynote BreakThrough Treasury and Finance for corporate treasury and finance executives this May where she'll talk about building high-performing teams. "A high-performing team is really now a baseline for what organizations and leaders need," she t...

Dan Conner served in the Green Berets doing explosives and demolitions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today he runs a fintech startup, DisLedger, a distributed ledger technology firm with a patent pending. DisLedger's target markets are high volume transactions like FX and capital markets clearing. Conner discusses his goals for the company, his aspirations for DLT, and how he went from serving in the U...