Strategic Finance Lab

Just Technologies CEO Anders Bakke wants to give corporates pricing data that lets them negotiate better with banks. In the newest episode of NeuGroup’s Strategic Finance Lab podcast, NeuGroup founder and CEO Joseph Neu talks with a man on a mission to bring more pricing transparency to corporate treasury teams that trade in the foreign exchange market. His name is Anders Nicolai Bakke , a serial...

Healthy skepticism and sharp critical thinking are governing principles for Airbnb treasurer Brian Moore. In this episode, he explains how a critical—but not negative—approach provided the framework for deciding whether Airbnb should start accepting cryptocurrency from guests who use its booking platform. The decision, for now, not to accept crypto like bitcoin came down to the costs relative to o...

Steve Rosvold envisions chief financial officers and their teams using analysis skills to drive sales, while taking a wide view of risk. In the newest episode of NeuGroup’s  Strategic Finance Lab  podcast, Rosvold, the founder and chief learning officer of  CFO.University , shares a vision of the future for chief financial officers and the teams they manage, including FP&A. It’s a future where...

Many finance professionals at multinational corporations remain skeptics about cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins. No wonder: Fraud charges tied to the collapse of  ⁠FTX⁠  as well as two stablecoins losing their dollar pegs— ⁠Terra⁠  and  ⁠USDC⁠ —have fueled well-founded fears about the world of digital assets in the last year. But that’s  ⁠not the whole story⁠ . To help shed more light on wh...

PwC principal Kristen Michaud discusses her career path from biology to finance, and what she’s learned along the way. In the latest episode of NeuGroup's Strategic Finance Lab podcast, Kristen Michaud, a principal in PwC's Finance Transformation group, joins NeuGroup’s Julie Zawacki-Lucci to discuss what they’ve learned from decades in finance—and advice they wish they’d received earlier...

Sandra Ramos-Alves was an assistant treasurer at Celgene when Bristol Myers Squibb bought it in 2019. By June of 2021, she was acting treasurer of BMS. And in October of that year she was named senior vice president and treasurer of the pharmaceutical giant that had acquired the company where she had worked for more than 14 years. In a Strategic Finance Lab podcast episode you can hear by heading...

How Emily Backstrom of General Mills navigates career and family, and how the company supports women in finance. In this Strategic Finance Lab podcast marking Women’s History Month, Emily Backstrom , vice president for corporate finance at General Mills, shares with NeuGroup’s Nilly Essaides how she has successfully managed a 21-year career at the company, rising to her current position overseeing...

Loop Capital’s Sidney Dillard and Sobani Warner of Siebert Williams Shank discuss their careers, working at Black-owned firms, the role of D&I coordinators and more. Many multinational corporations in recent years have increased their commitment to hiring banks, brokerage firms and asset managers that are owned by members of minority groups—so-called diverse-owned firms. NeuGroup is committed...

Bank of the West’s Andreas Bubenzer-Paim on markets, ChatGPT and bankers helping tech firms weather recessions. The collapse of the IPO market in 2022 is just one factor weighing on growth-tech firms that need financing as they prepare for a possible economic downturn while watching many mega-cap tech companies eliminate jobs. That’s the backdrop for this timely Strategic Finance Lab podcast conve...

Baxter International FP&A head Aaron Bloomer shares insights on how FP&A can lead finance into the digital future. The buzz surrounding the OpenAI  tool ChatGPT  has highlighted the power of artificial intelligence and the potential for AI to bring the future of finance forward—in ways that will further disrupt and transform finance organizations. That’s the jumping-off point for...

NVA treasurer Chris Ingoldsby shares insights grounded in his creation of the treasury function at two companies. Building a complete treasury team is a marathon, not a sprint. However, there’s real value in a new treasurer scoring some quick wins soon after joining a company. That’s according to  Chris Ingoldsby , an ultramarathoner who created the treasury function at NVA, and previously bu...

Timely insights on liquidity and how finance can add value to the business from Chris Ortega of Fresh FP&A. “Profits are a dream but cash is a reality.” That’s among the timely, on-target insights aimed at CFOs, treasurers and other finance executives in this episode of NeuGroup’s Strategic Finance Lab podcast. It’s delivered by Chris Ortega , the CEO of Fresh FP&A , a consultancy focused...

Laura Burns of WTW explains the benefits of policies that insure losses caused by geopolitical crises in episode nine of NeuGroup’s Strategic Finance Lab podcast. Russia’s escalating war with Ukraine and rising tensions between the US and China are two big reasons why multinational corporations might want to consider buying political risk insurance—in other regions of the world, where it’s not too...

In a world with growing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, also known as VUCA , so grows the importance of finance organizations that can accurately see what’s coming down the pipeline, understand how that will impact the company and how to adjust. And the skills FP&A brings to the table are critical to succeeding in that mission. In the latest Strategic Finance Lab podcast epi...

Influential issuers, investment banks and investors are pushing to give diversity brokerage firms active roles and more meaningful opportunities in corporate debt deals: NeuGroup’s Strategic Finance Lab podcast, episode 7. NeuGroup founder and CEO Joseph Neu leads a panel discussion on the roles corporate debt issuers, investment banks and investors can play in providing more meaningful economics...

Christine Jensen brought 15 years of experience working at corporations including eBay and Johnson Controls to Cloudflare last August when the fast-growing cloud platform and cybersecurity company hired her to run treasury. To build a top-notch treasury team, she’s drawing on best practices and perspective learned at other corporates in the US and abroad, her proven ability to thrive under pressur...

The likelihood of a US recession is raising the stakes for finance executives whose responsibilities include planning, forecasting and budgeting. And a critical first step to prepare for the future is to learn from the past. That’s among the takeaways from this podcast interview with Eric Davis , a vice president of finance at WM, the company formerly known as Waste Management.  Mr. Davis has...

Investors who don’t acknowledge that countries and companies are decarbonizing as they commit to net-zero emission goals will find themselves on the “wrong end of a massive flow of capital.” That pragmatic approach to sustainable investing is among the insights you’ll hear in this podcast featuring Marina Severinovsky , Head of Sustainability for North America at Schroders . In an interview with N...

Guest: Tim Muindi, Treasurer and Vice President, ServiceNow In the third episode of NeuGroup’s Strategic Finance Lab podcast, ServiceNow treasurer Tim Muindi shares about his role in ServiceNow’s $100 million racial equity fund managed by RBC Global Asset Management that aims to boost homeownership, affordable housing and entrepreneurship in 10 Black communities where ServiceNow employees live and...

Guest: Subadra Rajappa, Managing Director and Head of US Rates Strategy, Societe Generale As Women’s History Month draws to a close, Nilly Essaides, Managing Director for Research and Insight at NeuGroup, discusses some of the obstacles facing women pursuing careers in finance—and the keys to overcome them—with Subadra Rajappa, head of US rates strategy at Societe Generale. Rajappa believes mentor...

Guest: Stephen Ferguson, leader of The Hackett Group’s Account-to-Report Advisory Practice, EMEA NeuGroup’s Nilly Essaides, Managing Director for Research and Insight, interviews The Hackett Group’s Stephen Ferguson about the need for financial planning and analysis (FP&A), treasury and other finance teams to take a comprehensive approach to helping   corporations make good on achieving t...