From Big 4 Auditor to CFO: How to Make People Want to Work With You in Finance - James White (Live in Atlanta)

From Big 4 Auditor to CFO: How to Make People Want to Work With You in Finance - James White (Live in Atlanta)

He spent over 20 years at Ernst & Young. He did a secondment to Berlin, Germany by himself. He went back to Alabama to take over the CPA firm his father started 50 years ago. And then he made the leap to CFO of a Nasdaq-listed AI company. In this episode, I sit down in person with James White, CFO of ScanTech AI Systems. James is a multi-state CPA, an AICPA board member, and the son of one of the first Black CPAs in the state of Alabama. We talk about what kept him in public accounting for 20 years when most people leave in five. How he made himself easy to get to know in rooms where he was often the only one who looked like him. Why he believes being the smartest person in the room is not what gets you ahead. What he had to learn and unlearn when he moved from auditor to CFO. How he motivates people who are not as driven as the type A teams he came from in public accounting. Why he told a room full of AICPA leaders that he has always felt like an imposter and how that honesty actually helped him. T he moment his daughter said she did not want to be an accountant because of how much he worked, and how that changed everything about how he leads. And the generational story that starts with his great-grandfather building a park in Alabama and ends with James sitting on the AICPA board. Whether you are in public accounting thinking about making the jump, already in the CFO seat figuring out how to lead, or trying to understand what it really takes to make people want to work with you, this conversation covers it.

From 6x National Champion to Fortune 500 Chief Audit Officer - Lori Kaczynski on Leadership and Resilience

She won six Canadian national championships in speed skating and was training for the Olympics. Then, had a car accident at 18. Four knee surgeries. Three years of rehabilitation. Today Lori Kaczynski is the Senior Vice President and Chief Audit, Risk, and Compliance Officer at Graphic Packaging International, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Atlanta. She leads global internal audit, compliance, and enterprise risk management. In this episode, I sit down in person with Lori. We talk about what competitive athletics taught her about discipline and resilience that she carries into the boardroom today. How she moved from a small Canadian town of 5,000 people to building a career in Atlanta with no coaching and no roadmap. Why she hires internal auditors based on soft skills and culture fit before technical ability. The difference between leading audit with an enforcement mindset versus a business partner mindset and why one gets people to call you with their problems and the other makes them hide. The Von Mises framework she uses when people resist change. How a network of 60 Fortune 500 women chief audit executives became her most valuable career resource. What her husband accidentally taught her about networking. And why she is building what she calls a "portfolio career" for what comes next. Whether you are in audit, risk, compliance, or any finance leadership role, this conversation will challenge how you think about what it really takes to lead at a high level.

How Finance Teams Should Be Using AI Right Now, with Chad Gold, CFO of Fullstory

He started at Ernst & Young, moved to Home Depot where he had a front row seat to one of the most operational CFOs in the country, then jumped into high-growth startups and never looked back. In this episode, I sit down in person with Chad Gold, 2022 CFO of the Year by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and current CFO of Fullstory. Chad drove 10x growth in enterprise value at SalesLoft to over $2.3 billion and was the first CFO at G2. We talk about why he left the stability of Home Depot for startups and what his wife thinks about that risk. His "lines not dots" principle for building relationships that actually shape your career. His playbook for the first 90 days in a new CFO role and why most leaders make the mistake of trying to tackle everything at once. How to get the business to bring finance in early instead of after the fact. Why the CFO, not the CTO, should be leading AI adoption inside the company. How his team cut the close process by 50% using AI and is going for another 50%. The SEC agent they built that reviews contracts in minutes. How they automated daily cash reporting with Claude in five minutes. Why he thinks the finance org chart is shifting from a triangle to a diamond. And the whiteboard lesson from his Home Depot boss that changed how he thinks about success forever. Whether you are a CFO trying to figure out where AI actually fits, a finance leader navigating high-growth, or someone thinking about making the leap from big company to startup, this conversation covers it.

Former Starbucks IR SVP: How a Homeless Teenager Ended Up Managing $130 Billion Market Cap on Wall Street

In this episode of The Diary of a CFO: Live in Atlanta, I sit down in person with Tiffany Willis. Tiffany is a global investor relations executive who recently served as Senior Vice President at Starbucks, where she managed nearly $130 billion in market capitalization. She is a Wharton graduate, an Adjunct Professor at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, a CPA, a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and a former Miss Black Georgia USA. Behind that bio is a story most people would never expect. Tiffany was pregnant at 14, dropped out of school in the 9th grade, and was homeless. She kept her baby's milk on a windowsill because she had no refrigerator. We talk about what carried her through that chapter and into boardrooms with Howard Schultz and Mellody Hobson. How she transitioned from public accounting into investor relations and why that shift required a completely different way of thinking. The art of storytelling as a finance leader and why most finance professionals struggle with it. Her swimming pool analogy for how to make numbers feel real to non-finance people. The WIFM framework she uses to get buy-in across every function. How being Miss Black Georgia USA gave her the communication foundation she uses in boardrooms today. And why she wrote her book Own Your Narrative to help leaders stop hiding from their story and start leading from it. Get Tiffany's book, Own Your Narrative: https://www.amazon.com/Own-Your-Narrative-Resilience-Restored/dp/1918077835/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 [https://www.amazon.com/Own-Your-Narrative-Resilience-Restored/dp/1918077835/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0]

The Unlikely Journey of a $3 Billion CFO, William Washington III

He dropped out of high school. He was a single father. He started his career at a cottonseed company. Now he oversees $3 billion in annual revenue across 76 offices in 45 countries as the Global CFO of Baker McKenzie, one of the largest law firms in the world. In this episode, I sit down with William Washington III. William brings a rare combination of financial acumen and operational expertise shaped by senior roles at Hogan Lovells, Accenture, and Fannie Mae. He is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt and a Bloomberg New Voice on the future of finance. We get into what it actually looks like to lead finance across 45 countries and how he adapted his communication style for teams that speak different languages and operate in different cultures. How he evaluates a finance organization when he walks in on day one. The executive coaching session where a 360 review showed him something about his leadership he did not want to see. Why the drive that made him a great director was the same thing holding him back from becoming CFO. How he leads as a self-described introvert, including how he sets boundaries to recharge. Why he went back to school for a Master's in Law Firm Management just to understand his industry. And his philosophy on the three books every finance professional should always be reading. Whether you are a finance leader trying to grow into the CFO seat, already in it and figuring out how to lead at scale, or building resilience through a chapter that feels impossible, this conversation will meet you where you are.