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I've seen leadership changes strengthen an organization's identity and then quietly erode it. Differences are rarely due to strategy alone. Ultimately, it comes down to whether incoming leaders understand that culture is not automatically inherited. You have to deal with it with intention. In one case I closely observed, a mid-sized healthcare services company experienced a CEO change following the departure of its founder. The founders had established a reputation for courteous patient care and therapeutic expertise. The new CEO had a solid business background and came from a larger system. The board wanted to improve profitability and efficiency. This…

I've seen leadership changes strengthen an organization's identity and then quietly erode it. Differences are rarely due to strategy alone. Ultimately, it comes down to whether incoming leaders understand that culture is not automatically inherited. You have to deal with it with intention. In one case I closely observed, a mid-sized healthcare services company experienced a CEO change following the departure of its founder. The founders had established a reputation for courteous patient care and therapeutic expertise. The new CEO had a solid business background and came from a larger system. The board wanted to improve profitability and efficiency. This…

Private credit was promised to fill the void left by banks' withdrawal from lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. Its growth has been dramatic, with the market expanding from $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, and private credit management companies raising nearly $1.3 trillion over the past decade. In 2023 alone, these managers raised $135.7 billion. This is more than double the annual total from a decade ago. The need was real as we found that mid-sized companies with less-than-perfect financial conditions were closing their banks. Banks accounted for just 29% of corporate loans, down from 48% in 2015. For medium-sized…

If cash only appears at board meetings once a quarter, it's already too late. As the founder and CEO of Managed Services Group, a security provider specializing in regulated midmarket businesses, I've spent years building a discipline I call “Liquidity as Strategy,” leveraging not only the finance function but also compliance frameworks. Why I aim for 9-12 months of runway. I think about cash the same way I think about cybersecurity. It's insurance and leverage. Yes, there is an opportunity cost to holding more cash, but so is being forced to raise capital, reduce pricing discipline, and delay decision-making when…

For Charly Kevers, each step in his career journey has been building to his current role as CFO of Carta. After working for a number of large, public companies like Tesla, Salesforce and HP, Kevers was ready to take the reins in a leadership role. So when he was introduced to the founder of Carta almost 10 years ago—a small, privately-held software company that helps startups and investors manage company ownership, employee stock options, fundraising and equity records—he took a leap of faith. “Every stage of the company was different and the needs were different,” says Kevers. “That’s frankly what’s…

Twenty years ago this August, Jack McCullough was looking for community. Then CFO of a tech startup in Boston, McCullough wanted a place where he could bounce ideas off other finance chiefs, find solutions to problems, get inspired. Fast forward to today and he—and the entire team behind CFO Leadership Council—is about to celebrate two decades of creating just that kind of organization. Started as an almost impromptu get together of a handful of CFOs on the MIT campus, CFOLC now has 3,000-plus members across 35 chapters, hosts close to 400 events a year, has a robust email community dubbed…

Christy Tortin, CFO of Net Health, a Pittsburgh-based provider of software solutions for healthcare providers, says finance departments can no longer afford to function in isolation from the rest of the organization and focus primarily on tracking performance. Today's CFOs must be equally concerned with “shaping the future, anticipating risk, guiding decision-making, and driving strategic outcomes in line with the broader organization.” Tortin shares what it means for her and her team in medical technology, why we always need to “judge the bottom early,” and why certainty is overrated. How are you fostering stronger partnerships between your finance, clinical, and…

Growing up is never easy. 2026 is no exception. Companies that succeeded this year prepared on two fronts: agile and organic growth strategies. Agile companies that can execute tactics quickly are more likely to grow in 2026. Companies that have not built agility in recent years are doomed to repeat the lessons inflation taught us in 2022. Because it incurs higher costs and reduces margins if you don't act. Here are three scenarios for turning challenges into new opportunities for growth. Lack of energy? Extra charge now Let's start with changes in energy costs. Have you introduced special fuel surcharges…

Like many CEOs, Luis Valls, co-CEO of Turtle, is accustomed to grappling with uncertainty. Over his 22-year tenure, the electrical and industrial distribution company based in Clark, New Jersey, persevered through its share of supply chain disruptions, regulatory hurdles and assorted other disruptions. What’s different for Turtle today is the speed, scale and breadth of changes hitting from all directions, injecting new risk into everything from supply chains and capital allocation to talent development. “Volatility isn’t temporary anymore—it’s structural,” says Valls, citing the impact of tariffs and geopolitical tension on his company’s supplier markets as an example. “Lead times for…

Every CFO I talk to asks some version of the same question. Will AI replace finance teams? Will AI eventually replace me? The right questions to really take seriously are: Is my financial data enough for AI to work and drive positive change for my company and team? The AI ​​market has expanded explosively. According to Lovable, an AI app building platform, 100,000 new products are built every day on its platform alone. However, relatively few of these tools provide consistent and measurable value. Vendors often ignore difficult conversations about what should be done with data in front AI can…