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As countries attempted to move towards more renewable energy sources, supply and management of critical minerals became politically and economically important. One new company operating in this high-stakes environment is Toronto-based Aclara Resources, a mining company that explores and develops rare earth mineral resources in Chile, Brazil and Peru. Francois Motte Sauter has been Aclara's CFO since its spinoff from Precious Metals Company Hochschild Group in 2021. Operating at the intersection of clean technology, mining and critical minerals, Sauter says he focused on two things in his 15 years at Hochschild, “and Cost Control and Timely run,” but the formative…

If you are now CEO, your position does not depend on the vision you outlined, and more on the outcomes you have produced over the past 90 days. In 2024, more than 200 CEOs were replaced, and CEO turnover rates increased by 13% from 2023, well above the six-year average. The board moves faster, driven by market volatility, activist pressure and growing belief that changing leadership is the fastest way to unlock value. At the same time, the window to provide strategies is narrower. Expectations regarding increased margins, capital efficiency and operational control have been strengthened, and long-term conversion patience…

Following the separation of weather companies from IBM last year, weather forecasting and information providers have built financial capabilities from scratch. Michael Love, former CFO of Intuit Mailchimp, who took over finance last October, said the idea was to design something more flexible and better to suit the pace and needs of your business. “We focus on simplifying core processes such as accounting and reporting, not just for efficiency, but also to help businesses move faster and make smarter decisions,” Love says. “The goal was to create a system that supported innovation. In an interview, Harvard MBA explains that the…

For the past two years, financial technology vendors have pledged to autonomous driving ledgers and autonomous closures. This left many CFOs to assume that vendors will weld extremely AI innovations into the ERP suite. However, the most practical incarnations of financial AI have emerged when daily decisions are already being made. This is the tool that teams use to collaborate. That means slack. Or team. In short, “place” is where we all work. Technology maturity is rapidly reducing standard objections that chats are not financially safe. Think about it: Slack's Workflow Builder and Microsoft's Graphics API have secure hooks for…

Today's CFOs are strategic partners sitting at the decision table. They drive digital transformation and architect acquisition strategies, and often have deeper insights into their growth trajectories than other C-suite executives. After observing hundreds of financial leaders navigated this evolution, I saw certain recognizable archetypes crystallize. Understanding these archetypes is more than just a discipline. Whether you're a board member looking for the right CFO, a financial leader assessing your career trajectory, or a CEO determining the type of financial partnership your organization needs, these distinctions are important. Today's nine CFO archetypes restructure today's financial leadership. Number whispers (analysis CFO)…

With supply chains being destroyed and inflation continuing, many CFOs continue to hold the most pressing challenges of today, managing rising input costs while meeting customer price sensitivity. Many companies are caught up in these opposing forces and can't raise prices without risking customer churn, says Neil Markani, Managing Director of Main Points, managing director of private equity and industrial. The key to navigating this complex environment is to increase operational productivity across the board. Due to supply chain disruptions affecting all industries, implementing results-based pricing models tailored to customer demand and inventory levels can help improve margins and maintain…

What does it take to lead a mission-driven, fast-growing fintech company? In this episode, host Jack McCullough sits down with Jennifer Loo, CFO of Tala, a company revolutionizing access to financial services for the 52% of the world’s population that doesn’t have access to traditional banks. Jennifer shares her career path from LegalZoom to Reformation to Tala, revealing the lessons she learned from mission-focused businesses and how they have shaped her leadership style.She also discusses the evolving CFO role, how to balance social impact with financial sustainability, and why being a chief flexibility officer is the key to navigating an…

Every ten years, transformative technology wipes out the business world, threatens the incumbent, and creates great new opportunities for businesses that understand it first. In the 1990s, it was on the Internet. Today it is artificial intelligence.But like the high-tech bubble, AI produces big winners and big losers. No one expects corporate directors to fully understand how technology works or how it can be applied to businesses that are responsible for supervision. But they can ask the right questions. And the most important question at this point is, what is the return on investment?”One of the big challenges for directors…

The tide is probably turning. Many executives can finally move from the back to the front and start to look forward to it. Certainly, the outlook remains tenuous, but the CEO's confidence is growing. chief executive officer Reported by June CEO Consection Index. Still, I have heard and read a lot about the “belt emphasis” activity. Economic, geopolitical and social forces affect all businesses. No matter what they do, who they serve, how they are organized, wherever they are, an external context is important. And always, in good times and bad times – situations create benefits for some people and…

If your company's innovation efforts are not providing the results you want, you are not alone. Even with robust teams, innovation centers and heavy investments, most companies struggle to commercialize their ideas at scale. But there is another way: vertical innovation. This was the process of Brent Duersch, managing director of Cleveland's world-renowned Ey-Nottingham Spirk Innovation Hub, and John Nottingham, co-CEO of Nottingham Spirk, taught by participants at the recent Manufacturing Leadership Summit. Why listen to these people? This figure is only 5% of the approximately 12 million patents filed in the US, only 5% have reached commercialization. However, Nottingham…