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When this interview was recorded, Stacey Ryan-Cornelius was CFO at Ogilvy—a company she knew intimately after rising through its ranks and navigating leadership roles across the broader WPP network. Since then, Ryan-Cornelius has taken on the global CFO role for Burson, a public relations and communications firm also under WPP. Her core message for finance leaders remains the same: Great CFOs must master both the numbers and the narrative. She joins host Jack McCullough to share her own leadership journey, and advice for how finance leaders can guide their companies through complexity while still leaving room for innovation. Listen by…

Meta Platforms Inc., the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, recently settled a privacy lawsuit that spared some key executives and its board of directors from testifying in open court. Although settling a lawsuit is rarely a desirable action for a board of directors, it is generally preferable to having board members testify in open court, where confidential information about the company's operations may be discussed. Board members at other companies may want to identify the actions (or inactions) that led Meta shareholders to sue the tech giants and prevent their companies from doing the same. This is particularly important…

Small business resources often face enterprise-level expectations. Financial industry leaders are under pressure to deploy AI while balancing opportunities and risks such as cyber threats, tariffs, regulatory complexity, and talent shortages. CFOs are scrutinizing the best tools for finance and overseeing AI investments across the organization. A plethora of “shiny” tools are competing for your attention and budget. But the long road to getting results from these tools is now much shorter. When it comes to AI, the era of “bring the receipt'' has arrived. KPMG's recent CEO Outlook found that 90% of CEOs are dramatically accelerating their AI ROI…

Legal and compliance leaders rate the level of risk in the current business environment as 7.9 out of 10. 1 is negligible and 10 is critical. Although this is a 16% increase from Q1 levels, this figure has remained relatively flat since Q3, suggesting that the increase in risk may be stabilizing. While a new year often brings a renewed sense of optimism and a reset of mindset, legal and compliance leaders will end 2025 with deep-seated concerns about the risk landscape. corporate director and the Diligent Institute point out that pressures across the economic, regulatory and political realms combine…

When Adam Boinot founded Hylaine in 2017, he believed that the traditional model of technology consulting had lost its integrity: over-promising deliverables, treating clients like one-time deals, and trading junior staff for senior staff. He set out to build a company that approached consulting differently. That means a company that is publicly committed to putting client needs, transparency, and long-term partnerships ahead of short-term profits. Eight years later, Hylaine's value-first approach has resulted in 216% revenue growth over three years and a spot on the Inc. 5000 list for four consecutive years, including the 2025 ranking. The company currently operates…

What did Caterpillar, a global economic bellwether with more than 4 million products, more than 110,000 employees and a network of dealers in 190 countries, need in its next finance chief? For a company that usually harvested its top executives from a population of employees with decades of experience internally, it was someone with no Caterpillar experience at all—or even any experience in construction, mining or transportation. At least that’s what it looks like in Andrew Bonfield’s seventh year as CFO of the industrial giant that is now 100 years old, 59th on the Fortune 500 and sporting a market…

Jim Case sees opportunity in this uncertain economic climate. The founder and CEO of TFG Financial said a broader group of companies are seeking the flexibility his company offers, and he plans to expand the Vancouver-based company across the United States. “Today's opportunity lies in the convergence of speed, asset insight, and customized structure,” he tells CFO Leadership. TFS Financial is a member of the Travelers Group of Companies and provides capital solutions to traditional small and medium-sized businesses in North America. Case founded Travelers in 1986 and led successful partnerships and exits with Scotiabank, Coast Capital Equipment Finance Ltd.,…

1961 hit musical How to succeed in business without really trying In the film, an ambitious window cleaner is promoted to CEO and sings the praises of his future in front of the executive bathroom mirror. The play featured Frank Loesser's satirical ballad “I Believe in You,” which mocked simplistic career recipes and self-help manuals. Despite this ridicule, confidence is as essential to career success as trust from others. Recognizing your career potential by a skilled mentor is important in a new book by U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick and his wife, prominent financial executive and former National Security Director Dina…

Tensions become acute when boards inherit decades of accumulated systems, processes, and organizational debt along with ambitious growth plans. How can you modernize quickly enough to compete globally while maintaining operational integrity across your franchise network? That's the challenge facing the board of Tony Roma's parent company RomaCorp, which is simultaneously cutting through traditional complexities and expanding into markets such as China and the Middle East. The board approach reveals how governance can move beyond oversight to active strategic prioritization, especially when resources are finite and every decision cascades across franchisees. In the following interview, Tony Roma CEO and Romacorp…

Here's the hard truth that most CEOs don't want to admit. Your talent strategy can either make your company invincible or powerless. Having founded multiple companies and led teams of tens of thousands of people over the past 25 years, I can tell you that the biggest mistake leaders make is believing their talent strategy can be imitated. They read books, hire HR consultants, and assume there is a universal strategy for managing people. there is no. At Simpro Group, we see this every day. The success of our commercial and residential trade customers depends on our ability to successfully…