1206: The CFO as an Architect of Execution | Phil Fracassa, CFO, Magna International

At Timken, it was generally known that Phil Fracassa knew he would become CFO after the company separated its steel business. But first, he tells us, the board gave him a different assignment: lead the project management office and set both resulting companies up for success.

The separation followed pressure from an activist investor and extensive board consideration of strategy, stakeholder impact, operating performance, capital allocation, risk, and long-term shareholder value, according to Fracassa. Once the decision was made, his team had just under a year to carve out a business that had been part of Timken for 85 years.

That meant standing up and staffing a company, capitalizing it, unwinding entanglements, separating systems, establishing processes, and developing public-company protocols. Fracassa tells us the work reached virtually every function, including legal, HR, IT, operations, finance, treasury, and tax.

His own position carried a particular tension. Although Fracassa knew where he would land after the spin, he says he had to remain “independent, fair, impartial.” His decisions had to serve both companies—not just the one where he would soon hold the CFO title.

According to Fracassa, the experience brought together the disciplines he had accumulated across his career. It also left him with a durable conviction: “Strategy really lies in the execution.”

Great ideas and thoughtful analysis were not enough, he tells us. Value emerged only when people came together, worked through the issues, and executed. For Fracassa, that is where finance becomes most powerful: beyond the numbers, serving as “an architect of execution” inside the business.

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1214: The CFO Checklist Keeps Growing | Jack Gordon, CFO, Harri

For Jack Gordon, the CFO role at Harri increasingly extends beyond finance—and into the mechanics of how an AI-powered business scales.Harri, a workforce operating system focused on hospitality, has e...

13 Syys 56min

1213: When Constructive Tension Yields Sharper Decisions | Martin Uhrik, CFO, Third Bridge

When Martin Uhrik compared the margins of two visual-effects brands at Technicolor, one appeared far more profitable than the other. Uhrik tells us the reported difference prompted him to investigate....

9 Syys 54min

1212: When Working Capital Rewrites the CFO Agenda | Dan Barzily, CFO, Tipalti

Shortly after Dan Barzily became CFO of Tipalti, a go-to-market transformation altered the company’s working-capital profile. One quarter later, Barzily tells us, the company missed its forecast acros...

6 Syys 36min

1211: Mission, Means, and the Will to Grow | Jonathan Ma, CFO, Sutter Health

Jonathan Ma recalls being at his parents’ home in Nebraska one Saturday when his Morgan Stanley boss called with advice: pursue an opportunity at Sutter Health. After nearly 15 years, the mentor belie...

2 Syys 39min

1210: The Best Trade May Be the One You Don’t Make | Shiv Verma, CFO, Robinhood

Six weeks before Lehman Brothers went under, Shiv Verma tells us, he joined a hedge fund as the world felt like it was falling apart. After building structured-credit and CLO models at J.P. Morgan fro...

30 Elo 53min

1209: Finding a Larger Voice in the Room | Ross Grainger, CFO, Nasuni

Ross Grainger remembers an early chapter of his career when finance was only one part of the job.After stepping outside a traditional finance path to own and operate a Mako auto-body franchise, Graing...

26 Elo 33min

1208: Quality, Trust, and Scale | Cal Brouilette, CFO, Flatiron Health

Cal Brouilette recalls a sleepless night in Houston, speaking at 3 a.m. with someone from Blackstone about a purchase-and-sale agreement and transition-service agreements. It concerned a power-plant p...

23 Elo 46min

1207: Putting Guardrails Around Aggressive Growth | Jamie Schroeder, CFO, Premium Guard Inc.

Jamie Schroeder’s finance career began on the shop floor at Ford Motor Company. As part of Ford’s rotational development program, Schroeder tells us, he spent a month working in the paint shop at an a...

19 Elo 47min