CFO THOUGHT LEADER

Late one night in Calgary, Amy Wang was running final checks on a billion-dollar transaction when something didn’t sit right. “My immediate instinct…was to dismiss it,” she tells us. After all, multiple teams and advisors had already vetted the deal. But she couldn’t let it go. Instead, she challenged the work—carefully, respectfully—and was right. The correction prevented more than a million dollars from being misallocated.
That moment became a defining inflection point. It reshaped how Wang viewed leadership—not as deference to expertise, but as the willingness to trust one’s own judgment. Titles and credentials, she tells us, may signal experience, but they don’t guarantee accuracy.
Her path to CFO may appear traditional—beginning in audit and progressing through finance roles—but Wang emphasizes that the real education came from moments like this. Early in her career, she believed success meant mastering the numbers. But during Solium’s acquisition by Morgan Stanley, she saw that “everyone can read a spreadsheet,” she tells us. What truly moved the deal forward was the ability to articulate a compelling narrative behind those numbers.
Today, as CFO, Wang carries both lessons forward. Technical skills may “get you into the room,” she tells us, but leadership requires asking better questions, making decisions with imperfect information, and having the courage to speak up.
In an era increasingly shaped by AI, she believes that judgment—not data alone—will ultimately differentiate finance leaders.

In 2023, stepping into the CFO role at Twilio, Aidan Viggiano faced a defining reality: “the first hard call was a layoff,” she tells us. The company had surged during the pandemic as digital communications accelerated, but by mid-2022, growth slowed while profitability lagged. “We can’t be slowing in growth and not be profitable and not generating cash,” she explains, describing the moment that forced a fundamental shift in strategy.
Over the next six months, Twilio reduced its workforce by about 40%, she tells us—a decision that tested not just financial discipline but leadership resolve. For Viggiano, the experience underscored a core principle: communication is as critical as the decision itself. “The importance of over communication…being transparent… and treating everybody with humanity,” she tells us, became central to how she navigated the transition.
This moment reflects a broader leadership mindset shaped by aligning growth with accountability. The pivot from rapid expansion to balanced performance required not only cost action but a cultural reset—one grounded in clarity, trust, and execution.
At the same time, Viggiano continues to frame Twilio’s value through its role as a communications infrastructure provider, powering interactions between businesses and consumers at scale. From authentication codes to real-time customer engagement, the company’s reach is often invisible but essential.
For Viggiano, the lesson is clear: finance leadership is not only about numbers—it is about guiding organizations through inflection points with transparency, discipline, and humanity.

Early in his career, Rich Schmidt recalls presenting an analysis of an operational challenge to leadership—only to be told, “we want you to go fix it.” The assignment marked a turning point. What began as financial analysis quickly became ownership, execution, and accountability across the business.
That moment would come to define Schmidt’s future career path—one that would unfold almost entirely within Inmar Intelligence. After starting in public accounting—“a grind,” as he tells us—he gained exposure to multiple industries in rapid succession, from manufacturing to healthcare. Yet it was inside Inmar where his trajectory took shape, as he moved beyond traditional finance into roles that blended technology, operations, and execution.
Rather than follow a conventional path across multiple companies, Schmidt built a reputation as a problem solver within one. Each new challenge expanded his scope. Each solution deepened trust. Over time, that pattern—analyze, act, deliver—created opportunities that no job change could have replicated.
At times, the path brought uncertainty. He admits he wrestled with whether he was moving “sideways” instead of forward. But those lateral moves became his advantage—preparing him to lead initiatives like M&A integrations and enterprise transformations that required both insight and execution.
Years later, that same mindset informed a defining leadership decision. Facing operational complexity after multiple acquisitions, Schmidt led a transition to a cloud-based ERP system—an investment that reduced the company’s close cycle from “eight to ten days” to “four and a half days,” he tells us.
Looking back, Schmidt’s journey challenges a common assumption: that advancement requires moving on. In his case, growth came from going deeper—solving problems across the enterprise and building a reputation that ultimately carried him to the CFO seat.

Tony MacDonald prefers a different image of the CFO role—one that replaces restraint with direction. “I would like to be considered as one of the people on the stagecoach that helps hold the reins,” he tells us, describing sales as “the horses that I want galloping always full speed ahead.”
That mindset was shaped during his time at Oracle, where he operated inside a deeply sales-driven organization. There, MacDonald learned that finance could influence growth not by limiting it, but by guiding it. His role extended beyond oversight—he led financial planning across an organization of roughly 140,000 people, gaining visibility into how revenue engines scale and where they break down, he tells us.
Today, that experience informs how he approaches revenue operations. Rather than acting as a gatekeeper, MacDonald positions finance as an enabler—rewarding “exceptional performance…unconditionally relative to quality revenue,” while maintaining rigorous control over the metrics that matter, he tells us.
This balance requires precision. From lead generation through the sales funnel, MacDonald emphasizes continuous calibration—using data to refine performance and ensure that growth is both measurable and repeatable. He remains actively involved, even helping build marketing dashboards to improve visibility across the funnel, he tells us.
For MacDonald, revenue operations is not a support function—it is where finance and strategy intersect. The goal is simple: let sales run fast, but make sure they’re headed in the right direction.

In this CFO Thought Leader episode, Jack Sweeney speaks with technology general counsel Akin Adekeye about when AI becomes a board-level concern. Adekeye explains AI crosses into governance when it impacts risk, capital allocation, and competitiveness. He highlights “shadow AI” risks, regulatory uncertainty, and the need for structured oversight. Effective governance includes board involvement, executive ownership, and clear operating controls. CFOs play a central role in balancing innovation with risk, ensuring organizations neither lag competitors nor expose themselves to harm. Looking ahead, AI governance will become standardized, with rising expectations for board literacy, disclosure, and formal control frameworks.
Three Key Takeaways
1. AI becomes a board issue when it impacts enterprise risk and capital allocation
The transition point is not technical maturity—it’s strategic exposure. Once AI influences risk posture, investment decisions, or long-term strategy, it moves beyond IT into board-level oversight.
2. Governance must evolve alongside AI adoption
Boards can no longer treat AI as a siloed innovation effort. It requires structured governance frameworks that address accountability, transparency, and cross-functional implications.
3. Legal and finance leaders play a critical translation role
General Counsels and CFOs are essential in helping boards understand AI’s implications—bridging technical capabilities with risk, compliance, and strategic decision-making.