Derek Paulson is Director of Finance and Performing Marketing at Rad Power Bikes, a Seattle-based e-bike company changing transportation. In this episode he talks about his approach to navigating tariffs (“There no, no word in the English language more scary to a finance professional than the word uncertainty” says Paulson as he discusses required “efficiency” and “flexibility” in their supply chains). He also reveals his approach to the finance transformation required to shift Rad Power from a direct-to-consumer to an e-commerce and retail focused model, that is “starting with a blank Excel sheet to do the modeling for Rad Power Bikes”. In this episode:

• How Honeywell and PepsiCo are top training grounds for finance leaders
• Efficiency vs flexibility in supply chains
• Is an MBA worth it in finance?
• Data privacy, AI, and finance
• Making the case for SUMIFs

Connect with Derek Paulson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekpaulson/

“The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) is a non-for-profit with a really simple mission, which makes it really easy for me to wake up and know what I’m doing every day,” says Bryan Lapidus, Director, FP&A Practice at the Association for Financial Professionals. “We exist for the success of the corporate finance and treasury professionals. FPAC, our certified corporate FP&A certification has been in the market for about 11 years now and 5,000 people have earned it in more than 80 countries.”

Returning guest Lapidus joins Glenn Hopper as they discuss the climate for FP&A including:

• Evolution of FP&A and AI
• Certificates vs Certification
• Why business school doesn’t prepare you for FP&A roles
• The impact of Sarbanes-Oxley on changing the CFO role
• Why you need different CFOs at various stages of a company lifecycle
• Why FP&A professionals are so hirable and promotable
• How to become CFO from an FP&A role

Annette DeYoung, Principal Solutions Consultant at Datarails, is an accountant-turned FP&A manufacturing leader. She has deep experience in leading finance teams at manufacturing companies including Berner Food and Beverage, Rockford Products, Fairbanks Morse Engine, and JL Clark. It was at JL Clark, as Director of FP&A, that Annette implemented FP&A Solution, Datarails to mop up inefficiencies and end drain all-late night sessions at the finance department— she liked the product so much she ended up joining the company and has since spoken to more than 1000 FP&A professionals seeking to love FP&A again by removing tedious repetitive processes.

In this episode

• Why I fell in love with manufacturing and finance over my career
• How creativity drew me from accounting to FP&A
• Why a hard-coded accountant attitude was difficult to reconcile with more creative FP&A
• How to create finance business partnerships on the manufacturing floor
• Why I brought Datarails into my finance team at JL Clarke
• The future of Excel in FP&A
• Is finance (finally) making a move with AI?
• The power of getting out of your comfort zone in finance

Connect with Annette on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahdeyoung/