The Diary of a CFO
If you're currently a CFO or on the path to become one, this podcast is for you. The Diary of a CFO takes you behind the scenes of modern finance leadership through honest conversations about how real finance leaders build their careers, make tough decisions, and carry the weight of the CFO role. Hosted by award-winning CFO Wassia Kamon, each episode covers what it actually takes to lead finance teams, work with CEOs and boards, navigate capital decisions, and grow without burning out. To suggest topics, email ask@thediaryofacfo.com. To become a guest or sponsor, visit thediaryofacfo.com.
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How to Evaluate a CFO Role in Private Equity Before You Say Yes - Chris Voudouris, 3x PE CFO
<p>Most finance leaders think about making the jump to a private equity backed company at some point. Very few know what they are actually walking into.</p><p></p><p>In this episode, I sit down with Chris Voudouris, a 3x PE CFO who has been on every side of the table. He started at KPMG in audit, moved into transaction services analyzing deals on both the buy side and sell side, then made the leap into private equity. He has led finance at multiple PE-backed companies across different industries and moved his family to Atlanta for his first...
From Big 4 Auditor to CFO: How to Make People Want to Work With You in Finance - James White (Live in Atlanta)
<p>He spent over 20 years at Ernst & Young. He did a secondment to Berlin, Germany by himself. He went back to Alabama to take over the CPA firm his father started 50 years ago. And then he made the leap to CFO of a Nasdaq-listed AI company.</p><p></p><p>In this episode, I sit down in person with James White, CFO of ScanTech AI Systems. James is a multi-state CPA, an AICPA board member, and the son of one of the first Black CPAs in the state of Alabama.</p><p></p><p>We talk about what kept him...
From 6x National Champion to Fortune 500 Chief Audit Officer - Lori Kaczynski on Leadership and Resilience
<p>She won six Canadian national championships in speed skating and was training for the Olympics. Then, had a car accident at 18. Four knee surgeries. Three years of rehabilitation.</p><p>Today Lori Kaczynski is the Senior Vice President and Chief Audit, Risk, and Compliance Officer at Graphic Packaging International, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Atlanta. She leads global internal audit, compliance, and enterprise risk management.</p><p></p><p>In this episode, I sit down in person with Lori. We talk about what competitive athletics taught her about discipline and resilience that she carries into the boardroom today. How...
How Finance Teams Should Be Using AI Right Now, with Chad Gold, CFO of Fullstory
<p>He started at Ernst & Young, moved to Home Depot where he had a front row seat to one of the most operational CFOs in the country, then jumped into high-growth startups and never looked back.</p><p>In this episode, I sit down in person with Chad Gold, 2022 CFO of the Year by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and current CFO of Fullstory. Chad drove 10x growth in enterprise value at SalesLoft to over $2.3 billion and was the first CFO at G2.</p><p>We talk about why he left the stability of Home Depot for startups and what his...
Former Starbucks IR SVP: How a Homeless Teenager Ended Up Managing $130 Billion Market Cap on Wall Street
<p>In this episode of The Diary of a CFO: Live in Atlanta, I sit down in person with Tiffany Willis. </p><p>Tiffany is a global investor relations executive who recently served as Senior Vice President at Starbucks, where she managed nearly $130 billion in market capitalization. She is a Wharton graduate, an Adjunct Professor at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, a CPA, a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and a former Miss Black Georgia USA.</p><p>Behind that bio is a story most people would never expect. Tiffany was pregnant at 14, dropped out of school in the 9th...
The Unlikely Journey of a $3 Billion CFO, William Washington III
<p>He dropped out of high school. He was a single father. He started his career at a cottonseed company. Now he oversees $3 billion in annual revenue across 76 offices in 45 countries as the Global CFO of Baker McKenzie, one of the largest law firms in the world.</p><p>In this episode, I sit down with William Washington III. William brings a rare combination of financial acumen and operational expertise shaped by senior roles at Hogan Lovells, Accenture, and Fannie Mae. He is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt and a Bloomberg New Voice on the future of finance.<...
How to Cut Your Board Reporting Process From Weeks to Days (with Fabian Ferrada)
<p>Most finance teams spend two weeks building a board report that gets reviewed in ten minutes. The formatting alone could take days. And if one number changes, the entire approval cycle restarts.</p><p>In this episode, I sit down with Fabian Ferrada, Senior Solutions Engineer at Insight Software. Before moving to tech, Fabian spent over a decade in financial and operational leadership for a publicly traded company, carrying P&L responsibility on major projects across South America and the Middle East.</p><p>We break down what a great board presentation actually looks like versus what most teams...
Excel vs FP&A Software: When to Make the Switch (with Paul Barnhurst)
<p>Most finance teams stay on Excel longer than they should. The hard part is knowing when it is actually time to switch.</p><p>In this episode, I sit down with Paul Barnhurst, also known as The FP&A Guy. Paul has trained thousands of finance professionals, hosts three podcasts including FP&A Unlocked, and has tested almost every major FP&A tool on the market. He is known for his clear, independent reviews and helping finance teams make smarter choices about the tools they use.</p><p>We break down when Excel stops being enough and how to...
Mistakes founders make during fundraising (from a cfo who has done 50+ M&A and Exit deals)
<p>Most founders make the same fundraising mistakes and do not realize it until the cash is gone.</p><p>In this episode, I sit down with Julianne Averill, a healthcare AI CFO, board director, and fractional CFO with over 20 years of experience helping life science and digital health companies scale through fundraising, M&A, and IPOs. She has been through over 50 transactions on both the buy and sell side and currently serves as a fractional CFO working with multiple founders.</p><p>We break down how startup funding actually works from Seed all the way to IPO. What investors...
insightsoftware President Jennifer Warawa on How AI is Changing the Office of the CFO
<p>In this episode of The Diary of a CFO Podcast, host Wassia Kamon sits down with Jennifer Warawa, President of insightsoftware and a seven-time honoree as one of the top 25 most powerful women in accounting, to explore what CFOs must fix before implementing AI.</p><p>Drawing on over 25 years of experience at the intersection of finance, technology, and leadership, Jennifer shares :</p>Why systems and talent have not kept pace with the evolution of the CFO role,How AI amplifies what already exists rather than fixing broken foundations, What a successful AI implementation looks like and how to...
