CFO THOUGHT LEADER

It was the kind of boardroom moment that separates finance professionals from finance leaders. Tony Jarjoura, now CFO of Gigamon, found himself surrounded by audit committee members as a dense, highly technical tax strategy unraveled before them. Despite having pored over legal memos and internal reviews, the room still looked puzzled—until Tony spoke. In just two sentences, he distilled thousands of hours of technical effort into a clear, accessible takeaway. “That was the moment,” he tells us, “when I realized the power of translating complexity into clarity.”

Tony’s journey to that moment began with a professor’s advice back in university: go Big Four, earn your CPA, and the world will open up. He took it to heart, spending 15 years at Ernst & Young in San Francisco, embedded in Silicon Valley’s IPO engine room. At EY, he wasn’t just crunching numbers—he was watching ideas travel from whiteboard sketches to billion-dollar listings. Companies like Atlassian, Okta, and Workday became case studies in how finance underpins innovation.

When he stepped into industry during the COVID years, Jarjoura traded IPO war rooms for the operational depths of Gigamon. He jokes about never having recorded a journal entry before—but quickly embraced the inner mechanics of finance operations. Today, he views FP&A not as a rearview mirror but as a GPS system for business decision-making. “Finance has to be the connective tissue,” he says, “translating data into decisions that shape where we go next.

“It wouldn’t surprise me. No, it would be exciting.”

That was Adam Ante’s initial response when asked if five years from now, he could imagine himself still in the C-suite—but not as a CFO. The comment seemed to linger in the air, hinting at a deeper current in his career journey. Ante, who had led Paycor through an IPO, a pandemic, and most recently, a $4.1 billion sale to Paychex, wasn’t just closing out a CFO chapter—he may have been opening something entirely new.

While he later softened the sentiment, suggesting he might be surprised if he moved beyond finance, his earlier candor revealed a finance leader attuned to operations—and perhaps transformation.

Years earlier, Ante had flown weekly to Colorado, struggling to integrate a newly acquired company. “I felt like I was failing,” he tells us. The lesson was hard-won: strategy and spreadsheets are meaningless unless you can move people with them. That shift—from financial executor to business operator—has defined his trajectory ever since.

His strategic mindset matured further with Extreme Ownership, a book he credits with changing how he approached leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and results.

Now, as the dust settles on Paycor’s acquisition, Ante’s priorities have shifted once again—to preserving what works, aligning teams, and honoring the customer experience.

Host Erik Zhou sits down with Amber Papp, VP of Finance at Scentbird to explore the unique challenges of accounting in the e-commerce space. From managing a massive inventory of over 700 fragrances to navigating rapid growth and making smart automation decisions, Amber shares firsthand insights on what it takes to keep financial operations running smoothly at a high-growth, subscription-based company.

Amber and Erik also dig into relevant themes like the role of AI in accounting, balancing efficiency with cost when evaluating new financial tools and systems, and the never-ending pursuit of data integrity.

And as the episode closes, Amber shares a truly unexpected budget request—one that involved a Cybertruck, a demolition derby, and a marketing team with big dreams.

Fresh out of a hedge fund analyst role, Erik Rothschild walked into an interview at a Chicago-based trading firm and did something unexpected—he pitched actual trade ideas to the portfolio manager across the table. That bold move earned him a spot on the team, and eventually, a portfolio of his own. “That whole experience taught me how to assess decisions through the lens of an investment,” Rothschild tells us. It’s a mindset that has quietly shaped every leadership decision he’s made since.

Rothschild’s early career was forged in the high-stakes world of investment finance during the 2008 financial crisis. He later transitioned into corporate finance, helping build out the FP&A function at Sovereign. When the CFO unexpectedly departed, Rothschild found himself reporting directly to the CEO—presenting financial results to the board and leading a complex equity raise. “It was both exciting and stressful,” he recalls, “but I knew I had a window to gain experience that would last a lifetime.”

What sets Rothschild apart is the investor’s mindset he brings to the CFO role at Cin7. He encourages his team to think in bets—evaluating risks, testing hypotheses, and acting decisively. He’s also a champion of simplicity and automation, challenging his team to reduce low-ROI cycles and focus on what matters most.

It was a late-night meeting room lit by the glow of Excel spreadsheets and half-empty coffee cups. Brian Carolan, then a rising finance leader, looked around the table and saw not just fellow accountants and analysts but a collection of people relying on him to bridge data and strategy. In that moment, he felt the weight of a CFO’s responsibility keenly. “Finance is never only about numbers,” Carolan tells us. “It’s about connecting the dots for everyone in the room.”

Years earlier, he had traded the security of a Big Four firm for a nascent startup, learning quickly that growth rarely follows a neat script. One day, he might be projecting cash flow; the next, mending fractured vendor relationships. Each challenge Caloran tells us strengthened his conviction that adaptability drives sustainable success. He carried that lesson into a complex M&A deal, where he orchestrated integration across multiple departments. “M&A isn’t just consolidation,” Carolan tells us. “It’s a chance to redefine the culture, if you’re willing to listen.”

As his influence grew, Carolan found that effective CFOs serve as translators—turning raw data into forward-looking stories. After a particularly tense board presentation, he recalls a mentor pulling him aside. “Numbers matter, but so does the narrative behind them,” the mentor said. That advice remained Carolan’s compass. In every leadership role since, he has championed an inclusive approach, ensuring finance is a unifying force that galvanizes operations, sales, and strategy under one clear vision. And that, Carolan tells us, is how real transformation takes root.