The CFO to CEO Shift Nobody Tells You About

Simon Loveridge stepped into the CEO seat at Rafter Group, a PE-backed self-storage business operating across five European markets, after joining as CFO. The insight at the heart of his transition: as CFO, you're judged on being right. As CEO, you're judged on being clear.In this episode of Chat CFO, Simon breaks down what that shift actually demands, how Rafter Group doubled in size in two years, and what PE investors are really looking for in a finance leader. He also gets into how the business built a custom AI pricing engine using OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini, and why most organisations are still confusing AI activity with AI value.Whether you're a CFO thinking about the next step, working inside a PE environment, or building the credibility that gets you noticed at board level, Simon's perspective is direct, practical, and worth hearing.Find Chat CFO here:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4lagVbEmRBUvJzF6OkFy1rApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/chat-cfo/id1741011776YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@stoixChatCFOLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stoix/?originalSubdomain=uk