What Private Equity Actually Expects From Its CFO

Victoria Bell has led finance functions through growth, turnaround, and exit across some of Europe's most demanding private equity environments. She is direct about the role in a way that most people in it are not.In this episode, Victoria explains what she calls "boardroom to basics": the ability to shift fast between strategy and detail, and why that is the skill most finance leaders underestimate. She breaks down how she assesses a private equity opportunity before taking it, why the CEO relationship is the most important dynamic you will navigate, and how she approaches the diagnosis of a broken finance function from day one.She covers prioritisation as the single most important skill in PE, why data is always the first problem you find, and what it really looks like to push back on fund demands without burning the relationship.She also talks about burnout, the principle of slowing down to speed up, and what a team member told her at her leaving drinks that has stayed with her since.And yes, she is about to row the Pacific Ocean for Cancer Research UK. Search Row for Life Pacific to follow the journey.STOIX is a specialist executive search partner to CFOs and boards. Visit stoix.co.uk.Find Chat CFO hereSpotify:  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