The Diary of a CFO
by Wassia Kamon, CPA, CMA, MBA
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 [email protected]. To become a guest or sponsor, visit thediaryofacfo.com.
Episodes
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The AI Danger Triangle: What Finance Leaders Must Check Before Using Any AI Tool (with Lauren Elizabeth Pearl)
Lauren Pearl is a CFO, advisor, three-time founder, and educator who teaches financial modeling at NYU Stern's Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship. A former software developer turned finance leader, she has helped more than 300 companies build a financial foundation to scale and currently serves...
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The 3 Conversations Every CFO Must Have With Their CEO with Alex Curran
Alex Curran is the CEO of Aptitude Software and has spent 20 years working with CFOs at some of the world's most complex finance organizations. In this episode, she shares why 87% of CFOs say AI matters but less than 10% can show a return, and what needs to change at the systems level before any…
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Former McKinsey's Top M&A Advisor on What CFOs Get Wrong About Deals
David Fubini spent 35 years as a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, where he co-founded the firm's global merger integration practice. He has advised on dozens of major transactions, including the deal that brought IBM's PC business to Lenovo. He started his career at Johnson & Johnson, where…
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The Difference Between Getting the CFO Job and Keeping It (My 2-Year Check-In)
In this solo episode of The Diary of a CFO, I sit down halfway through the year to reflect on what I’ve learned during my first two years in the CFO seat, as well as the lessons I’ve gathered from speaking with more than 40 CFOs on this podcast. I talk about the difference between strategic...
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5 Reasons ERP Implementations Fail and How To Get Yours Right, with Sharon Barboza
Most ERP implementations do not fail because of the technology. They fail because of what happens before the system is even turned on. In this episode, I sit down with Sharon Barboza, Manager of Digital Services at Citrin Cooperman Advisors. Sharon is a licensed CPA who has worked on every side…
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From CAO to EVP Supply Chain: How to Make a Big Career Pivot at the Executive Level
She spent 19 years at Southwire. She started in treasury, moved through business unit finance, became Chief Accounting Officer, and then made a move nobody saw coming. She left finance to run supply chain at a $9 billion company that provides cable for and electrical transmission throughout the…
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How Operations Experience Makes You a Better CFO, with Donna Cohen, CFO of CarMax Auto Finance (Live in Atlanta)
She spent her entire career in accounting and finance. Public accounting, FP&A, financial reporting, corporate accounting. Then she made a move nobody expected. She went into operations. And when she came back to finance as a CFO, everything was different. In this episode, I sit down in person…
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How to Evaluate a CFO Role in Private Equity Before You Say Yes - Chris Voudouris, 3x PE CFO
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. 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...
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From Big 4 Auditor to CFO: How to Make People Want to Work With You in Finance - James White (Live in Atlanta)
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. In this episode, I sit down in person with James White…
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From 6x National Champion to Fortune 500 Chief Audit Officer - Lori Kaczynski on Leadership and Resilience
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. Today Lori Kaczynski is the Senior Vice President and Chief Audit, Risk, and Compliance Officer at Graphic Packaging...
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How Finance Teams Should Be Using AI Right Now, with Chad Gold, CFO of Fullstory
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. In this episode, I sit down in person with Chad Gold, 2022 CFO of the Year by the Atlanta Business...
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Former Starbucks IR SVP: How a Homeless Teenager Ended Up Managing $130 Billion Market Cap on Wall Street
In this episode of The Diary of a CFO: Live in Atlanta, I sit down in person with Tiffany Willis. 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…
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The Unlikely Journey of a $3 Billion CFO, William Washington III
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. In this episode, I sit down with...
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How to Cut Your Board Reporting Process From Weeks to Days (with Fabian Ferrada)
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. In this episode, I sit down with Fabian Ferrada, Senior Solutions Engineer at Insight Software. Before...
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Excel vs FP&A Software: When to Make the Switch (with Paul Barnhurst)
Most finance teams stay on Excel longer than they should. The hard part is knowing when it is actually time to switch. 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…
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Mistakes founders make during fundraising (from a cfo who has done 50+ M&A and Exit deals)
Most founders make the same fundraising mistakes and do not realize it until the cash is gone. 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…
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insightsoftware President Jennifer Warawa on How AI is Changing the Office of the CFO
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. Drawing on over 25 years of…
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Former Caterpillar Group CFO on The Leadership Skills Finance Professionals Must Master to Reach the Top
In this episode of The Diary of a CFO Podcast, host Wassia Kamon sits down with Dave DeFreitas, retired group CFO of Caterpillar Inc., to explore the unconventional career path that took him from staff accountant to the C-suite. Drawing on over 30 years of experience leading finance teams at one…
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Building an AI-Ready Finance Team Without Losing the Human Side, with Tariq Munir
In this episode of The Diary of a CFO Podcast, host Wassia Kamon sits down with Tariq Munir, digital transformation advisor and author of Reimagine Finance, to explore what it actually takes to build an AI-ready finance team. Tariq shares why the biggest barriers to AI adoption are behavioral…
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The First‑Time CFO Playbook: The First 90 Days, Imposter Syndrome and Leading the Business
Stepping into your first CFO role can feel overwhelming. In this episode, former divisional CFO and GrowCFO Mentor Kevin Appleby shares what really changes when you move from finance leader to CFO. Drawing on years of experience working with finance leaders across industries, Kevin shares why…
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Wassia Kamon’s 15-Year Journey from Staff Accountant to CFO
In this solo episode, Wassia Kamon shares how she went from staff accountant to CFO in 15 years, including the moments that didn’t look like progress at all. She talks about: Moments in her career that didn’t look like “progress” from the outside. Rethinking the value of credentials like the CPA,...
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Beyond the Numbers: Leadership Lessons from Three-Time Nonprofit CFO, Teri Kozub
In this episode of The Diary of a CFO Podcast, host Wassia Kamon sits down with Teri Kozub, a three-time CFO with more than 33 years of experience in nonprofit finance and current CFO at Community Legal Services of Mid Florida. Teri shares how her non-linear career shaped her leadership style…
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Executive Presence Explained: Why Top Performers Still Get Overlooked, with Executive Coach, Jill Avey
Executive presence is often cited as the reason leaders don’t get promoted, but rarely explained. In this episode of The Diary of a CFO, Wassia Kamon sits down with executive coach Jill Avey to unpack what executive presence actually means, why high performers get stuck at the Director or VP…
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Real Fraud Stories and Legal Protection for Your Fractional CFO Firm with Attorney Natalia Greene
Attorney and risk-management expert Natalia Greene reveals the real stories behind major fraud cases, including those featured on American Greed that she personally worked on. She also shares exactly how accountants, fractional CFOs, and boutique finance firms accidentally expose themselves to...
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What CEOs Want from Today’s CFO, with Executive Recruiter, Mark Johnson
In this episode of The Diary of a CFO, executive recruiter Mark Johnson shares insider perspectives on what CEOs are really looking for in today's CFOs. Discover how the expectations of finance leadership are evolving, what separates top candidates in interviews, and the essential qualities that...
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80/20 Rule for FP&A Experts to Transform Decision-Making Through Analytics with Andrew Hull
Note: This episode is a pod swap from FP&A Unlocked. We’re sharing it here to help you discover another excellent show in the finance leadership space. All content belongs to the original podcast and host Paul Barnhurst. Note: This episode is a pod swap from FP&A Unlocked. We’re sharing it here…
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Agentic AI for CFOs, with Vivienne Wei, COO of Salesforce Unified Agentforce Platform
Join Vivienne Wei, COO of Unified Agent Force Platform at Salesforce and a leading thinker in financial technology, as she shares her journey from Wall Street to orchestrating enterprise-wide AI transformations. In this episode, Vivienne breaks down the realities and myths of AI in the finance...
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Building a Finance Function That Drives Growth: Lessons from Liberty Bank’s CFO, Paul Young
What does it take to turn a traditional finance team into a true strategic business partner? In this episode, Paul Young, CFO of Liberty Bank, shares how he connected strategy, budgeting, and talent development to create a finance function built for impact. Paul brings over 25 years of experience...
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Why Every CFO Feels Stretched and What to Do About It, with Tom Hood
CFOs are expected to drive transformation, lead strategy, and still deliver flawless numbers every month. In this episode of The Diary of a CFO, I sit down with Tom Hood, one of the most influential voices in finance leadership, to unpack what’s really behind the growing pressure on today’s CFOs....
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Getting the most out of your tech stack, with Anna Sagan
Brought to you by insightsoftware. Register for our upcoming webinar: https://insightsoftware.com/resources/get-out-of-the-reporting-rut-how-finance-leaders-drive-strategic-impact/ In this episode of The Diary of a CFO, I sit down with Anna Sagan, Senior Principal Solutions Engineer, who brings...
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Leading Through Market Cycles, with Real Estate and Construction CFO, Bona Allen
Brought to you by insightsoftware. Register for our upcoming webinar: https://insightsoftware.com/resources/get-out-of-the-reporting-rut-how-finance-leaders-drive-strategic-impact/ What does it take to lead finance through real estate booms, construction slowdowns, and global crises? In this...
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Non-Traditional Pathways to the CFO Seat, with Axile Talout
Not every CFO starts as a controller or FP&A lead. Axel Talout shares how banking and private equity shaped his journey, why your “different” background can be your edge, and how to intentionally build a team that fills your blind spots. Brought to you by insightsoftware. Register for our…
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The CFO Playbook for Handling Crises and Building FP&A Functions, with Mike High
Mike High (CFO, NAIT; ex-Shell Deep Water CFO) shares leadership lessons from the Army to corporate finance: why the “platinum rule” beats one-size-fits-all leadership, what truly changes when you move from FP&A to the CFO seat, and how to carry a portfolio of crises without burning out. We...
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Moving From Big 4 Auditor to Controller to CFO, with Andrea Hecht
Andrea Hecht, EVP & CFO at CSAA Insurance Group, walks through the real shifts at each step of her career — from auditor at Big 4 accounting firm, EY, to Controller, and ultimately CFO. She explains how the focus moves from technical detail to culture, strategy, and leadership. We cover: Why the...
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Accounting vs FP&A: Which Path Gets You to CFO Faster?
Controller vs FP&A : which path gives you a better shot at the CFO seat? Wassia Kamon has done both. In this solo episode, she reveals why neither route guarantees success on its own and what truly sets future CFOs apart. Drawing on her first year as a CFO, Wassia introduces her Executive…
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Sheryl Shaw on Scaling Finance Teams and Embracing Technology
This week on The Diary of a CFO, host Wassia Kamon is joined by Sheryl Shaw, Senior Manager at Bridgepoint Consulting and a former CFO with three decades of experience leading finance teams through transformation. Sheryl shares her remarkable journey, from starting as an accounting clerk in the...
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Inside FP&A: Christian Wattig’s Guide to Smarter Forecasting and Strategic Impact
Christian Wattig is the program director of Wharton’s FP&A Certificate and the founder of InsideFP&A. In this episode, he shares his path from Procter & Gamble to becoming a leader in finance education, along with the pivotal lessons he learned along the way. You’ll learn: Why forecasting…
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The Role of Treasury in M&A and Business Strategy, with , AVP of Treasury at Victoria’s Secret & Co, Summa Simmons
In this episode, Summa Simmons, Associate VP of Treasury at Victoria’s Secret & Co., shares what most people get wrong about treasury and why it's a strategic powerhouse. She explains how treasury helps companies manage cash, risk, and financial readiness during major business decisions like...
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Why Culture Is Your Biggest Cybersecurity Risk, with Dutch Schwartz
Most companies think cybersecurity is about firewalls and IT policies. But the real risk often starts with culture. In this episode, Dutch Schwartz, VP of Cloud Services at SideChannel and former security leader at AWS and Raytheon, shares why companies with poor culture are three times more…
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How the Best Finance Leaders Operate, Plan, and Forecast, with Christina Ross
Christina Ross, serial CFO turned CEO of Cube, explains why spreadsheets aren’t the problem and what finance leaders should focus on instead. She shares multiple frameworks for moving from manual chaos to strategic clarity. This episode is packed with insights on real-time planning, clean data…
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The Art of Becoming a Strategic CFO, with Dr. Tamer Alsayed
In this episode of The Diary of a CFO, Wassia Kamon speaks with Dr. Tamer Alsayed, CFO at the Future Investment Initiative and author of The Art of Becoming a Strategic CFO. With over two decades of experience across industries and regions, Dr. Tamer offers a clear-eyed view of what today’s…
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The #1 Mistake Keeping Controllers from Becoming CFOs
Welcome to Season 2 of The Diary of a CFO. In this kickoff solo episode, Wassia Kamon shares behind-the-scenes highlights from Season 1, why some careers stall at the executive door, and what actually opens it. You’ll hear: The real reason technical skills alone won’t get you promoted The 3-digit...
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What I Wish Finance Professionals Knew Sooner, with Syed Nadeem
In this episode, Syed Nadeem shares the lessons he wishes more finance professionals learned early on. He talks about why certifications alone won’t get you promoted, and why your mindset, human skills, and personal brand matter just as much as your technical skills. Syed also shares how losing…
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Solving Revenue Recognition Nightmares for SaaS Companies, with Apurv Bansal
If you’ve ever lost sleep over complex contracts, usage-based pricing, or revenue schedules that live in hundreds spreadsheet tabs, this episode is for you. I’m joined by Apurv Bansal, co-founder and CEO of Zenskar, to talk about how AI is helping SaaS companies automate billing and revenue...
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Beyond Compliance: Kendra LaFleur on Becoming a Trusted Advisor
Audit Director at FORVIS Mazars and board treasurer for Girls on the Run Georgia, Kendra LaFleur opens up about her journey from intern to partner, how she grew into strategic leadership, and how she navigates the evolving role of finance in mission-driven organizations.
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From Combat Zones to Corporate Finance: Stephen McLain on Leading in High-Stakes Environments
Stephen McLain led 250 soldiers as an Army Commander. He built internal controls in Iraq to fight fraud and misuse of funds. And, he defended military budgets in front of NATO. Now, he helps corporate finance and accounting teams fix problems with their internal processes, financial modeling, and...
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Why Treasury is More Than Managing Cash, with Matthew Harlan
Treasury often works behind the scenes, but Matthew Harlan shows why it should be a key player at the table. We cover what treasury leaders bring to IPO readiness, how to rethink working capital, and how finance teams can collaborate better across functions.
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Leading Finance with Curiosity and Cultural Intelligence, with Jenny Fuss
Jenny Fuss has led finance teams in Germany, China, and the United States. Each move meant learning a new way of working. In this episode, she shares how working and living in three different countries shaped her leadership style and helped her lead major transformations with clarity and confidence.
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From School Teacher to CFO, with Atlanta Food Bank CFO, Tamica Williams
Tamica Williams went from relying on food pantries as a kid to leading the largest food bank in Georgia as CFO. She shares how she made the jump from teaching to accounting, built her career and why leadership is about showing up 100% no matter where you start.
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Secrets of Rockstar CFOs: Jack McCullough on Developing the Next Generation of CFOs
Jack McCullough has spent decades in the CFO seat, but his biggest impact may be what he’s done for the next generation of CFOs. He’s the founder of the CFO Leadership Council, a global community of over 2,500 senior finance leaders, and the author of three books including Secrets of Rockstar…
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About this show
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 [email protected]. To become a guest or sponsor, visit thediaryofacfo.com.
Hosted by
Wassia Kamon, CPA, CMA, MBA
Categories