In May’s episode of The CFO Playbook, David McClelland talks to Mehjabeen Patrick, Director of Finance at Arts University Bournemouth, about the challenges and opportunities of finance leadership in the creative sector. As former Chief Finance and Investment Officer at Creative UK, Mehjabeen is all too aware of the financial challenges faced by creative businesses. From her early days working in the banking sector, Mehjabeen is a passionate advocate of finding creative approaches in all...

In the latest episode of The CFO Playbook, David McClelland is joined by Giles Andrews OBE, co-founder of Zopa, the world’s first P2P lending business launched in 2004, to discuss two decades working in FinTech and the role of artificial intelligence in shaping the financial services of the future. Finding himself as an accidental CFO in the early days of Zopa thanks to an accountancy qualification, Giles progressed to CEO and Chairman and is still an active Board Member, responsible for in...

In this episode of The CFO Playbook, David McClelland explores how financial management should be embedded into company culture with Richard Dana, co-founder and CEO at Tembo Money. With a background in corporate finance, Richard shares how he leveraged his interest in travel to co-found the budget-boutique hotel booking platform Doris and Dickie, and the lessons learned from being thrifty in balancing the books from day one with a small team, managing by cost. Reflecting on his role as CFO...

With growth at the heart of the recent Spring Budget, how can companies fuel productivity and accomplish more? On March 13th, 2024, business and economics experts met at the London Stock Exchange to decode the Chancellor’s Spring Budget at an event hosted by Soldo. This live episode of The CFO Playbook is hosted by David McClelland and features an expert panel - David Owen, Chief Economist, Saltmarsh Economics  Liz Earle MBE of Liz Earle Wellbeing Emma Heal, MD at Lucky Saint Carlo Gualandri,...

Welcome to a new series of The CFO Playbook, brought to you by Soldo. In this episode, our new host, technology reporter, presenter and consumer champion, David McClelland talks to Baron Anyangwe, a finance leader, about his journey and insights into leadership. They discuss the importance of flexibility and passion in career choices, the impact of volunteering, and Baron’s own holistic leadership framework. The framework includes principles such as widening perspectives, finding meaningful...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Ed Lu, Chief Financial Officer at Fandom, a San Francisco-based gaming and entertainment community platform. Ed is a gaming and media tech executive with deep finance, strategy and operational experiences focused on VC and PE-backed Gaming and B2C companies. He holds a Master’s in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and a Bachelor’s in Economics from UC Berkeley. In this episode, Ed talks about the explosive...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Bill Fahrbach, Chief Financial Officer at Facet, offering impartial and invaluable financial advice and services at an affordable membership fee. Bill is a strategic Financial Executive and Entrepreneurial CFO/COO with an extensive investment banking background and rounded technology operational experience. With a track record of significant growth, capital raises, and exits, he’s a leader in finance, operations, systems, and legal...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Andy Dean, Chief Financial Officer at Eden Futures, providing high quality, person-centered care, supported living and enablement for people with disabilities and support needs. At Eden Futures, Andy leads the Finance, Service Development and IT teams. Prior, he started his career training with KPMG as a Chartered Accountant, gaining experience within both Audit and Transaction Services. He has since worked for a variety of care...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Chris Voss, Founder and CEO of The Black Swan Group. Previously, Chris was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the FBI’s hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s Hostage Working Group.  Chris used his many years of experience in international crises and high-stakes negotiations to develop a unique program that applies globally proven techniques to the...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Robin Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at University of Oxford and Co-author of The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups. Professor Dunbar is British anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist and a specialist in primate behavior. He is best known for formulating Dunbar’s number, a measurement of the “cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships.”...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Tom Herbert, Tech Editor at AccountingWEB, the largest independent online community for accounting and finance professionals in the UK. Tom is a journalist, editor and broadcaster with experience across digital and print publications. For the past seven years, he’s specialized in business, accountancy and technology journalism. He writes and edits news, features, interviews and opinion pieces and also features on a variety of...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Peter de Silva, Author, Director, and Trustee. Peter is an experienced chairman, CEO, president, executive committee member, public and private company director and trustee for national not-for-profit organizations and national charitable foundations. He’s a Former Harvard University Senior Fellow - Advanced Leadership Initiative, and author of Taking Stock: 10 Life Leadership Principles from My Seat at the Table. In this episode,...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Chris Gaunt. He is the CFO Practice Leader for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Spencer Stuart, an executive search, board, and leadership advisory service. In his role, Chris works on a variety of Group CFO appointments for many of the world’s largest publicly traded companies, as well as for private equity-backed portfolio companies. He has a strong international focus, often for clients in emerging economies who wish to access...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Justin Lackey, CFO at Asset Panda, a powerful, highly configurable asset tracking and management SaaS platform on a mission to help the world work smarter. In his current role as the Chief Financial Officer, Justin oversees revenue operations, pricing, and data analysis, which are all transferable skills brought over from his previous positions as Director of Revenue Operations, and Manager of Pricing Strategy and Finance. Prior to...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Rebecca Kacaba, CEO & Co-Founder of Dealmaker, the leading platform turning all capital raise types into simple ecommerce. Rebecca practiced law on Bay Street for over 10 years, founded the startup practice group at one law firm, and was co-chair of the Toronto Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies Group. Rebecca’s vision and drive have landed her in Lexpert’s Top 40 Under 40 and recognized as one of North America’s...

Being a good CFO isn’t just about managing money anymore. The modern CFO is being asked to implement new technology, guide product and business decisions, and look ahead to the future. On the CFO Playbook we look at how the finance functions at companies stay ahead of the curve.  In season 2 we bring you new host, Fran Badenhorst, a career journalist and UK Content Lead for Soldo. You will still get the same interesting and informative content for the financial professional you heard before,...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Paul Cunningham, Partner and CFO at Helios Investment Partners, an Africa-focused private firm managing funds totalling $3.6 billion. With 34 years in the industry, Paul has an overall responsibility for all matters relating to accounting, financial control, taxation, fund administration and reporting and regulatory compliance for the Helios group entities. Paul served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Chris Stefani, CFO at DWF, a  leading global provider of integrated legal and business services. Chris is a specialist in performance improvement in professional services, finance transformation and profit improvement. He oversees all of DWF's financial operations in the UK and internationally, with a focus on enhancing revenue, improving profitability and driving working capital management to support the firm's growth. He has...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Alwyn Jones, Group CFO at Luno, a leading global cryptocurrency company with over 9 million customers in 43 countries that provides services for making it safe and easy to buy, store and learn about cryptocurrencies. Alwyn has more than 20 years of experience as a hands-on leader with a track record of delivery in financial and digital services. He strives to deliver exceptional business performance based around a deep understanding...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Manish Sarin, CFO at Sprinklr, a leading enterprise company for all customer-facing functions. With advanced AI, Sprinklr's unified customer experience management platform helps companies deliver human experiences to customers across modern channels. Manish is an experienced public company executive leading finance teams, investor relations, and corporate development. He has extensive experience in building finance systems and...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Mark Freebairn, Partner, Head of the Board Practice, and the Financial Management Practice at Odgers Berndtson a global executive search, interim management, talent assessment, and leadership development firm based in London. Mark focuses on advising Odgers Berndtson’s Board as a whole and others, while maintaining the track record the Financial Management Practice has built working with the finance function to identify and develop...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Chitra Balasubramanian, CFO at CircleCI, a continuous integration and continuous delivery platform that can be used to implement DevOps practices in the cloud or on private infrustructures.  With more than 20 years of experience accelerating business growth through data analysis, Chitra is best known for scaling technology startups. As the current CFO, and one of two C-suite females, at fast-growth unicorn CircleCI, she's led the...

This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Gemma Castle, CFO at Cult Wines, which blends heritage, expertise, and innovative technology to transform the fine wine industry for producers, wine enthusiasts, collectors, and investors alike. With over 20 years of experience, Gemma Castle is well versed in delivering nuanced and sophisticated financial strategies in the fast growth SME sector.  As CFO at Cult Wines, Gemma has been pivotal in providing financial leadership and...

With 7 years of leadership experience, Navpreet Randhawa has a passion for Enterprise SaaS businesses with focus on the financial technology sector. He found himself on the path to being a self-described “accidental CFO” by having a drive to help build companies and be successful. Navpreet has leaned into prioritizing what is best for his business through the help of using technical tools and outsourcing many traditional aspects of a company’s finance department. As CFO at Minna, he strives...