The CFO Track

Most finance people never get mentors who have lived and learnt through capital raises, IPOs, administrations or ACCC scrutiny. The CFO Track changes that. I am Tom Hunter, and every week I sit down with top Australian CFOs to unpack what happened and what they learned. Clear steps, real lessons and as always, free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and LinkedIn Live.

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  Episode #2

  Inside one of the biggest deals in Australian history - Rebecca Lowde (MYOB)

  Aug 17, 202657 minS3

  Rebecca Lowde worked on one of the biggest deals in Australian corporate history. As one of Australia's best tech CFOs, Rebecca was CFO of Afterpay through the Block acquisition and she is now CFO at MYOB. Before that, she was with Oracle across Europe, SAP across multiple regions and a role as a CEO she never planned to take. Her accidental CEO story is the one that stood out At Salmat, the board offered her the top job and her instinct was to say no. She had always assumed CEOs were the extroverts who “walk and talk and go on a stage and kiss babies” and that is not her! But driven to push herself, she took the role, stood up at her first town hall and admitted to the business that she would make mistakes and wanted their help. The response from the rest of the business was incredible. 3 years on, after selling off each part of the business, she worked out what she actually wanted to be. The answer was CFO. “I’ve proven I can do the CEO role and I’m not doing it again!” Her philosophy on finance is something that every ambitious finance professional needs to hear. "What you never want to be is business prevention. You always want to be an enabler of growth." That theme runs through her whole career, from making her finance team sit in on sales calls to an Accountant at MYOB, who built an AI agent that cut a 5 hour process to 5 minutes. If you have ever felt like you were the wrong fit for the job in front of you, this one's for you! Highlights: Why she almost turned down the CEO role, and the small moment in a lift that changed her mind Her rule for finance teams, that you never want to be business prevention, only an enabler of growth How she worked on the Block acquisition of Afterpay, the largest transaction in Australian corporate history, almost entirely over Zoom Why she made all her finance directors sit in on sales calls every quarter Ego and imposter syndrome, and why she Googled banking covenants in her first ASX role She learned change management the hard way, centralising European finance into a shared service centre in Dublin How one of her MYOB accountants built an AI agent that cut a five hour journal down to five minutes Her view that finance is moving from transactional work into the value added advisor space, and why graduates should stay curious Tom Hunter, Story Recruitment - first-CFO and first-finance-hire search for Australian tech, fintech and deeptech startups. Host of the CFO Track Podcast. Storyrecruitment.com.au

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  Episode #1

  19 Years at SAP and Why She Never Left - Gina McNamara (SAP)

  Aug 10, 202645 minS3

  Everything that made her great as a specialist didn't help her as a CFO. Gina McNamara told me that this week on the first episode of Season 3 of the CFO Track. Gina is the Regional CFO at SAP. She has been there 19 years, with 6 market units across Asia Pacific, Japan and China. Gina joined through an acquisition as a contractor. She wasn’t even permanent at the time, but took every role that would help her learn. Revenue recognition and commercial business partnering. Each one built her skillset, helped to earn trust and Gina made it to CFO, still in her 30s! Then the job changed her career. Male dominated and difficult conditions at times. The skills she’d spent years building were the wrong ones for the role she was now in. Gina began working with an executive coach that gave her a different perspective. “What if you just left those 20 emails at 5pm? What would happen?”. Gina’s team had to tell her to stop doing their jobs and she started stepping into the role she knew she could do all along. 19 years with SAP, because she kept choosing to learn. Not settling for comfortable, but 19 years of progression and growth. A massive Season 3 is here for The CFO Track. Welcome back! Highlights: • Her first year as CFO nearly broke her and an executive coach turned it around • Why lateral career moves matter more than promotions for building a path to CFO • How she survived an acquisition as a contractor and turned it into an 19 year career • The moment her team told her to stop doing their jobs and why it was the best feedback she got • What happens when you say no and someone tells the CEO you don’t understand • How SAP is running vibe coding sessions inside its own finance function • What it takes to manage six markets across Asia Pacific as a working parent • Why 19 years at one company is not stagnation when the business never stops changing Tom Hunter, Story Recruitment - first-CFO and first-finance-hire search for Australian tech, fintech and deeptech startups. Host of the CFO Track Podcast. Storyrecruitment.com.au

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  Episode #16

  Stepping Back and Being Nice to People - Mihir Bhatt

  Jul 20, 202648 minS2

  This episode was brought to you by Tallystone. Use the promo code CFOTRACK for a 30 day free trial by visiting tallystone.com/cfotrack. He walked into the phone room at 21 and is now the Group CFO. Mihir Bhatt working on the phones, 20 hours a week, when he walked across the office and asked the finance team if there were any jobs going. There was, a 3 months of accounts payable cover for someone on leave. He put his hand up and it started the rest of his career. He did every job in the finance function. AP, payroll, bank approvals, tax calculations, Financial Controller, Finance Director. He implemented the Paprika finance system globally and then he took a step back. Finance Director to Commercial Manager. Smaller role on paper, but much bigger in reality. It set him up for an 11-year run to now as the newly appointed Group CFO of WPP, the world's largest advertising and media group. If you're weighing up a big career decision and how it will impact your future, this one's for you. Highlights: The step back from Finance Director to Commercial Manager, and the line Mihir landed on: look at the role, not the job title Why external perception of a career move only hurts for 4 to 6 weeks The small office finance years that still pay off 15 years later The acting CFO baptism: COVID hit, the WPP CFO stepped down, Mihir was the 2IC, and he led the group through "I was surprisingly quite calm" — the realisation that the CFO chair is the 1 where there's nobody else to pass the buck to Treating senior people on his team as partners, not dotted line reports Why being nice to people on the way up is the underrated discipline of senior finance leadership

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  Episode #15

  Capital as a Force and the 3 Skills to build a business - Dr Tanvir Uddin

  Jul 13, 202657 minS2

  This episode was brought to you by Tallystone. Use the promo code CFOTRACK for a 30-day free trial by visiting tallystone.com/cfotrack. He walked away because the environment was too comfortable. Dr Tanvir Uddin walked away from a role at the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia because the room was too comfortable. It might seem like an odd time to quit. He was in the role and succeeding International salary, education, healthcare, every perk you'd expect from a global bank. But he walked away because the culture told him to stay in his lane while the world's problems remain unsolved. He'd already had the McKinsey years before that and an agricultural enterprise stint in Indonesia with the Clinton Foundation . He also has a PhD and he wasn't your typical finance person. He'd come into finance through a single insight that he says hasn't changed since. Capital is the most powerful force for moving and changing societies, countries and economies. If you want to have impact at scale, you have to learn how to move it. So he came home. He spent time at Brighte during the high growth years and picked up a perseverance lesson from Katherine McConnell that he still quotes. Then he founded Vyro, which led him to Invest Wholesum , the values aligned investment platform he runs now as Founder and CEO. This is one of the most interesting finance origin stories I've had on the show. The thread through Tanvir's career is the same as the thread through this chat. Capital is a tool. The goal is to use it on something worth focusing on. Highlights: The McKinsey years and the insight that brought a non-finance, PhD trained founder into finance "Capital is the most powerful force for moving and changing societies, countries and economies" The IsDB Saudi fellowship, the IE Business School sponsored Master's, and the cushy seat Tanvir walked away from "Stay in your lane" - the universal corporate frustration that defined the leap The 3 skills every finance career compounds on: modelling, executive communications, storytelling Why the most impressive capital raises sell a story the numbers support, with SpaceX as the example The Brighte high growth years and the founding of Viro into Invest Wholesome, the values aligned investment platform Tanvir runs today

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  Episode #14

  From 1.5 clients and 10k revenue to over 600 million in capital raised - Bryn Leggett (HelloCFO)

  Jul 6, 202654 minS2

  <p>This episode was brought to you by Tallystone. Use the promo code CFOTRACK for a 30-day free trial by visiting tallystone.com/cfotrack.</p><p> </p><p>The thread through Bryn Leggett's career is naivety as an asset.</p><p>He started Hello CFO circa 9 years ago with a 6-month-old baby at home.</p><p>His wife was on maternity leave, a recent mortgage, 1.5 clients and about 10k of revenue.</p><p>His clients have now raised over $600 million.</p><p> </p><p>Early in his career, he spent 6 years as a square peg in a round hole at...

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