This special episode formed part of FP&A Con 2025 which saw a record-breaking 1500 registrants.

The guests: Nathan Bell, Managing Partner, VAi Consulting, is among the most in-demand experts. Bell has unique experience– having started in computer science, before leading finance teams at Native American Bank, Digital Media Trends and Gartner– where he advised hundreds of FP&A teams facing chaotic data situations).

Anna Tioma former CFO of Sandoz and Softeq. Most recently she has pivoted to become a fractional CFO at Blend2Balance.

Anna Yamashita, Solutions Consulting at Data Rails who has worked across SAS finance throughout her career where she helps FP&A teams implement modern performance management solutions.

In this session:

• How AI is being applied in real FP&A workflows today
• Predictive analytics as the gold standard
• Getting to a single version of truth with AI
• ROI in AI
• Mastering Data Management
• Misconceptions about AI in finance and security
• Co-pilot, prompts
• Bonus: Security and AI

This episode is 53 minutes packed with practical Excel insights for an FP&A practitioner and Excel advocate at the top of his game. Jeff Gudim is a senior financial analyst, Excel evangelist and hardcore financial model architect at Strategic Education, listed on the NASDAQ and which owns for-profit, online Capella University and Strayer University, Jeff made the leap from private wealth management to corporate FP&A, leveraging his financial planning skills and Excel skills rising up as a data-driven problem solver. Jeff leads forecasting and analysis for a hundred million dollars IT function.

In this episode

• Getting from private wealth management to FP&A
• How Excel jumpstarted my career
• My favorite ever Excel model
• Monte Carlo simulations
• 3 time saving tips every FP&A professional needs
• Dynamic arrays and Lambda functions and “fundamental” Excel change How to convince your team to use advanced Excel Completely new favorite Excel function or feature Connect with Jeff Gudim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-gudim-7a994546/

In this masterclass Shifra Isaacs, developer Relations Advocate at Ascend.io, delves into her experience as data scientist, technical writer, and support lead providing fresh insights for FP&A and finance professionals.

In this episode:

• Data science vs business analytics
• Pulling data not yet able to be modeled
• Python for Excel
• The right models for risk scoring, variance analysis and forecasting
• Replicating a process with a new tool using AI
• How can we survive in an AI first world

Connect with Shifra Isaacs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shifra-isaacs/

Taylor Otstot, Vice President Finance, Dashlane joined GoDaddy (now a $30billion valued) domain registry, domain registrar and web hosting company before their IP. In 8 years he climbed to senior Director of Finance running an FP&A team of 14. From this experience and as VP Finance at DashLane he says he hires for 3 things: curiosity, ambition, and finance leaders who are service-oriented. “If you bring those three things to the table, you're able to wade through a lot of the ambiguity that comes with those decision making processes.”

Also in this episode:

• Finance and FP&A as antidote to the machine of Big 4
• 3- 4 years in audit as the “perfect amount”
• Getting to strategy in FP&A
• Partnership vs accountability as a false choice for FP&A
• Improv comedy having its moment in finance
• The Tarantino approach to finance presentations

Connect with Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorotstot/

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Dave Sackett is Co-Founder and CFO of ecommerce company, AIOne, and former CFO of semiconductor company, ULVAC Technologies. He is a vocal advocate for blockchain and AI and finance, bringing a blend of tech savvy, operational rigor, and a focus on “servant leadership" - that is putting the needs of the employees first and helping people develop and perform as highly as possible. He's a frequent keynote speaker, a Forbes contributor, and an active member of Financial Executives International.

• Cost accountant to CFO and AI leader
• How I practice servant leadership mindset as a CFO
• Being an introvert CFO leader and overcoming the challenges
• Costly failures of traditional forecasting in FP&A
• Where FP&A Software is going to be in 5 years
• Finance AI use cases
• FP&A as custodians of financial truth in AI age

Connect with Dave Sackett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davesackett/

Derek Paulson is Director of Finance and Performing Marketing at Rad Power Bikes, a Seattle-based e-bike company changing transportation. In this episode he talks about his approach to navigating tariffs (“There no, no word in the English language more scary to a finance professional than the word uncertainty” says Paulson as he discusses required “efficiency” and “flexibility” in their supply chains). He also reveals his approach to the finance transformation required to shift Rad Power from a direct-to-consumer to an e-commerce and retail focused model, that is “starting with a blank Excel sheet to do the modeling for Rad Power Bikes”. In this episode:

• How Honeywell and PepsiCo are top training grounds for finance leaders
• Efficiency vs flexibility in supply chains
• Is an MBA worth it in finance?
• Data privacy, AI, and finance
• Making the case for SUMIFs

Connect with Derek Paulson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekpaulson/

“The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) is a non-for-profit with a really simple mission, which makes it really easy for me to wake up and know what I’m doing every day,” says Bryan Lapidus, Director, FP&A Practice at the Association for Financial Professionals. “We exist for the success of the corporate finance and treasury professionals. FPAC, our certified corporate FP&A certification has been in the market for about 11 years now and 5,000 people have earned it in more than 80 countries.”

Returning guest Lapidus joins Glenn Hopper as they discuss the climate for FP&A including:

• Evolution of FP&A and AI
• Certificates vs Certification
• Why business school doesn’t prepare you for FP&A roles
• The impact of Sarbanes-Oxley on changing the CFO role
• Why you need different CFOs at various stages of a company lifecycle
• Why FP&A professionals are so hirable and promotable
• How to become CFO from an FP&A role

Annette DeYoung, Principal Solutions Consultant at Datarails, is an accountant-turned FP&A manufacturing leader. She has deep experience in leading finance teams at manufacturing companies including Berner Food and Beverage, Rockford Products, Fairbanks Morse Engine, and JL Clark. It was at JL Clark, as Director of FP&A, that Annette implemented FP&A Solution, Datarails to mop up inefficiencies and end drain all-late night sessions at the finance department— she liked the product so much she ended up joining the company and has since spoken to more than 1000 FP&A professionals seeking to love FP&A again by removing tedious repetitive processes.

In this episode

• Why I fell in love with manufacturing and finance over my career
• How creativity drew me from accounting to FP&A
• Why a hard-coded accountant attitude was difficult to reconcile with more creative FP&A
• How to create finance business partnerships on the manufacturing floor
• Why I brought Datarails into my finance team at JL Clarke
• The future of Excel in FP&A
• Is finance (finally) making a move with AI?
• The power of getting out of your comfort zone in finance

Connect with Annette on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahdeyoung/