Today we are talking to Kylie Sheather, Director of Finance Business Partnering at Technology One. 

Kylie’s story is one of trusting your gut, going your own way, and making decisions for yourself. 

She didn’t go to London like most people on the podcast have done before and doesn’t have an audit background but has still become a highly competent professional in her field.

We talk about:

- How she was impacted professionally by the QLD Floods. 

- What it’s like to get a call at 2am in the morning needing to deal with a safety incident.

- What it means to have a seat at the table and why it’s important. 

- What her leadership philosophy entails and how she became the leader she is today.

- And how important it is to try things even if you feel you aren’t quite ready.

A great discussion with a talented professional.

Thanks for tuning in to Books to the Boardroom! If you enjoyed today's episode, take your leadership journey further:

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Until next week, keep reading, keep listening!

Today our guest is Tanya Cain, CFO of Youi Insurance. 

Tanya is an accomplished professional who shares plenty of advice.

We talk about:

• What it is like working for such an iconic brand.
• How the timeliness of information is more important than accuracy.
• Knowing when it’s time to move on.
• How her Dad would take her to business dinners when she was young and how that sparked her interest in business.
• Adjusting to life in Australia, and taking a step back in her career to do so.

And much more.

A great guest, and a great discussion. 

Jack Ferguson co-hosted this episode.

Thanks for tuning in to Books to the Boardroom! If you enjoyed today's episode, take your leadership journey further:

🎧 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts 
🔔 Never miss an episode—follow us on LinkedIn and your favourite podcast platform 
📱 Share your takeaways with #CFOCatalyst

Are you a CFO with insights to share or know someone who is? We're always looking for financial leaders to join us on the show—reach out at [email protected] to discuss featuring your expertise on a future episode.

Until next week, keep reading, keep listening!

Today’s guest is Keith Bailey of Blueprint Business Solutions.

Keith is a veteran of Finance, Accounting, and Management.

In this episode we discuss:

• What it is like to have a Portfolio Career.
• What he learned about converting clients faster when he worked as a consultant. 
• How he started his first business at 9 years old
• Why he believes diversifying throughout life is important. 
• His leadership philosophy and how it developed at a young age. 
• The challenges he has had advising boards. 
• How you get a leadership team to talk when they don’t want to. 

And 

• How to turn around companies that are under financial stress.

Another experienced guest sharing his wisdom on the podcast. 

Jack Ferguson co-hosted this episode.

Thanks for tuning in to Books to the Boardroom! If you enjoyed today's episode, take your leadership journey further:

🎧 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts 
🔔 Never miss an episode—follow us on LinkedIn and your favourite podcast platform 
📱 Share your takeaways with #CFOCatalyst

Are you a CFO with insights to share or know someone who is? We're always looking for financial leaders to join us on the show—reach out at [email protected] to discuss featuring your expertise on a future episode.

Until next week, keep reading, keep listening!

Today’s guest is Pierre De Villiers, Partner at CFO on Call, and CEO of Your Profit Xpert.

In this episode, we discuss Pierre’s career which included living in South Africa, New Zealand, and now Australia. 

It is intriguing to hear his perspective on how you can transfer skills across countries, his observations around different cultures, and what stays the same no matter what country you are in. 

We spend time talking about:

• Why you shouldn’t discount products
• The role of Finance in Business
• Why he stepped out of Finance and began Shark Diving. 
• The importance of Finance People having experiences outside of the P & L, and the Balance Sheet. 
• Decision Making and understanding the consequences of those decisions. 
  And
• Direct and Indirect KPI.

An established professional, it was great to cover a variety of topics in this discussion.

Jack Ferguson co-hosted this episode.

Thanks for tuning in to Books to the Boardroom! If you enjoyed today's episode, take your leadership journey further:

🎧 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts 
🔔 Never miss an episode—follow us on LinkedIn and your favourite podcast platform 
📱 Share your takeaways with #CFOCatalyst

Are you a CFO with insights to share or know someone who is? We're always looking for financial leaders to join us on the show—reach out at [email protected] to discuss featuring your expertise on a future episode.

Until next week, keep reading, keep listening!

Today we are speaking to Kerri Siggs, CFO of Carter and Spencer Group. 

Carter and Spencer is an unusual CFO role that Kerri likens to a live trading market. This is due to working with Fresh Produce, and Kerri details some of the challenges surrounding that. 

Kerri also speaks about empowering women as an activator of SheEO, a global community of women helping other women to succeed. 

From a young age, Kerri seemed to have a knack for acquiring jobs in unusual ways which she details in this episode. 

As is becoming a trend on the podcast, we talk about more travel stories, some of Kerri’s challenges around moving to the UK, and what she looks for in an organisation's culture. 

Jack Ferguson co-hosted this episode.

Thanks for tuning in to Books to the Boardroom! If you enjoyed today's episode, take your leadership journey further:

🎧 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts 
🔔 Never miss an episode—follow us on LinkedIn and your favourite podcast platform 
📱 Share your takeaways with #CFOCatalyst

Are you a CFO with insights to share or know someone who is? We're always looking for financial leaders to join us on the show—reach out at [email protected] to discuss featuring your expertise on a future episode.

Until next week, keep reading, keep listening!

Today we are talking to Brent Charlton, Director of Altitude Advisors

We talk about how he navigated the GFC in his business, and as an individual.

Growing up with 2 parents as business owners, it seems Brent was always destined to become an owner himself and became a director in his late 20’s.

For an Accountant, Brent had a very unique university experience by engaging with the process in a way that is not typical. 

He talks about only changing jobs twice in his whole career which makes for interesting listening. 

Jack Ferguson co-hosted this episode.

Thanks for tuning in to Books to the Boardroom! If you enjoyed today's episode, take your leadership journey further:

🎧 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts 
🔔 Never miss an episode—follow us on LinkedIn and your favourite podcast platform 
📱 Share your takeaways with #CFOCatalyst

Are you a CFO with insights to share or know someone who is? We're always looking for financial leaders to join us on the show—reach out at [email protected] to discuss featuring your expertise on a future episode.

Until next week, keep reading, keep listening!

Today we are talking to Brad Sheahon, Head Of Finance at Cromwell Property Group. 

Hailing from New Zealand, he had nomadic parents and went to many different schools when he was young. It was interesting to hear how this set a foundation for the rest of his career.

He shares stories around navigating the GFC in London, where the effects were felt even heavier than in Australia. 

We talk about the difference between management and being a technician, and how you can go about approaching both.

Brad believes that diversity of thought and different perspectives are great for business outcomes, so we talk extensively about how you can use diverse teams to get a better result for your organisation.

Like in every episode, leadership is discussed at length.

Jack Ferguson co-hosted this episode. 

Thanks for tuning in to Books to the Boardroom! If you enjoyed today's episode, take your leadership journey further:

🎧 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts 
🔔 Never miss an episode—follow us on LinkedIn and your favourite podcast platform 
📱 Share your takeaways with #CFOCatalyst

Are you a CFO with insights to share or know someone who is? We're always looking for financial leaders to join us on the show—reach out at [email protected] to discuss featuring your expertise on a future episode.

Until next week, keep reading, keep listening!

Today’s podcast guest is Ian Judson of JudsonKoman. 

What an interesting story Ian has.

We spoke about so many different aspects of Ian’s life and career. He has life-defining overseas experiences, spent time as a musician, and built himself into a skilled finance professional and business owner.

We discussed Stoicism which has never been explored on the podcast before, and Ian speaks about how he views his role and purpose at this stage of his career. It is very enlightening.

A great leader and skilled professional in the Brisbane Finance Industry, it was great to hear the impact Ian has had on his clients and the wider community.

Nathan Smith was the co-host of this episode.

Thanks for tuning in to Books to the Boardroom! If you enjoyed today's episode, take your leadership journey further:

🎧 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts 
🔔 Never miss an episode—follow us on LinkedIn and your favourite podcast platform 
📱 Share your takeaways with #CFOCatalyst

Are you a CFO with insights to share or know someone who is? We're always looking for financial leaders to join us on the show—reach out at [email protected] to discuss featuring your expertise on a future episode.

Until next week, keep reading, keep listening!

Today we are talking to Stuart Dempster, co-founder of Changealytics.AI

Stuart has a fascinating story and was a great guest. 

He speaks about:

- Giving bad news to Richard Branson. 

- Raising millions of dollars for a business he owned.

- Good and Bad examples of leadership AND his personal leadership philosophy. 

- Floating a UK company when something goes wrong.

And

- His passion for Not For Profits.

Jack Ferguson was the co-host of this episode.

Thanks for tuning in to Books to the Boardroom! If you enjoyed today's episode, take your leadership journey further:

🎧 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts 
🔔 Never miss an episode—follow us on LinkedIn and your favourite podcast platform 
📱 Share your takeaways with #CFOCatalyst

Are you a CFO with insights to share or know someone who is? We're always looking for financial leaders to join us on the show—reach out at [email protected] to discuss featuring your expertise on a future episode.

Until next week, keep reading, keep listening!

Today we are speaking to Craig Kurkowski, Finance and Accounting Lead of Helimods.

We talk about how he started his career in hospitality and how that led him to cook for the queen.

We discuss Craig's unconventional methods for tracking staff health and he shares an interesting metaphor around what fishing and leadership have in common. 

As is becoming a trend on the podcast, Craig has some very unsettling travel stories.

We finish the discussion exploring what got him into working for such an interesting company, Helimods.

Jack Ferguson co-hosted this episode. 

Thanks for tuning in to Books to the Boardroom! If you enjoyed today's episode, take your leadership journey further:

🎧 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts 
🔔 Never miss an episode—follow us on LinkedIn and your favourite podcast platform 
📱 Share your takeaways with #CFOCatalyst

Are you a CFO with insights to share or know someone who is? We're always looking for financial leaders to join us on the show—reach out at [email protected] to discuss featuring your expertise on a future episode.

Until next week, keep reading, keep listening!