When Steve Fox joined Every Man Jack in 2021, the men’s personal care brand had a new private equity owner and an ambitious growth agenda. Carlyle Group saw an opportunity: a widely distributed brand that had never invested heavily in marketing. The challenge was finding the operating leverage to fund that investment.For Fox, the answer increasingly lies in technology.At Every Man Jack, a company known for its outdoor-inspired grooming products, the finance team has remained at five employees even as transaction volume has tripled. Fox credits investments in technology and a growing emphasis on automation.The initiative even has a name: “Nix the Clicks by 26.”The goal is to eliminate manual transactions and replace traditional workflows with functional command centers where employees supervise automated processes, investigate exceptions, and monitor business performance.The transformation gathered momentum after Every Man Jack implemented NetSuite in September 2025. A month later, at SuiteWorld, the company’s IT manager connected the new ERP platform to emerging AI capabilities.Still, Fox recognizes that easier access to technology brings its own complications. With roughly 70 employees suddenly capable of creating software-driven solutions, the company established an AI oversight committee to prevent duplication and keep experimentation aligned with strategy.It’s a distinctly operational approach from a CFO whose career began in public accounting before taking him into retail management and high-growth businesses.And while Fox is enthusiastic about what technology makes possible, his guiding principle remains decidedly human: successful adoption begins with investing in people.

When Steve Fox joined Every Man Jack in 2021, the men’s personal care brand had a new private equity owner and an ambitious growth agenda. Carlyle Group saw an opportunity: a widely distributed brand that had never invested heavily in marketing. The challenge was finding the operating leverage to fund that investment. For Fox, the answer increasingly lies in technology. At Every Man Jack, a company known for its outdoor-inspired grooming products, the finance team has remained at five employees even as transaction volume has tripled. Fox credits investments in technology and a growing emphasis on automation. The initiative even has a name: “Nix the Clicks by 26.” The goal is to eliminate manual transactions and replace traditional workflows with functional command centers where employees supervise automated processes, investigate exceptions, and monitor business performance. The transformation gathered momentum after Every Man Jack implemented NetSuite in September 2025. A month later, at SuiteWorld, the company’s IT manager connected the new ERP platform to emerging AI capabilities. Still, Fox recognizes that easier access to technology brings its own complications. With roughly 70 employees suddenly capable of creating software-driven solutions, the company established an AI oversight committee to prevent duplication and keep experimentation aligned with strategy. It’s a distinctly operational approach from a CFO whose career began in public accounting before taking him into retail management and high-growth businesses. And while Fox is enthusiastic about what technology makes possible, his guiding principle remains decidedly human: successful adoption begins with investing in people.

1225: Nix the Clicks: Building a Finance Function That Manages by Exception | Steve Fox, CFO, Every Man Jack

214: Marianne Caserta, CFO, Atrion

213: Building Your Finance Team's Talent Competencies, Ash Noah, CGMA AICPA

212: Dave Cone, CFO, Taylor Morrison

212: Dave Cone, CFO, Taylor Morrison

Neil Jain, Waterstone Management Group

211:  Exposing the Customer Opportunity, Neil Jain Waterstone Management Group

CFOs Praise the Power of Communication

210: CFOs Praise the Power of Communication

As more CFOs become tasked with not just reporting growth but driving it, customer success metrics are becoming increasingly popular, and no one group of finance leaders is more customer success obsessed than that group which dwells inside the high tech hallways of software as a service (SaaS) software application companies.

As more CFOs become tasked with not just reporting growth but driving it, customer success metrics are becoming increasingly popular, and no one group of finance leaders is more customer success obsessed than that group which dwells inside the high tech hallways of software as a service (SaaS) software application companies.

209: CFO to CFO: Six CFOs Explain How They Measure the Customer Experience

Troy Helming, CEO, Prestine Sun&nbsp;

Bonus Episode: Inside the Finances of a Solar Startup

208: Setting Goals and Allocating Resources in the Age of Customer Success

Vince Burchianti, CFO, Firehouse Subs . Listen Now.

Vince Burchianti, CFO, Firehouse Subs . Listen Now.

207: Accelerating Your Finance Growth Engine, Vince Burchianti, CFO, Firehouse Subs

&nbsp;Tom Stewart, CFO, SecureAuth

206: Tom Stewart, CFO, SecureAuth

CFO THOUGHT LEADER is a podcast featuring firsthand accounts of finance leaders who are driving change within their organizations.
We share the career journey of our spotlighted CFO guest: What do they struggle with? How do they persevere? What makes them successful CFOs?  CFO THOUGHT LEADER is all about inspiring finance professionals to take a leadership leap. We know that by hearing about the successes — (and yes, also the failures) — of others, today’s CFOs can more confidently chart their own leadership paths across the enterprise and take inspired action.

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CFO THOUGHT LEADER is a podcast featuring firsthand accounts of finance leaders who are driving change within their organizations. We share the career journey of our spotlighted CFO guest: What do they struggle with? How do they persevere? What makes them successful CFOs? CFO THOUGHT LEADER is all about inspiring finance professionals to take a leadership leap. We know that by hearing about the successes — (and yes, also the failures) — of others, today’s CFOs can more confidently chart their own leadership paths across the enterprise and take inspired action.

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