GrowCFO Show

How Did Jimmy Vassilas Go from Big 4 Auditor to CFO of SantéVet?

Jimmy Vassilas’ journey from audit to CFO is anything but linear. In this episode of The GrowCFO Show, he shares how strategic horizontal moves, international assignments, and a deep focus on tech shaped his career. From qualifying as a Canadian Chartered Accountant at Deloitte to rising through Autodesk into CFO roles at Receipt Bank, Zappi, and now SantéVet — Jimmy’s story shows that agility, openness to change, and strong FP&A skills are essential ingredients for modern CFO leadership.

Jimmy Vassilas started his career in Montreal, Canada. He qualified as a Canadian Chartered Accountant with Deloitte majoring in high tech and telecoms. High tech has remained the focus of his career ever since. Jimmy's CFO roles include Receipt Bank; Zappi; and most recently SantéVet.

Jimmy joined Autodesk and then moved to Europe temporarily to cover maternity leave. The person on maternity leave never returned to work and Jimmy never returned to Canada. In the episode, we reflect on how unexpected things like this often have the biggest impact on your career path.

His journey takes him from external audit to internal audit. Subsequent job changes take him into FP&A and several senior management roles. Jimmy achieved many of these by moving horizontally rather than vertically within Autodesk, eventually becoming Autodesk's finance director.

Links

Jimmy Vassilas on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

GrowCFO CFO Competency Framework

Find out more about becoming a CFO

Timestamps

01:21 Jimmy's early career in audit

05:35 Internal audit to FP&A and 17 years in Autodesk

07:35 Are horizontal moves worth taking?

08:49 The 9 competencies of a CFO

09:29 The number one complaint CEOs have about CFOs

11:26 Is 17 years too long in a single organisation?

14:00 So why leave after 17 years?

16:07 Becoming CFO in an organisation funded by venture capital.

19:04 SantéVet and a move to France

20:46 The challenges of being CFO in a high growth tech company

21:49 The importance of shared values within the business

23:11 The importance of being a business partner

25:00 What's the best advice you would give somebody at the start of their journey?

29:00 The importance of networking and maintaining connections

Richard Haywood left school at 18 and started work as a trainee accountant in a manufacturing business. He studied for the ACCA qualification on day-release. His route to qualification took 5 years and he moved to become a financial controller in the record industry at a time of huge change from vinyl to CD. His challenge, keep his manufacturing unit viable and one of the last vinyl production facilities operating.

Polydor Records gave way to the Mecca Organisation. Richard became responsible for the finances of nightclubs; bingo halls and restaurants. It introduced him to the world of mergers and acquisitions.

A move to CFO soon followed. Richard took a job in the Bahamas at a leisure park and Zoo. Not many people can say they have been CFO of a Zoo. Richard Haywood can! Back in London, Richard continued his career as a divisional CFO in several business units in BT Global Services before moving on to become CFO in a much smaller communications company.

In the episode, we talk about the skills you need to deal with people. Those people range from trade unions to investors and board members. We talk about managing change and the advice Richard would give to a mentee or to a younger version of himself.

Links

Richard Haywood on LinkedInKevin Appleby on LinkedInFind out more about becoming a CFO

Timestamps

00:57 Starting accountancy training at 18, straight from school

01:57 The first job change

05:18 Changing the business model to survive; learning to manage conflict and deal with trade unions

08:42 Richard's goal to become a CFO

10:00 Bingo Halls, Nightclubs and Restaurants; learning about M&A

12:48 How to move from manufacturing to entertainment

14:52 What makes a good CFO?

16:49 The skills needed to deal with investors and board members

20:31 Richard's first CFO role. A Zoo in the Bahamas

27:05 Moving back to a Telco in London

26:17 Cost review of a Zoo

29:36 What advice would you give a mentee about managing change?

34:05 What's in it for me?

37:07 What advice would you give a younger version of yourself?

Many people gain experience by changing jobs and moving between organisations. Tony Fossey took the opposite approach and forged his early career rising through the ranks in a single company. He joined Halliburton, part of civil engineering giant KBR when he left school in 1976 and remained in KBR for the next 29 years. Tony took advantage of the size of the organisation he joined to get a wide range of experience in both finance and commercial roles. He worked internationally in several different roles with increasing seniority.

Tony is highly experienced and has operated at the CFO level for well over 20 years. He shares some great insights into what makes a good CFO and the type of experience a prospective CFO should seek out as their career progresses. Listen to the full episode to find out more

Links

Tony Fossey on LinkedInKevin Appleby on LinkedInFind out more about becoming a CFO

Timestamps

01:08 Leaving school and joining a finance team

03:02 Tony's first commercial role

06:30 FD, CFO, and VP of Finance. Is there a difference?

07:56 The importance of a professional qualification

10:08 Length of time between qualifying and taking on a number one finance role

13:10 What makes a good CFO?

16:48 Working with the board and non-executive directors

19:30 Get away from your desk and out into the organisation

21:33 Developing a reliable number two

22:18 How often should you change jobs?

25:35 Where does Tony Fossey work these days?

28:54 The importance of having fun and enjoying what you do

Manu Gupta has acted as CFO of several high growth businesses including MyDrive Solutions, GridDuck, and Brisk. He shares his unusual journey to his first CFO role and becoming a board advisor. Manu isn’t from a traditional accountancy background. He started his career in sales. A finance-based MBA then took Manu into a career in management consulting. He chose to leave consulting and move to a startup. The startup needed a finance team ahead of a Series A investment. Manu’s job was to create that team.

Manu regards himself as a generalist and really enjoys the variety of challenges the CFO role offers him. We talk about how to become sufficiently rounded to do all the things a generalist CFO needs to do well. We also examine Manu's skills as a management consultant and understand how he applied those to be a dynamic finance leader.

Manu talks about the attitudes and skills a modern CFO needs to bring to the role. He has much to share. Listen to the full episode to find out more, including passions and lessons learned that come straight from the cricket field! 

Links

Manu Gupta on LinkedInKevin Appleby on LinkedInFind out more about becoming a CFOThe CFO as co-pilot to the CEO

Timestamps

00:59 How did you become a CFO?

02:35 From sales to finance

03:35 Manu’s mantra: “I find myself in places I’ve not been before”

04:36 Becoming a well-rounded generalist

05:00 An MBA in finance leads to a career in consultancy

06:10 Opportunity to work in a startup and create a finance team ahead of a Series A fundraise

07:16 Advantages & disadvantages of an accountancy qualification and background

09:22 Leveraging skills learned as a consultant

11:06 What attitudes and skills do modern CFOs need?

11:45 Being a business partner and helping others make decisions

13:36 How to engage with others

16:04 Managing your energy

17:13 Managing situations with customers

20:40 Working with the SLT beyond just finance

22:21 Acting as a non-exec alongside being an operational CFO

25:27 Having an impact

25:51 Ben Stokes - lessons from the cricket field

28:45 What are you passionate about?

31:31 The Godfather and the CFO

What Can You Learn from Julian O’Neill’s Journey from IT Director to CFO?

Julian O’Neill’s unconventional route to CFO — via IT leadership and a brief stint as CEO — offers a powerful reminder that finance careers aren’t always linear. In this episode of The GrowCFO Show, Julian shares the pivotal decisions, career shifts, and lessons that shaped his path to CFO at Ardent Hire Solutions. His story shows how commercial experience outside of finance can set you apart and prepare you for executive leadership.

It's a very small world. As guest Julian O'Neill and host, Kevin Appleby discovered in the first few minutes of the episode. 20 years ago they both worked for PwC Consulting and were on the same client project in the Ministry of Defence. Before that, they were both accountants in manufacturing businesses. But since that brief spell working together their careers have been very different. Julian has operated at the board level for a number of big-name brands before taking up the role of CFO at a high growth start-up.

Julian qualified as an accountant in industry. He then briefly worked as a management consultant. Next, his journey took him to IT Director and a number of CFO roles in divisions of large corporations. Julian joined Arcadia Group and ended up doing a commercial role. He stepped away from big brands and joined a startup as CFO, taking over as CEO when the original founder was forced to step down. After the sale of that business, he took on his current CFO role, preferring that to another challenge as CEO.

Julian O'Neill reflects on his experience, sharing lessons he learned at each stage of his career. He adds that his time outside finance, in commercial roles has been invaluable.

Listen to the full episode and hear Julian's full, and extremely fascinating, story.

Links

Julian O'Neill on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

Find out more about becoming a CFO

The CFO as co-pilot to the CEO

Timestamps

01:48 Accountancy and finance open a lot of doors

03:40 Early career in telecoms; qualifying as an accountant in Cable & Wireless

06:18 Spicing things up at General Motors

11:30 Doing an MBA at Warwick Business School

12:10 First role outside finance at Siemens

13:25 Joining PwC Consulting

15:42 The decision to leave the big 4

17:00 Pizza Hut

17:30 First director role

18:20 The challenge of being an IT director

26:25 Arcadia, as a divisional CFO

30:50 CFO of an airline

32:20 Moving from a big brand to CFO at a £2m turnover high growth business

34:50 Taking over from the CEO

37:30 Finding a new job while selling the business

38:28 Back to a CFO role in a small business

39:00 Small startup vs big corporate

40:54 The importance of getting experience in commercial roles outside the finance function

Conflict is a natural and unavoidable part of life. It can arise in our personal lives, with friends and family, or in our professional lives, with co-workers. No matter where it happens, it's important to learn how to manage conflict effectively. If not handled properly, conflict can lead to hurt feelings, damaged relationships, and even lawsuits. In this podcast, Susana Serrano-Davey and Kevin Appleby discuss some tips for managing conflict in both your personal and professional life.

One of the most important things to remember when managing conflict is to stay calm. This can be difficult, especially if you feel like you're being attacked or accused of something. It's important to remember that getting defensive will only make the situation worse. Take a deep breath and try to see the situation from the other person's perspective. Only then can you start to find a resolution.

Beyond this though, Susana has four great lessons for us, and she goes through each of these in turn. Listen to the podcast to find out more.

Susana Serrano-Davey is an experienced CFO and a member of the GrowCFO professional mentoring team. If you are interested in having Susana as a mentor then please get in touch using the link below.

Links

Mentoring at GrowCFO with Susana Serrano-Davey

Susana Serrano-Davey on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

Timestamps

00:57 What is conflict?

03:15 The danger of unresolved conflict

05:34 Step 1: Take precautions, don’t respond in the heat of the moment

06:50 Write the reply email but delete it before sending

09:02 Don’t feel pressured into an immediate reply

12:16 Step 2: Some basic assumptions - nobody comes to work to intentionally create conflict

14:22 Don't jump to conclusions

14:37 Step 3: Take some time to think

18:09 It’s rarely a case of one person is right and the other is wrong

18:30 Step 4: Listen to the other person

22:30 Choose a relaxing, neutral environment for a conversation

28:30 What do you do about a historic conflict that still gets in the way?

31:00 Make the other person feel it's their solution, not yours

As a finance professional, you are often required to provide financial information to people who are not finance professionals. This can be a challenge. It is important to communicate the information in a way that is easy for non-finance leaders to understand. In this podcast, Asif Ahmed, author of The Finance Playbook for Entrepreneurs joins host Kevin Appleby. We discuss the issues involved in providing financial information to the entrepreneur and the rest of the business leadership team

One of the challenges of providing financial information to non-finance leaders is that they may not have the same level of understanding of finance concepts as you do. This can make it difficult to communicate the information in a way that is easy for them to understand. One way to overcome this challenge is to use simple, clear language when explaining finance concepts.

Another challenge is making sure the rest of the team understands what financial information is important and what isn't. Asif and Kevin spend time talking about cash vs profit, and the need to understand some financial numbers that aren't immediately obvious from the profit and loss account. This includes customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value, and that often 20% of customers generate 80% of the profit.

Asif Ahmed is the founder and managing director of Acclivity Advisors and co-founder of The Finance Department. He is also group CFO at Labrys Group and an advisory board member at HM Revenue & Customs.

Links

The Finance Playbook for Entrepeneurs on Amazon UK and Amazon USAThe GrowCFO Competency FrameworkAsif Ahmed on LinkedinKevin Appleby on Linkedin

Timestamps

00:43 What does The Finance Department do?

03:27 Communicating financial information to early-stage entrepreneurs

06:23 What information does an early-stage entrepreneur need?

08:47 Information needed for raising funds

10:08 Covid-19: Bootcamp for learning the financial basics

12:15 You can't manage the business using historic data

13:47 Financial vs non-financial data

16:56 Understanding lead generation and the cost of customer acquisition

21:13 Customer lifetime value

24:00 What else do entrepreneurs need to understand?

27:53 Cost of retaining an existing customer vs cost of acquiring a new customer

29:21 Understanding product costs and the tendency to over cost the simple and under cost the complex.

31:40 What's the right time for a startup business to employ its first CFO?

37:05 The importance of instilling the right financial culture and practices

41:06 If 20% of your customers produce 80% of the profit, do you know which customers make up this 20%?

Chris Fry has the best CFO job in the world. He's group CFO at SISTER. SISTER is the organisation behind recent TV blockbusters "The Split"; "This Is Going To Hurt"; and "Chernobyl". So why is the CFO of a TV production company the best job in the world? First of all, it's a very demanding position that comes with a lot of responsibility. But if you're up for the challenge, it can be extremely rewarding. You'll have a hand in the creative process and you'll be able to help shape the future of the company.

Chris has certainly been up for that challenge. He's an accomplished CFO but he also recognises that there's always something new to learn. Chris was one of the founder members of the CFO Programme within GrowCFO, having previously been involved in something similar during his time working in Australia. He talks about the programme in the podcast and why it has been so useful for him. He tells us why he has found the support from Catherine Clark, the programme leader, and from his fellow CFO participants, invaluable. 

Links

Find out more about SISTERThe CFO Programme at GrowCFOCFO MentoringChris Fry on LinkedinKevin Appleby on Linkedin

Timestamps

00:42 Who is SISTER?

02:18 What exactly is your role as Group CFO of SISTER?

03:22 What are your biggest challenges?

05:50 What was your career path before SISTER?

08:50 How did you get the experience to break through to the CFO level?

10:10 Using your influence

11:12 Why did you join the CFO programme at GrowCFO?

13:39 The role of mentors in the CFO programme

15:22 Why do you want to extend the CFO programme beyond the initial 6 months?

16:41 Where does Chris Fry aspire to be in 10 years' time?

19:07 The importance of enjoying what you do

20:16 Advice to a new CFO coming to grips with the first CFO role

21:34 Would you advise a CFO to have a mentor?

Who is your boss? Do you have more than one boss? Perhaps you are number 2 to the CFO and you report indirectly to other people too. Maybe you are the CFO and you need to be mindful of the needs of both CEO and investors in the business. Getting the relationship right with all those people is important. Finding the right balance between your needs from the relationship and their needs is key. It's no secret that the relationship between you and your bosses, whoever they might be, can be a tricky one. It's often difficult to find the right balance between being respectful and assertive, humble and ambitious, compliant and determined. When you report to more than one person you get the added complication of competing needs and being pulled in several different directions at the same time.

In this podcast, Susana Serrano-Davey and Kevin Appleby explore some of the challenges that come with trying to maintain a healthy relationship with your boss. We'll offer some tips on how to handle common situations, as well as how to stay sane while working under someone else's control!

Susana breaks the problem down into 4 areas:

Mutual responsibilities

Separate the job from the person

Finding your Voice

Professional to professional relationships

We explore each of these in turn and provide some practical examples to illustrate the key points.

Links

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by  Don Miguel Ruizon on Amazon UK and Amazon USA

GrowCFO Show episode 74 discussing personality types as birds with Merrick Rosenberg

GrowCFO for Finance Teams

The communications module within GrowCFO for Finance Teams

Susana Serrano-Davey on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

Timestamps

01:04 Everyone has a boss unless you are the CEO

03:18 Building or balancing relationships

04:48 Susana's personal experiences

06:08 Introducing the 4 areas for balancing relationships

06:49 Mutual responsibilities

13:37 Separating the job from the person

15:10 The four agreements book

21:55 DISC and the 4 personality types

25:02 GrowCFO for Finance Teams - communications course

25:42 Finding your voice

30:37 Tackling conflict

35:44 Professional to professional relationships

As a finance leader, you are constantly juggling responsibilities between financial and non-financial analysis. On one hand, you need to make sure the company is meeting its financial goals and obligations. On the other hand, you may be called upon to provide insights into non-financial areas such as operations, marketing, or human resources. This can be a daunting task, but with the right tools and strategies in place, you can successfully balance both worlds.

Paul Barnhurst, The FP&A guy specialises in planning and reporting. In this episode of the GrowCFO Show Paul provides Kevin Appleby with a great overview of business planning and analytics; how to integrate financial and non-financial data; and the tools that are available to help you.

Links

GrowCFO for Finance TeamsPaul Barnhurst on LinkedInKevin Appleby on LinkedInSubscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google podcasts and many others.

Timestamps

00:52 Day one of a brand new business

02:10 What exactly is FP&A?

03:26 Which areas will Paul be working in?

04:31 Excel: are spreadsheets the best way of doing things?

05:14 What are the planning tools available?

09:51 Selecting the tool that's right for you

12:59 Should non-financial measurement sit in finance?

15:52 The importance of a single version of the truth

20:16 What does day 100 look like for the FP&A guy?

21:13 What are the biggest things on the horizon for FP&A in general

22:47 The problem of too much data