Here's how this CFO scaled finance from zero to a $100M exit. Career advice on risk, AI in finance, and making the leap to CFO.

Mark Heinkel walked into his first finance leadership role as a literal team of one, no direct reports, no built-out function, just him. Two months later, the pandemic hit.

That's not exactly the on-ramp most CFOs get. But in this episode, Mark walks Paul Lynch through how a KPMG auditor with an accounting degree from Trinity University ended up running finance through a global crisis, a platform-scale acquisition strategy, and an exit north of $100 million… all before turning 40.

This conversation covers a lot of ground:

• The audit-to-operator pipeline. Why Mark believes every finance professional should put in time at a big firm — and why "external audit was definitely not for me" was the realization that shaped everything after.
• Betting on cloud before anyone knew what it was worth. What it was like doing FP&A at Rackspace in 2009, pricing a product category that didn't have a comparable yet.
• The scariest kind of scale. Going from managing a go-to-market budget at a 2,000-person company to building an entire finance function from scratch at a Scaleworks portfolio company.
• Selling a company for nine figures with no internal deal team. How Mark prepped for quality-of-earnings scrutiny from private equity buyers and their lawyers, and why being prepared to answer mattered more than being perfectly right.
• AI as a very sharp knife. Mark's read on where AI actually helps finance teams right now — and the Yahoo Finance piece he wrote three months ago that he says he'd have to retract today.
• "You don't have to always be right, but you need to be convicted." The unconventional advice that reshaped how Mark shows up in a room.

If you're a finance leader trying to make the jump from tactical to strategic — from reporting the past to shaping what's next — this is a masterclass in how to do it without waiting for permission.

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Finance leaders don't earn a seat at the table by having all the answers.

They earn it by asking better questions.

In Episode 3 of The CFO Review, Paul Lynch sits down with Peter Pixton, CFO of Plus One Robotics, to discuss an unconventional journey from molecular biology to Fortune 20 finance, Rackspace, healthcare, and robotics.

Together, they explore:

• Why curiosity is a finance leader's greatest advantage
• How to make the leap from analyst to strategic CFO
• Lessons from AT&T, Rackspace, and AI-driven robotics
• Why taking calculated risks matters more than waiting for perfect data
• How AI will reshape the future of finance

If you're an FP&A professional, Controller, Finance Director, or aspiring CFO, this conversation is packed with practical lessons you can apply today.

The CFO Review — bi-weekly conversations with finance leaders who've already made the jump.

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Bo Meissner never planned to be a CFO. Before his first finance job, he'd already survived bear country in the Northwest Territories, built and sold a roofing company at 22, and circled the globe twice on his own dime. By the time he sat down in his first CFO chair, he'd spent 12 years at Procter & Gamble, helped steer an $8B global division, navigated eight acquisitions, taken a company through an IPO, and made a career-defining lateral move most people would have called a step down.

In this episode of the CFO Review, host Paul Lynch sits down with Bo Meissner, CFO of Grassroots Carbon and former CFO of Vital Farms, to trace the unconventional path that built one of the most well-rounded finance leaders in the game.

If you're a finance professional trying to figure out when to take the title versus when to take the experience, this one's for you.

What you'll take away:
→ Why Bo turned down a CFO title to take a VP role — and why it was the right call
→ How 12 years at P&G shaped a "business person with finance expertise" mindset
→ What it actually looks like to be CFO at a public company on IPO day
→ Why mission-driven companies changed what Bo was willing to work on
→ The future of finance — automation, merging roles, and why curiosity is the real edge

The CFO Review — bi-weekly conversations with finance leaders who've already made the jump.

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In 2006, Karl Pichler had a job offer from Lehman Brothers. He turned it down. Two months later, Rackspace came calling — and that decision set off a chain of events that took him from corporate finance consultant to CFO of a billion-dollar public company, through an IPO, and ultimately a $4.5B leveraged buyout from Apollo Capital.

In this episode of the CFO Review, host Paul Lynch sits down with Karl Pichler to unpack the career moves that built toward the CFO seat — and the principles that drove $80M to $2.1B in revenue at one of the most interesting companies in tech services history.

If you're in finance and wondering whether the opportunity in front of you is the right one — this conversation is worth your time.

What you'll take away: → Why the CFO seat is a leadership job first and a finance job second → How broad exposure across the finance stack separates real contenders from candidates → Why your goal should be getting into the consideration set — not just landing the job → What scaling from $80M to $2.1B actually looks like from the inside → The future of finance — and why Karl thinks most functions are still being run like it's 2005

The CFO Review — weekly conversations with finance leaders who've already made the jump.

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