He started at Ernst & Young, moved to Home Depot where he had a front row seat to one of the most operational CFOs in the country, then jumped into high-growth startups and never looked back.

In this episode, I sit down in person with Chad Gold, 2022 CFO of the Year by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and current CFO of Fullstory. Chad drove 10x growth in enterprise value at SalesLoft to over $2.3 billion and was the first CFO at G2.

We talk about why he left the stability of Home Depot for startups and what his wife thinks about that risk. His "lines not dots" principle for building relationships that actually shape your career. His playbook for the first 90 days in a new CFO role and why most leaders make the mistake of trying to tackle everything at once. How to get the business to bring finance in early instead of after the fact. Why the CFO, not the CTO, should be leading AI adoption inside the company. How his team cut the close process by 50% using AI and is going for another 50%. The SEC agent they built that reviews contracts in minutes. How they automated daily cash reporting with Claude in five minutes. Why he thinks the finance org chart is shifting from a triangle to a diamond. And the whiteboard lesson from his Home Depot boss that changed how he thinks about success forever.

Whether you are a CFO trying to figure out where AI actually fits, a finance leader navigating high-growth, or someone thinking about making the leap from big company to startup, this conversation covers it.

In this episode of The Diary of a CFO: Live in Atlanta, I sit down in person with Tiffany Willis.

Tiffany is a global investor relations executive who recently served as Senior Vice President at Starbucks, where she managed nearly $130 billion in market capitalization. She is a Wharton graduate, an Adjunct Professor at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, a CPA, a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and a former Miss Black Georgia USA.

Behind that bio is a story most people would never expect. Tiffany was pregnant at 14, dropped out of school in the 9th grade, and was homeless. She kept her baby's milk on a windowsill because she had no refrigerator.

We talk about what carried her through that chapter and into boardrooms with Howard Schultz and Mellody Hobson. How she transitioned from public accounting into investor relations and why that shift required a completely different way of thinking.

The art of storytelling as a finance leader and why most finance professionals struggle with it. Her swimming pool analogy for how to make numbers feel real to non-finance people.

The WIFM framework she uses to get buy-in across every function. How being Miss Black Georgia USA gave her the communication foundation she uses in boardrooms today.

And why she wrote her book Own Your Narrative to help leaders stop hiding from their story and start leading from it.

Get Tiffany's book, Own Your Narrative: https://www.amazon.com/Own-Your-Narrative-Resilience-Restored/dp/1918077835/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

He dropped out of high school. He was a single father. He started his career at a cottonseed company. Now he oversees $3 billion in annual revenue across 76 offices in 45 countries as the Global CFO of Baker McKenzie, one of the largest law firms in the world.

In this episode, I sit down with William Washington III. William brings a rare combination of financial acumen and operational expertise shaped by senior roles at Hogan Lovells, Accenture, and Fannie Mae. He is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt and a Bloomberg New Voice on the future of finance.

We get into what it actually looks like to lead finance across 45 countries and how he adapted his communication style for teams that speak different languages and operate in different cultures. How he evaluates a finance organization when he walks in on day one. The executive coaching session where a 360 review showed him something about his leadership he did not want to see. Why the drive that made him a great director was the same thing holding him back from becoming CFO. How he leads as a self-described introvert, including how he sets boundaries to recharge. Why he went back to school for a Master's in Law Firm Management just to understand his industry. And his philosophy on the three books every finance professional should always be reading.

Whether you are a finance leader trying to grow into the CFO seat, already in it and figuring out how to lead at scale, or building resilience through a chapter that feels impossible, this conversation will meet you where you are.