2025 Agenda

5:00pm - 6:00pm

Panel Discussion: The ROI on Women in Leadership has Never Been Higher

Session Details

Creating a purpose-driven strategy that makes an impact as our organization grows and nurtures a diverse workforce
Understanding the leader’s role as a force to shape and demonstrate corporate culture, and to serve as a catalyst for equality and inclusion
Sharing typical challenges faced by corporations when trying to promote diversity in the workforce
Illustrating the importance of today’s leaders building up and supporting the next generation our organizations will need for the future. What does that look like on a day-to-day basis?
Offering examples of strong and effective mentorship programs in onboarding, cross-training, job shadowing, and continuing education that make the difference

6:00pm

7:30am - 8:15am

8:15am - 8:20am

Opening Remarks and Important Announcements

8:20am - 8:30am

Chair’s Welcome Address

8:30am - 9:05am

The Role of the CFO: The Old and the New

Rui Barbas

Chief Financial Officer, North America

Nestlé

Session Details

Addressing expectation gaps for finance leaders and ensuring effectiveness in new strategic duties as roles expand in scope
Strategies for working alongside other C-suite leaders to adopt financial innovation in a way that drives growth
Continuing the pace of change and innovation from the past few years to capture future opportunities

9:05am - 9:40am

Building a Future-Fit Finance Function

Pablo Di Si

CEO, North America

Volkswagen

Session Details

Are you adhering to a traditional role for finance function, or evolving it into a core driver of business success?
Providing a roadmap to develop an effective finance function in the context of evolving mandates driven by digital transformation and multi-capital thinking
Optimizing costs to cut back spending on services no longer required due to being more relevant to the growth at all costs era
Encouraging technology adoption to drive automation further

9:45am - 10:20am

Transforming to Create a Customer-Centric, Digitally Enabled Business

Executive to be Announced

Capital One

Session Details

Do you have catching up to do? Why areas of change at organization go beyond the usual technology-focus
Ensuring capacity to properly handle all data at your disposal to ensure secure migration to the cloud
Moving forward with tech-oriented approaches: Utilizing data mining and automating various reporting functions
Modernizing IT systems to drive integrations and efficiencies

9:45am - 10:20am

What it Takes to Keep Top Talent: A Study of Pre- and Post-Pandemic Employee Needs

Executive to be Announced

Workiva

Session Details

What employees value most from their organizations
How the psychological needs of remote, deskless and office-based workers vary
Ideas to help you focus your engagement efforts and save you the headache of relying on trendy, unproven perks or lackluster legacy programs

9:45am - 10:20am

Generative AI, Blockchain and Other Emerging Technologies in Finance

Executive to be Announced

Oracle

Session Details

Emerging technologies serve as the foundation of new products and services
What are the key levers of competitive advantage in global organizations?
Diving deep: What these technologies are, what their current state is, and what they offer to different industries

10:25am - 12:05pm

Pre-Arranged One-to-One Meetings

10:30 am – 10:50 am: Meeting Slot 1/Networking
10:55 am – 11:15 am: Meeting Slot 2/Networking
11:20 am – 11:40 am: Meeting Slot 3/Networking
11:45 am – 12:05 pm: Meeting Slot 4/Networking

These mutually agreed-upon conversations are arranged and facilitated by Executive Platforms staff to ensure attendees have valuable discussions about their top-of-mind questions, challenges, and opportunities.

12:10pm - 12:45pm

Adapting to the Evolving Expectations of Investors and Shareholders

Jonathan Ness

VP of Supply Chain Strategy & Finance

General Mills

Session Details

How have investors’ interests and behaviors changed in recent years, and what is driving that change?
Discussing IR’s role as both a spokesperson for the company and a representative of the public’s interest in the company’s performance to internal decision-makers
Building a multi-faceted strategy that thinks about how different audiences consume information and make decisions
Establishing meaningful metrics to analyze the effectiveness of communications strategies to revise and refine over time

12:10pm - 12:45pm

How Advanced Technology is Changing the Face of Audit

Cameron Read

CFO, US & Canada

Marriott

Session Details

Strategies to reduce the number of manual inputs and streamline the reconciliation process
Working with different automated solutions involving robotics, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing
What to expect: Process mining technology and business process automation set to be must-haves
Addressing pain points during new process implementation such as adoption and ROI

12:10pm - 12:45pm

Mergers and Acquisitions: Innovative Solutions for Common Challenges

Session Details

What are the issues with adoption that most companies face during M&A?
Understanding the logistical, financial, and functional factors to consider when choosing which technology path to pursue
Avoiding disengagement, increased stress, and productivity loss amongst staff
How to minimize disruption during the coexistence timeframe

12:45pm - 1:45pm

Explore this year’s themed lunch discussions led by industry leaders, where executives engage in focused conversations over a meal, discussing topics they’re passionate about alongside their peers.

Always-On Change Management Strategies

How Finance is Broadening its C-Suite Influence

Adopting a Finance Capability Framework That Work

Driving Enterprise Productivity to Push Progress

How Will the New SEC Cybersecurity Rules Affect Finance?

Approaching Valuations in a New Market Environment

1:45pm - 2:20pm

Preventing Fraud and Investing in Finance Cybersecurity

Lavanya Chandrashekar

Former Chief Financial Officer

Diageo

Session Details

Mitigating risk in an increasingly digitized world
New rules: Investors, regulators, and other stakeholders are increasingly demanding transparency
Managing evolving cybersecurity risks to better understand factors that could materially impact a company financially
Developing effective internal controls to identify and control cybersecurity risks

1:45pm - 2:20pm

Finding the Next Productivity Breakthrough

Victoria Kuklina

CFO

Pinnacle Home Care

Session Details

• Rebooting productivity measurements for the digital era
• How levers of productivity are shifting and assessing where CFOs should focus their attention
• Analyzing the structural productivity opportunities from AI and autonomous business models

1:45pm - 2:20pm

Transforming to Create a Customer-Centric, Digitally-Enabled Business

Sharon Schuler

SVP of Financial Planning and Analysis

BJ's Wholesale Club

Session Details

Do you have catching up to do? Why areas of change at organization go beyond the usual technology-focus
Ensuring capacity to properly handle all data at your disposal to ensure secure migration to the cloud
Moving forward with tech-oriented approaches: Utilizing data mining and automating various reporting functions
Modernizing IT systems to drive integrations and efficiencies

2:25pm - 3:00pm

Cash Operations Paradigm Shift: What It Is and How You Can Get Ahead

Executive to be Announced

Emburse

Session Details

Learn how Open Banking and APIs are revolutionizing finance operations
Discover how you can leverage multi-bank capabilities for real-time cash visibility and payments
Gain actionable best practices that will help your company adapt to the era of big data and modern financial technology

2:25pm - 3:00pm

The Finance Pivot: Five Actions to Modernize and Deliver

Session Details

Get transparency into real-time cash position so that organizations can be more agile and confident in cash forecasting and liquidity planning
Leverage technology to drive transformation, enabling you to proactively provide strategic insights into spend, payments, and working capital
Collaborate with Finance, Treasury, Procurement to make smarter decisions that directly impact your company’s financial performance

2:25pm - 3:00pm

Finding the Next Productivity Breakthrough

Executive to be Announced

Wolters Kluwer

Session Details

Rebooting productivity measurements for the digital era
How levers of productivity are shifting and assessing where CFOs should focus their attention
Analyzing the structural productivity opportunities from AI and autonomous business models

3:05pm - 4:15pm

Pre-Arranged One-to-One Meetings

3:05 pm – 3:25 pm: Meeting Slot 5/Networking
3:30 pm – 3:50 pm: Meeting Slot 6/Networking
3:55 pm – 4:15 pm: Meeting Slot 7/Networking

4:20pm - 4:55pm

Finance for a Sustainable Future: Goal Setting, Benchmarking and Reporting

Chris Suh

EVP & CFO

Visa

Session Details

Meet the growing demand for corporate responsibility and client requests on carbon, energy, diversity and proper governance
Integrating sustainability goals and KPIs as a strategic financial imperative
Exploring the direct impact of sustainability strategy on financial performance
Managing costs, reducing risks, setting and measuring KPIs
Emphasizing practical ways CFOs can set realistic goals to monitor progress and unlock value

4:55pm - 5:30pm

Plugging the Revenue Gap

Guru Ramamurthy

Chief Financial Officer, Bayer U.S.

Bayer US

Session Details

Searching for growth: How to create a strong growth strategy to overcome the post-crisis stage of a pandemic
Helping investors understand the breadth of pipelines and capabilities in research and development
Exploring strategies being used to replenish our pipeline with a strong focus on M&A
How we are investing differently: Focusing on acquiring specific assets to increase future product developments

5:30pm - 5:35pm

Chair’s Closing Remarks

5:35pm

7:45am - 8:20am

Achieving Intelligent Financial Planning & Analysis

Session Details

Optimizing your available resources – people, process, and technology
Where your FP&A team ranks in its confidence index and how you can develop and implement an effective business planning process
Helping you understand and create an intelligent transformation strategy based on insights regarding the maturity level within each business category

8:25am - 8:35am

Chair’s Welcome Address

8:35am - 9:10am

Entering the Future of Finance: Leveraging AI to Transform Decision-Making Processes and Improve Outcomes

Phillipe Fau

Chief Financial Officer

L'Oreal USA

Session Details

Understanding where CFOs are using AI to take on tactical tasks and free-up teams for higher value activities
How AI eliminates human error and provides real-time guidance for the Office of the CFO and finance teams
Examples of the transformational benefits of AI, automation, and related innovations to planning, budgeting, and forecasting with greater accuracy, speed, and confidence
Where to start with AI and how to deploy AI in phases

9:10am - 9:45am

Managing the Change and Transformation of Finance Teams

Caroline Litchfield

Chief Financial Officer

Merck

Session Details

Addressing challenges and reimagining how we interact with our employees is pivotal to enabling growth and success of the Finance function
New ways of working: Are they working? Remote, hybrid, and employee expectations
Effective strategies to lead and train employees while altering how they interact with new technology
Achieving economies of skill as well as economies of scale
How can we be successful when harnessing a culture of continuous improvement to nurture relationships and retain talent
Identifying key skills for future finance leaders

9:50am - 10:25am

Enterprise Data for Improved Decision-Making

Clara Sun

CFO, Away from Home

Kellanova

Session Details

The value of increased accessibility to enterprise data and its impact on our analysis and forecasting
How will the finance roles reliance on data increase – and can we transform how we operate in our jobs?
Mitigating the multitude of challenges that such large amounts of data can pose and how we can tackle them

9:50am - 10:25am

Preparing for Future ESG Disclosure Requirements

Erik Gerding

Director, Division of Corporation Finance - U.S. Securities Exchange Commission

U.S. Securities Exchange Commission

Session Details

Exploring possible implications of new proposed rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission surrounding ESG disclosure requirements
Ensuring the right teams (audit, finance, sustainability and legal) are in the right place to properly track, report and disclose compliance information and data while also absorbing new government regulations
How can we structure a matrixed organization for facilitating progress within this ever-evolving landscape?
Preparing your teams by developing and managing a strategy for reporting on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

9:50am - 10:25am

Unlocking Value and Mitigating Risk

Session Details

Connecting related opportunities, driving internal collaboration and efficiency
Building up insight and enabling scaled investment over time, as one opportunity leads to another
Providing multiple routes to achieve targets and mitigating risk of setbacks with diversified portfolios of opportunities
Enabling sustained growth by institutionalizing growth as a capability in the company’s DNA

10:25am - 11:15am

Pre-Arranged One-to-One Meetings

10:30 am – 10:50 am: Meeting Slot 8/Networking
10:55 am – 11:15 am: Meeting Slot 9/Networking

11:20am - 11:55am

Modern Finance and Data: Going Beyond the Numbers

Session Details

Getting real time reporting for spend, cash forecasting, and liabilities
Uncovering areas of risk, supply chain vulnerability, and opportunities for fraud
Creating a plan with predictive insights and prescriptive actions
Building cohesion across key business functions like procurement and finance

11:20am - 11:55am

A People-First Learning Mindset: How to Upskill the Finance Function

Session Details

Citizen-led innovation and how it’s impacting the finance world
How companies can drive digital transformation and its broader societal impact
The concept of the infinite learner, and why companies are starting to recognize the value of having this type of culture

11:20am - 11:55am

Transforming Finance IT into an Innovation Hub

Session Details

How finance IT can both accelerate and support the demand for greater digitalization
Enabling chief financial officers to own their future technology and establish an organization to drive growth
Where are most finance teams going wrong with their innovation processes?

12:00pm - 12:35pm

Corporate Performance Management: Aiming for Greater Financial Efficiency

Session Details

Exploring ways to transform reporting, planning, and analytic processes
Highlighting critical finance procedures that require modernization and how to introduce change
Leveraging Fintech to gain competitive advantage, improving agility, and decision-making across the enterprise
Improving transactional procedures through ERP, CRM and HCM systems and understanding the risks these systems pose

12:00pm - 12:35pm

The Future of Accounting: Demand and Evolving Technology

Session Details

What role will intelligent technology play in automated accounting processes going forward, including the types of jobs that will become available?
How advanced systems and humans are becoming the crucial link between data and clients
Leveraging the cloud to offer clients up-to-date financial analysis and to stay competitive
Developing the necessary skills on your teams to perform the administrative, managerial, and analytical tasks that technology can’t do as automation poises itself to become a major aspect of accountancy

12:00pm - 12:35pm

How to Win During the Coexistence Timeframe

Session Details

Creating a simplified stream of communication and collaboration
Ways to cope when encountering both active and passive resistance to implemented changes by collaborating with
Prioritizing a gap analysis to compare the current state of your organization with your ideal state
Ensuring that employees at all levels of the organization believe in new initiatives in order to overcome cultural differences and achieving a more seamless transition

12:35pm - 1:35pm

Explore this year’s themed lunch discussions led by industry leaders, where executives engage in focused conversations over a meal, discussing topics they’re passionate about alongside their peers.

Alternative Fund Structures to Investigate

Building Future Ready Teams

1:35pm - 2:10pm

Optimizing and Automating: Back to Basics

Session Details

Taking a step back to look at new and innovative ways of making our transactional activity the most efficient it can be
Getting your processes right the first time and how it is the key to unlocking further success
Discussing new approaches, new technology, the challenges that arise from these and how this works together to create a streamlined Finance function

1:35pm - 2:10pm

Risks and Rewards: Deploying AI in Accounting

Session Details

Are we truly understanding how the use of technology might be impacting financial reporting?
Assessing 12 major risks facing generative artificial intelligence in financial reporting (ex. governance, compliance, cyberattacks)
Putting a governance model in place that enables companies to know where and how technologies are being used in their organization
Looking into how AI can streamline or enhance accounting and financial reporting

1:35pm - 2:10pm

Cost Optimization Strategies for Resilient Growth

Session Details

Are you feeling the pressure to drive growth and uncover competitive advantages amidst economic uncertainty?
Looking back at how companies that pursued resilience strategies like cost optimization performed better than the competition. How can you determine where opportunities for cost optimization exist now?
Exploring best practices for measuring the right KPIs, focusing on the long-term ROI of process improvements, and customizing cost optimization

2:15pm - 2:50pm

Navigating Uncertain Economic Times Through Analysis and Forecasting

Dumi Martinez

Chief Financial Officer, MGS

Mars

Session Details

Adopting a proactive, informed, and flexible risk assessment and mitigation approach
Continuously identifying, evaluating, and addressing risks to protect against immediate and long-term threats
Utilizing scenario planning effectively and developing plans to address all possible outcomes