ORIGINAL DATE: October 19th, 2022 (Virtual)
Spotlight on Finance
This event has passed but you can still watch the replays listed in the agenda below
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Featured Speakers
Larry Mellon
Tax Director, Chief Tax Office
Teddy Collins
VP of Corporate Finance
Siddharth Sridharan
Co-Founder & CEO
Austin Aboav
Sr. Product Marketing Manager
Chris Ortega
CEO
Dan Fletcher
CFO
Grant Brooks
Director of Corporate Finance
Chandra Wing
SALT Senior Manager
Joe Malloy
SALT Managing Director
Larry Mellon
Tax Director, Chief Tax Office Vertex
Larry Mellon is a Tax Director in the Chief Tax Office, where he is responsible for providing insights, thought leadership and customer-centric direction to Vertex functional groups,supporting the continued expansion of Vertex indirect tax solutions and overall enterprise
strategy. He has over 30 years of experience in sales and use tax compliance, risk assessment, jurisdictional audits, administration and management, as well as VAT compliance. Larry joined Vertex in 2005 as a Sales and Income Tax Supervisor and has served as Tax Manager since
2012, where he has played a pivotal role in elevating and advancing the company’s tax management offerings. Prior to joining Vertex, Larry served as a Senior Tax Accountant and Property Tax Manager at Foamex International, Inc., a polyurethane and advanced polymer foam product manufacturer and marketer. Mellon also held multiple roles at The Franklin Mint and is a member of the Institute of Professionals in Taxation (IPT).Teddy Collins
VP of Corporate Finance SeatGeek
Finance executive in the high growth technology sector with a focus on mobile and B2B2C companies. Experience building FP&A, investor relations, treasury, and corporate development functions from scratch to IPO.Siddharth Sridharan
Co-Founder & CEO SpendFlo
Siddharth is the Co-founder and CEO of Spendflo. A master negotiator, he is best known for creating hyper-growth through smart procurements and SaaS negotiations for BizOps teams at companies like Volta charging and Axis Capital. Siddharth is passionate about supporting modern finance leaders to leverage the SaaS opportunity as a growth driver.Austin Aboav
Sr. Product Marketing Manager TripActions
As a Senior Product Marketing Manager at TripActions, Austin Aboav oversees launching products and features that customers and users love. Prior to TripActions, Austin held roles in product marketing and sales at companies such as Ramp, Zendesk and Adobe. When he’s not launching FinTech products, he’s likely at the movies or on a walk with his goldendoodle.Chris Ortega
CEO Fresh FP&A
Chris Ortega is a recognized FP&A authority and influencer with over a decade of experience in finance, accounting, financial planning & analysis (FP&A), strategic planning, and financial leadership. He comes with a long track record of successfully operating with multinational and international matrix organizations. Today, he serves as the CEO of Fresh FP&A - a consultancy focused on finance transformation & scale solutions for businesses.Dan Fletcher
CFO Planful
Dan Fletcher is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Planful, with experience in high-growth SaaS and PE-backed companies. Prior to joining Planful, Dan served as the CFO for MarkLogic where he helped guide the company through acquisition transformation and growth. Before this role, Dan served in a variety of management roles for high-growth companies, including at Planful as CFO, following the acquisition by Vector Capital in late 2018.Dan is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds a B.S. and Masters from the University of Missouri, where he graduated with honors.Grant Brooks
Director of Corporate Finance FIGS
Grant Brooks is a Finance Director at FIGS, a direct-to-consumer healthcare apparel and lifestyle brand that celebrates, empowers, and serves current and future generations of healthcare professionals. Since FIGS went public in 2021, Grant has been building the finance department to accommodate being a public company, which includes regular forecasting/budgeting, earnings calls, management bonus program, SOX compliance, and scaling the business both domestically / internationally. Before FIGS, Grant led the global consolidation for Disney's Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED), a segment that includes Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and STAR. While at Disney, he covered most business models (Studio, TV, Streaming, Consumer Products), and had worked on a variety of projects that include the acquisition of Fox, two company-wide restructures, and the launch of Disney+ globally. Before Disney, Grant held a variety of finance and international business development roles at Boeing for military aircraft. Grant is an avid mentor, both at FIGS and at UCLA Anderson as a GAP Fellow, and enjoys running, Olympic lifting, philanthropy, and data visualization.Chandra Wing
SALT Senior Manager BDO
Chandra joined BDO as a manager in the Central Region SALT Indirect Tax Automation practice. She has
more than 15 years of experience in state and local sales and use tax and its relationship with
information technology. Her experience includes time with the Michigan Department of Treasury as an
auditor for sales, use and income tax, as well as several years of industry experience with a Fortune 500
company. Prior to joining BDO, Chandra managed Taxware and supporting software systems like WebTool Kit
(exemption certificate manager), and TaxSolver (compliance reporting). She also managed the
applicable integrations with ecommerce, SAP, and internally developed systems. She was responsible for
sales and use tax audit defense, managed audits, overpayment reviews, tax return compliance
management in the U.S., tax research, nexus analysis, and analyzing the processes related to sales and
use tax within the U.S. and Canada. Through her experience as an auditor she has served a number of
clients in various industries, with an emphasis in manufacturing. Chandra’s experience with the
Department of Treasury has brought her specialized knowledge for analyzing sales and use tax processes
for improvements that result in ultimate audit savings. This includes reviewing systems and processes as
well as the implementation and configuration of sales tax systems.Joe Malloy
SALT Managing Director BDO
Joe joined BDO in February 2020. He has more than 20 years of state and local tax experience in
government, public accounting, and industry. He specializes in a variety of state and local taxes,
including sales and use tax, income/franchise taxes, and property taxes. He has deep knowledge of tax
compliance, tax controversy and audit defense, tax planning, and implementing tax incentives related to
state and local taxes. Joe specializes in analyzing tax processes related to sales and use tax, designing new processes, and
implementing automated solutions through the use of third-party software such as Vertex and One
Source. He uses his extensive knowledge gained as a tax director to develop relationships across an
enterprise necessary to design and implement tax processes that efficiently meet the goals of the
organization. Part of Joe’s industry experience includes delivering value to the enterprise through the tax function. He
has accomplished this value-added component through the management of tax reserves, successful
audit defense, overseeing and completing reverse audits and tax refund projects, and continuous
process improvement including through automation.Agenda
11:00 am
How Trailblazing CFOs Thrive When Uncertainty Reigns
It comes as no surprise—CFOs who take a creative, nimble approach to operating their businesses will continue to thrive ahead of their more traditional counterparts, regardless of the disruptions thrown their way. Read More
How Trailblazing CFOs Thrive When Uncertainty Reigns
It comes as no surprise—CFOs who take a creative, nimble approach to operating their businesses will continue to thrive ahead of their more traditional counterparts, regardless of the disruptions thrown their way. But how do these trailblazing leaders ensure that their plans, budgets, and forecasts reflect the reality of today’s unpredictable landscape? And when uncertainty reigns, how can they set their team and the business up for success in the year ahead? In this session, we’ll hear finance leaders share how they are planning for success in FY23 by:
● Embracing technology and AI to drive decision-making
● Keeping their teams challenged, engaged and productive
● Collaborating across departments to accelerate growth
Dan Fletcher
CFO
Planful
CFO
Planful
Dan Fletcher
CFO Planful
Dan Fletcher is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Planful, with experience in high-growth SaaS and PE-backed companies. Prior to joining Planful, Dan served as the CFO for MarkLogic where he helped guide the company through acquisition transformation and growth. Before this role, Dan served in a variety of management roles for high-growth companies, including at Planful as CFO, following the acquisition by Vector Capital in late 2018.Dan is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds a B.S. and Masters from the University of Missouri, where he graduated with honors.
Grant Brooks
Director of Corporate Finance
FIGS
Director of Corporate Finance
FIGS
Grant Brooks
Director of Corporate Finance FIGS
Grant Brooks is a Finance Director at FIGS, a direct-to-consumer healthcare apparel and lifestyle brand that celebrates, empowers, and serves current and future generations of healthcare professionals. Since FIGS went public in 2021, Grant has been building the finance department to accommodate being a public company, which includes regular forecasting/budgeting, earnings calls, management bonus program, SOX compliance, and scaling the business both domestically / internationally. Before FIGS, Grant led the global consolidation for Disney's Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED), a segment that includes Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and STAR. While at Disney, he covered most business models (Studio, TV, Streaming, Consumer Products), and had worked on a variety of projects that include the acquisition of Fox, two company-wide restructures, and the launch of Disney+ globally. Before Disney, Grant held a variety of finance and international business development roles at Boeing for military aircraft. Grant is an avid mentor, both at FIGS and at UCLA Anderson as a GAP Fellow, and enjoys running, Olympic lifting, philanthropy, and data visualization.12:00 pm
Combating Inflation: 5 Cost-Savings Strategies
Controlling costs has always been top of mind for company leaders, but it has become a larger focus in 2022. Read More
Combating Inflation: 5 Cost-Savings Strategies
Controlling costs has always been top of mind for company leaders, but it has become a larger focus in 2022.
Still, it’s important to maintain perspective. Inflation is just one factor when it comes to managing finances and it shouldn’t hinder the larger goal of growing your business.
What steps can you take to maximize the efficiency of business spend?
Join TripActions for a discussion on October 19. You’ll learn:
– How to incentive employees to spend less
– Ways to cut wasteful spend and be more efficient with every dollar
– How to leverage automation and modern technologies to boost productivity and drive growth”
Austin Aboav
Sr. Product Marketing Manager
TripActions
Sr. Product Marketing Manager
TripActions
Austin Aboav
Sr. Product Marketing Manager TripActions
As a Senior Product Marketing Manager at TripActions, Austin Aboav oversees launching products and features that customers and users love. Prior to TripActions, Austin held roles in product marketing and sales at companies such as Ramp, Zendesk and Adobe. When he’s not launching FinTech products, he’s likely at the movies or on a walk with his goldendoodle.
Teddy Collins
VP of Corporate Finance
SeatGeek
VP of Corporate Finance
SeatGeek
Teddy Collins
VP of Corporate Finance SeatGeek
Finance executive in the high growth technology sector with a focus on mobile and B2B2C companies. Experience building FP&A, investor relations, treasury, and corporate development functions from scratch to IPO.2:00 pm
Strategies for Success: Overcoming Challenges Affecting SMB Companies Around Indirect Taxation
As the world continues to recover from the global pandemic, increased complexity around indirect taxation poses greater challenges than ever for small and medium-sized businesses. Read More
Strategies for Success: Overcoming Challenges Affecting SMB Companies Around Indirect Taxation
As the world continues to recover from the global pandemic, increased complexity around indirect taxation poses greater challenges than ever for small and medium-sized businesses.
Greater audit scrutiny from tax authorities, rapidly changing commerce regulations, and the growing need for digital transformation have combined to create a new landscape of compliance hurdles for busy tax professionals.
Join our interactive virtual chat with leading industry experts from Vertex and BDO where you will learn:
– Common tax challenges and pitfalls facing SMB/MM businesses
– Importance of tax having a prominent seat at the digital transformation table
– Best practices for success throughout the tax lifecycle from discovery to implementation
Larry Mellon
Tax Director, Chief Tax Office
Vertex
Tax Director, Chief Tax Office
Vertex
Larry Mellon
Tax Director, Chief Tax Office Vertex
Larry Mellon is a Tax Director in the Chief Tax Office, where he is responsible for providing insights, thought leadership and customer-centric direction to Vertex functional groups,supporting the continued expansion of Vertex indirect tax solutions and overall enterprise
strategy. He has over 30 years of experience in sales and use tax compliance, risk assessment, jurisdictional audits, administration and management, as well as VAT compliance. Larry joined Vertex in 2005 as a Sales and Income Tax Supervisor and has served as Tax Manager since
2012, where he has played a pivotal role in elevating and advancing the company’s tax management offerings. Prior to joining Vertex, Larry served as a Senior Tax Accountant and Property Tax Manager at Foamex International, Inc., a polyurethane and advanced polymer foam product manufacturer and marketer. Mellon also held multiple roles at The Franklin Mint and is a member of the Institute of Professionals in Taxation (IPT).
Chandra Wing
SALT Senior Manager
BDO
SALT Senior Manager
BDO
Chandra Wing
SALT Senior Manager BDO
Chandra joined BDO as a manager in the Central Region SALT Indirect Tax Automation practice. She has
more than 15 years of experience in state and local sales and use tax and its relationship with
information technology. Her experience includes time with the Michigan Department of Treasury as an
auditor for sales, use and income tax, as well as several years of industry experience with a Fortune 500
company. Prior to joining BDO, Chandra managed Taxware and supporting software systems like WebTool Kit
(exemption certificate manager), and TaxSolver (compliance reporting). She also managed the
applicable integrations with ecommerce, SAP, and internally developed systems. She was responsible for
sales and use tax audit defense, managed audits, overpayment reviews, tax return compliance
management in the U.S., tax research, nexus analysis, and analyzing the processes related to sales and
use tax within the U.S. and Canada. Through her experience as an auditor she has served a number of
clients in various industries, with an emphasis in manufacturing. Chandra’s experience with the
Department of Treasury has brought her specialized knowledge for analyzing sales and use tax processes
for improvements that result in ultimate audit savings. This includes reviewing systems and processes as
well as the implementation and configuration of sales tax systems.
Joe Malloy
SALT Managing Director
BDO
SALT Managing Director
BDO
Joe Malloy
SALT Managing Director BDO
Joe joined BDO in February 2020. He has more than 20 years of state and local tax experience in
government, public accounting, and industry. He specializes in a variety of state and local taxes,
including sales and use tax, income/franchise taxes, and property taxes. He has deep knowledge of tax
compliance, tax controversy and audit defense, tax planning, and implementing tax incentives related to
state and local taxes. Joe specializes in analyzing tax processes related to sales and use tax, designing new processes, and
implementing automated solutions through the use of third-party software such as Vertex and One
Source. He uses his extensive knowledge gained as a tax director to develop relationships across an
enterprise necessary to design and implement tax processes that efficiently meet the goals of the
organization. Part of Joe’s industry experience includes delivering value to the enterprise through the tax function. He
has accomplished this value-added component through the management of tax reserves, successful
audit defense, overseeing and completing reverse audits and tax refund projects, and continuous
process improvement including through automation.3:00 pm
SaaS Spend Management for the Modern CFO
According to studies by Gartner, SaaS expenditure is expected to grow by 25% year-on-year for the next 4 years. Read More
SaaS Spend Management for the Modern CFO
According to studies by Gartner, SaaS expenditure is expected to grow by 25% year-on-year for the next 4 years. What’s more, the modern hyper-growth company on average uses over 60 stakeholders to buy and renew 150 different SaaS tools, with multiple department heads acting as decision-makers in the procurement process. This makes the act of managing a growing SaaS expense within a budget a balancing act that requires the precision of a tightrope walk.
From monitoring SaaS spending, and eliminating unused licenses and shadow IT, to effectively managing contracts and compliance processes across various providers, there’s a lot to be done.
Join Siddharth Sridharan, co-founder and CEO, Spendflo, and Chris Ortega, CEO, Fresh FP&A as they dive deep into the challenges that come with purchasing SaaS tools today and share actionable insights on how modern CFOs can keep track of their growing SaaS sprawl.
Siddharth Sridharan
Co-Founder & CEO
SpendFlo
Co-Founder & CEO
SpendFlo
Siddharth Sridharan
Co-Founder & CEO SpendFlo
Siddharth is the Co-founder and CEO of Spendflo. A master negotiator, he is best known for creating hyper-growth through smart procurements and SaaS negotiations for BizOps teams at companies like Volta charging and Axis Capital. Siddharth is passionate about supporting modern finance leaders to leverage the SaaS opportunity as a growth driver.
Chris Ortega
CEO
Fresh FP&A
CEO
Fresh FP&A
Chris Ortega
CEO Fresh FP&A
Chris Ortega is a recognized FP&A authority and influencer with over a decade of experience in finance, accounting, financial planning & analysis (FP&A), strategic planning, and financial leadership. He comes with a long track record of successfully operating with multinational and international matrix organizations. Today, he serves as the CEO of Fresh FP&A - a consultancy focused on finance transformation & scale solutions for businesses.
Why Attend?
- Deep dive and solve complex business problems with true executive-level finance peers through peer-led breakout sessions
- Gain insights to propel your company and career forward with a full day of experts covering the latest trends in finance
- Watch live and participate in audience Q&As and discussions, or watch on-demand at your leisure
- Qualifying attendees receive lunch, access to the event on-demand, and priority access to exclusive VIP in-person events and experiences tailored to C-level finance leaders
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