Office of the CFO: Bolanle Williams-Olley’s Nontraditional Path to CFO

The NetSuite Podcast

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Host Kendall Fisher and guest co-host Megan O’Brien, NetSuite business and finance editor, join Mancini Duffy CFO and author of “Build Boldly,” Bola Williams-Olley. She starts by explaining her inspiration behind the book (5:25) before diving into her early life, her decision to study math and how that played a role in landing her first job as a junior project accountant for HLW architecture firm in 2007 (8:45). Bola discusses the challenges and lessons learned as a young accountant during the 2008 recession, all of which helped her take on her next role as senior project accountant for Skidmore Owings & Merrill (13:25). In this role, she learned how a cohesive team drives success and efficiency for services-based businesses, focusing on seamless communication with the project team and client (17:30). She then takes us on the journey to Mancini Duffy, which put her in uncharted territory once again as a controller (22:13). She discusses the challenges that are specific to a controller and the KPIs she was tracking (25:57), as well as the importance of employee engagement and developing the team to help her succeed (35:39). All of that made her transition to CFO in 2018 fairly seamless (42:21), although she notes becoming far more focused on long-term planning (44:11). Bola also explains how her priorities changed due to the pandemic, from working with various suppliers to hold on payments, to finding resources needed to finish jobs amid “The Great Recession” (48:01). Finally, she hits on the impact of technology as CFO (53:52) and dishes her advice for being a “bold” finance leader (55:48).

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