The past and present of the CFO role look significantly different. Once primarily considered as the steward of a company's financial well-being, the CFO today is instrumental in charting the organization's strategic course and leveraging technological advancements for growth. But what catalyzed this shift? Join us as we delve into the change of the CFO role, tracing its origins in accounting and understanding its present-day nexus with strategy and technology in a conversation with Beatty D'Alessandro. Beatty is currently the Executive In Residence - Graduate Finance Program at Georgia State University. He also served as the Chief Financial Officer for three premier companies up until mid-2018. At Merchants Metals, an Atlanta-based spin-off from Oldcastle and North America's second-largest chain link fence manufacturer, he oversaw finance, accounting, technology, and manufacturing. In 2015, Beatty finished his tenure as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Univar, a global chemical distributor valued at $10 billion. Before this, he held the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Graybar, a company worth $5 billion. In this episode, we discuss: The evolution of the CFO from accounting to strategic leadership The strategic path to CFO success How a CFO should evaluate and leverage risks and opportunities The CFO role in a large public organization versus smaller, non-public companies AI and Modern Finance