AI-Powered Finance Transformation with Billy Newman, CFO at Redwood Software
CFO Weekly
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Billy's automation awakening
Billy Newman recounts his 2017 quote-to-cash breakdown and the realization to prioritize automation early.
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In this episode of CFO Weekly, Billy Newman, CFO at Redwood Software, joins Megan Weis to explore how modern CFOs are revolutionizing finance operations through AI-powered automation and strategic oversight. Billy brings extensive experience from his tenure as CFO at Cvent, where he navigated the company through a pandemic, two public offerings, and private equity transactions while implementing transformative automation initiatives.
With his deep background in FP&A and financial transformation across SaaS companies, Billy shares how finance teams can leverage AI to automate repetitive processes, implement predictive analytics, and position finance as a strategic partner rather than a task master. Currently serving as CFO of Redwood Software, Billy oversees the financial operations of a workload automation company while applying lessons learned from successfully transforming broken manual processes into automated, scalable systems.
What You'll Learn:
- How to identify which finance processes are prime candidates for automation versus those requiring human expertise
- The "Clean Data Framework" for ensuring AI implementations deliver accurate, reliable results
- Why AI enhances rather than replaces finance talent by enabling more strategic work
- How to balance automation with human oversight to maintain strong financial controls
- The critical success factors for implementing automation at scale in fast-moving organizations
- How to transform quote-to-cash processes through strategic automation and system integration
- Why AI strengthens compliance and risk management through continuous monitoring and anomaly detection
- How to prepare finance teams culturally and technically for the AI transformation journey
- The importance of establishing clear KPIs and governance frameworks for automation initiatives
- Why cross-departmental collaboration improves when manual data sharing is automated
Learn more about Billy:
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Previous guests include: Tom McDermott, CFO at Career Certified, Claire Bramley, CFO at Teradata, Chris Miles, Founder of Money Ripples, Ranil DeSilva, CFO & COO at CARE, Jordan Grumet, Financial Independence Expert & Host of Earn & Invest & William Washington, Global CFO at Baker McKenzie
Check out some of our most recent episodes:
- Driving Value Beyond Finance with Tom McDermott
- Why CFOs Are the Chief Everything Officers with Claire Bramley
- Why Traditional Financial Advice Fails and What To Do Instead with Chris Miles
- NGO Finance Secrets: CARE’s $900M Strategy with Ranil DeSilva
- What Lights You Up? with Jordan Grumet
- Become a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with William Washington
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