Recent Blog Posts

DuPont Investor Vote Emphasizes the Importance of Human Capital Metrics as a DE&I Driver

By Robyn Pollack posted 3 days ago
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Last week, it was reported that 84% of DuPont investors voted in favor of the chemical giant publishing data about the diversity of its workforce despite management recommendation that shareholders vote against the disclosure. Coupled with new SEC regulations mandating the disclosure of “material human capital information” for all publicly-held companies (citing the significance of human capital - not just financial capital - to enterprise valuation), this new focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) metrics signals a serious shift from nice-to-have to must-have when it comes to the financial implications of DE&I. The data is uncontroverted, ...
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Leading Social Change with Dr. DeRetta Rhodes, EVP and Chief People Capital Officer for the Atlanta Braves

By Jeremy Weisz posted 3 days ago
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Dr. DeRetta Rhodes is the Executive Vice President and Chief People Capital Officer for the Atlanta Braves. Dr. Rhodes oversees people capital initiatives for the organization’s major leagues, minor leagues, and The Battery Atlanta operations. In her three seasons with the Atlanta Braves, she has transformed the people capital department, expanded the organization’s culture, and created an internal diversity, equity, and inclusion council. In addition to this, Dr. Rhodes has served in various board member roles for organizations in the Metro Atlanta community, including HR People + Strategy, Goodwill of North Georgia, 21st Century Leaders, and more. Dr. Rhodes ...
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Be Todays CFO

By Tom Ruchalski posted 6 days ago
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For sure any successful CFO will embrace the financial generalist responsibilities expected as the leader of that community.  An exceptional CFO also must be: Curious at the enterprise level Able to keep the business strategy central in all decision Analytical Team oriented A great communicator up and down the organization An effective coach and mentor
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Are you a traditional CFO or a CFO thought leader?

By Tom Ruchalski posted 9 days ago
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Are you a traditional CFO or a CFO thought leader? Answer these questions to find out.   Traditional CFO                                          Thought Leader CFO Can we afford it?                              What is the opportunity cost? Is the audit clean?                            What can be learned from the audit? Is the budget balanced?                Does the budget align with strategy?      Is it legal?                                            Could resources be utilized differently? Is funding secure?                           Do we have the right financial partners? Are sales high enough?                 Are we selling the ...
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Insurance Relationships: Obstacles and Action Items, an AchieveNEXT Briefing

By Matt Cockayne posted 10 days ago
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From February through April 2021, we surveyed sales leaders and brokers from insurance firms across North America. The survey asked how well brokers and carriers are managing relationships with existing and new clients in an environment where face-to-face meetings are limited, marketing and sales channels are evolving, and clients themselves are trying to navigate through a changed landscape filled with new risks. We used the data captured to produce a special report, co-written by AchieveNEXT Chief Knowledge Officer, @Tom Stewart , and Amerisure Vice President of Agency Services, Jennifer DeMello-Johnson , examining how the pandemic has shaped customer ...
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Redefining the Human Resources Role with Laura Remaker, Head of People Operations at gettacar

By Jeremy Weisz posted 10 days ago
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Laura Remaker is a diversity champion, a leader in human resources, and the Head of People Operations at gettacar, an online platform that helps users buy, trade, sell, and finance used cars. Laura has managed HR, talent acquisition, employee engagement, and leadership and succession planning for seven fast-growing companies. Before joining gettacar, Laura served as the Advisor and Chief People Officer at Spring EQ and the Vice President of Human Resources at Greenphire. With over 18 years of experience in the industry, she is redefining the role and value of human resources. Here’s ...
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Using Creativity and Curiosity to Become an Effective Leader with Jim Caruso, Chief Financial Officer of Knipper

By Jeremy Weisz posted 17 days ago
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Jim Caruso is a financial executive and the Chief Financial Officer of J. Knipper and Company (Knipper), a leading healthcare solutions company that serves the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. Jim is a former CPA/consulting firm partner with 30 years of experience in financial management, mergers and acquisitions, business process outsourcing, information technology, and operations. Prior to joining Knipper, Jim served as the CFO of a home healthcare provider, where he built a scalable infrastructure and helped grow the company significantly. As a dynamic, purpose-driven leader, he has a reputation for developing high-performing ...
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How to Create Authentic Relationship Skills to Grow Sales - Ed Wallace on the Revenue Throughput Podcast

By Matt Cockayne posted 21 days ago
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Ed Wallace  joined  AchieveNEXT  as the Managing Director of Human Capital, focusing on delivering specialized sales and leadership training to ensure success for enterprises and individuals. Critically acclaimed as the leading expert on the power of business relationships, Ed speaks for companies and organizations around the world with a client list that is a Who's Who of Fortune 500 companies. He is the #1 bestselling author of  The Relationship Engine  and has written three other books on the power of relationship capital -  Business Relationships That Last ,  Creating Relational Capital , and  Fares to Friends . In addition, Ed is currently on the executive ...
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Patagonia and Willingly Paying a Cost for Your Values

By Eric Herrenkohl posted 22 days ago
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Patagonia is out of the providing corporate logo merchandise (i.e tech bros) business for sustainability reasons. They found that people were more likely to discard clothing with a corporate logo compared to Patagonia clothing without such co-branding. Here is a question I am asking myself: When was the last time I willingly paid a cost for my values and beliefs? From a spreadsheet perspective alone, ditching the corporate branded clothing business is not a good short-term decision for Patagonia. Will it pay off for them in longer-term brand loyalty from customers who share their sustainability commitment? Possibly. But those potential returns are tomorrow - ...
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AchieveNEXT Accelerates Business Expansion in the Southeast

By Matt Cockayne posted 24 days ago
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New Team Members in Georgia and Tennessee Added to Lead Growth and Performance in the Southeast; Moves Come as the Region’s Economy Heats Up AchieveNEXT, the leading provider of Peer Advisory Networks and Talent Development and Performance Solutions for middle-market leaders, their teams and enterprises, is expanding its operations in the Southeast.  With the addition of new key employees in Georgia and Tennessee, AchieveNEXT will accelerate its business expansion in Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee , targeting the Atlanta, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, Birmingham, Montgomery, Charlotte and Orlando ...
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CX and the CFO

By Tom Stewart posted 24 days ago
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Data from the AchieveNEXT 2021 Sentiment Study reveal an important opportunity for CFOs and CHROs: the chance to help their companies achieve growth goals through customer experience. That thought may be counterintuitive — of all the functions in the C-Suite, Finance might seem to have one of the least direct paths to affecting customer experience. But the connection is straight, real, and important. The graphic below shows some of the highlights from the data, and of course the full study is on the AchieveNEXT website. Start with the goal: growth. When we conducted our survey in December, nearly three out of four CFOs told us they expected revenue ...
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Creating an Ensemble Work Environment with Omar Abdullah, VP of Marketing & Outreach at Cultivate Behavioral Health & Education

By Jeremy Weisz posted 24 days ago
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Omar Abdullah is the Vice President of Marketing & Outreach at Cultivate Behavioral Health & Education. In this role, he helps raise awareness about Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy through marketing, branding, communication, sales, and advocacy. Prior to joining Cultivate Behavioral Health & Education, Omar was an interdisciplinary scholar and communication consultant. He taught courses at the University of California, Davis, and Texas A&M University and has spoken at conferences and facilitated workshops at Trinity University and SXSW. In addition to this, Omar is a former stand-up and sketch comedian who has performed in venues across ...
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As Optimism Abounds and U.S. Mid-Market Recovery Gains Traction, Jobs and Technology Risks Increase

By Nick Araco posted 24 days ago
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I spent some time this weekend reviewing the sentiment data and transcripts from recent discussions within our CFO and CHRO Alliance Peer Advisory Networks and can say, with confidence, that the overall business and economic outlook of finance and HR leaders from emerging and mid-market U.S. enterprises has improved significantly in recent weeks. An accelerating pace of vaccinations, a faster reopening schedule, and the $1.9 trillion stimulus in addition to the $900 billion package approved in December, all point to a seismic shift in U.S. Mid-Market outlook relative to where it stood in Q4 2020, when we captured and analyzed our 2021 Sentiment Report data.  ...
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Key Takeaways: Pay Equity and Salary History Bans

By Eric Herrenkohl posted 27 days ago
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@Lisa Scidurlo (our resident expert for all things Labor and Employment law) and I led a really interesting virtual conversation with a small number of senior HR leaders about the impact of salary history regulations on pay equity in hiring. Approximately 12 states across the US ban employers from asking job candidates about their compensation history. Another 9 ban the practice in governmental hiring and/or in specific municipalities. What do senior human resource leaders think about these salary history bans? How do they contribute to greater pay equity. We asked our expert group, here are some key points from what they had to say: • Employee engagement, ...
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Navigating Personal and Professional Change with Lori Hardwick, CEO of Wealth Tech at Red Rock Strategic Partners

By Jeremy Weisz posted 30 days ago
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Lori Hardwick is the CEO of Wealth Tech at Red Rock Strategic Partners. With 25 years of experience in the wealth tech industry, Lori is known for her intense passion for continuous improvement on behalf of financial advisors and their firms. She currently serves on several boards, including the Strategic Advisory Board for Genstar Capital, the Board of Directors for Riskalyze, and more. In 2017, Lori co-founded Advisor Innovation Labs, where she built systems of engagement for financial advisors and their clients. Lori has been recognized as a “Winner in Wealthtech” by Wealth Management Today , a “Woman to Watch” by InvestmentNews , and one of Investment ...
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How to Achieve Super Bowl-Level Results with Chukky Okobi, Founder of Basic Instructions and Former NFL Champion

By Jeremy Weisz posted 04-05-2021
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Chukky Okobi is a keynote speaker, mindset coach, entrepreneur, and former NFL Super Bowl Champion. He is currently a Master Practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and the Founder of Basic Instructions, a mental bootcamp that helps organizations, leaders, and teams work through roadblocks to achieve peak performance. Chukky offers workshops, training, and one-on-one coaching focused on reaching your highest personal and professional potential. In addition to this, Chukky is an eight-year NFL alumni, having played with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Arizona Cardinals, and the Houston Texans. After experiencing success in professional sports, entertainment, ...
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AchieveNEXT Launches Growth Accelerator Program for Emerging and Mid-Market Enterprises

By Matt Cockayne posted 04-05-2021
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Mid-Market Operating Partners to Actively Seek Out Opportunities and Synergies; Organizational Strategists Scott Barsky and Christin McClave to Lead Efforts Philadelphia, April 5, 2021 - AchieveNEXT, a leading provider of Peer Advisory Networks and Solutions for emerging and mid-market leaders, their teams and enterprises, today announced the creation of a Mid-Market Operating Partners Program designed to strategically identify high-potential growth opportunities for enterprises within the AchieveNEXT ecosystem. Scott Barsky, a respected finance and operations consultant in the Philadelphia area, will lead the initiative, leveraging his 30+ years of ...
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Going Beyond the Numbers with Todd White, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at AchieveNEXT

By Jeremy Weisz posted 03-29-2021
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Todd White is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at AchieveNEXT. He is a high-impact senior financial executive, strategist, and business developer with over 20 years of experience in private equity and venture capital transactions. In his role at AchieveNEXT, Todd has led merger and acquisition activities, financial and business planning and analysis, and reporting. He has also directed the preparations, solicitations, due diligence, and closings for private debt and equity growth finances. Todd has a long track record of successful accomplishments with companies ranging from startups to established growth businesses. Prior to working ...
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Moving Beyond Intention: Increasing Employee Engagement/Retention by Creating More Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Work Environments in the Sports Industry

By Carmen Carson posted 03-24-2021
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After collecting data and insights from dozens of executive leaders of major league sports teams and their affiliates throughout the US, the AchieveNEXT team released its 2021 DEI Sports Industry Outlook Report , which highlighted key challenges and opportunities around employee experiences and DE&I in sports enterprises with a focus on the non-player workforce. While it was apparent that many sports organizations have iterated their intention of creating inclusive and equitable workplaces that support diversity of their staff, further research and discussions have demonstrated that there is often a disconnect between the intention and action of organizations ...
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How to Adapt in an Evolving Industry with Bryan Lapidus, Director of the FP&A Practice at the Association for Financial Professionals

By Jeremy Weisz posted 03-22-2021
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Bryan Lapidus is the Director of the FP&A (Financial Planning and Analysis) Practice at the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP). AFP is a professional society committed to advancing the success of treasury and finance members and their organizations. In addition to his FP&A expertise, Bryan is also skilled in collaboration and leadership, multi-year strategic planning, investment portfolio and business case analysis, and more. Bryan has over 20 years of experience developing and growing companies and program initiatives at small, mid-market, and large organizations. Before joining AFP, he held strategic and leadership roles at companies such ...
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