First-ever Finzly CFO seeks to create culture of ‘connectivity’

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Today’s finance chiefs are steadily assuming a rising host of responsibilities outside of finance — an evolution that is also shining a spotlight on the critical, interconnected role of the finance function. For newly-minted Finzly CFO Adam Carson, “finance is not a passive or backseat function at all,” he told CFO Dive, but rather, “a driving partnership with the business.”

The first-ever finance chief for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company, Carson’s appointment earlier this month comes as Finzly seeks to further expand its operations and market reach, according to a July 17 press release announcing the move. Alongside Carson, Finzly also appointed Robert Coakley as head of partnerships, according to the release. The company provides payments infrastructure to financial institutions and supports payment rails including ACH, Fedwire, SWIFT and instant payments.

In his first few months as finance chief, Carson is focusing on ensuring the finance function is well-positioned to help Finzly’s strategic goals of expansion. For any finance chief coming into a new situation — whether the company’s first CFO or otherwise — the focus is on determining if the business is set up effectively for where it needs to go in the future, “and you want to assess that around the people, the technology and the partnerships and processes that you have in place,” he said in an interview.

“What you're looking for is ultimately, alignment on how you get from where you are today to where you think the business strategically needs to be in the future, and how does finance contribute to that growth rate?” Carson said.

A culture of connectivity

A veteran of the software industry, Carson was attracted to the top financial seat at Finzly due to the combination of its previous success — the business’ clients include financial entities such as Arvest, Banc of California, and Everbank — and its future growth potential. His background and the ambitions of Finzly’s founder and CEO, Booshan Rengachari, also “lined up well in terms of where the company was going,” he said of taking the seat.

Carson’s past roles in the software space include stints at Intuit, Barracuda Networks and Cyence, and he most recently served as CFO for private equity-backed software-as-a-service firm Movista, according to his LinkedIn profile. As VP, finance and investor relations for Barracuda, Carson helped to facilitate the cybersecurity provider’s initial public offering in 2013, before the company was sold to Thoma Bravo for $1.6 billion in 2017, according to reports at the time from Reuters and Dark Reading.

Story ContinuesIn assuming the CFO seat for Finzly, Carson’s priority is to help the business continue to “evolve, grow and scale,” he said, noting the company’s processes and customer focus are “rock solid.”

There are, however, “a few things I want to enhance” surrounding the company’s ability to deliver insights at speed and scale, Carson said. That means taking a close look at how the company’s teams communicate — and ensuring they have the details they need from finance to effectively achieve their goals.

As finance chief, “I get to work with every single person in the company, directly or indirectly, because what they do, day in, day out, how they're delivering for our customers and the decisions that they're making, ultimately reflect on the financials,” he said.

“I want to create a culture where that cohesion and connectivity is really embedded in everything that we do, because that's already how people are operating, and I just want to help them with the financial information so that they can see it even more transparently,” Carson said.

Preparing for the long haul

Carson is joining the bank payments infrastructure provider as it plans for further expansion — the business’s strategic priorities remain largely on striving to become “one of the critical platforms for banks going forward,” he said.

Among other recent steps, Finzly helped to aid its client banks with the shift to the new ISO 20022 standard — an international protocol for exchanging electronic messages between financial institutions — put in place by the Federal Reserve ahead of its July 14 deadline, according to a company press release.

In past years, the company has also reported rapid growth, noting a 400% surge in payment platform volume and a doubling of revenue from 2022 to 2023, according to a company release. In 2023, the company also raised $10 million in a Series A led by TZP Group, Banking Dive reported at the time.

The company’s liquidity isn’t necessarily something Carson is worried about at the moment, he said, noting funding and liquidity are always dependent on company strategy. Presently, the finance chief plans to ensure the company is continuing to successfully deliver its offerings to its customers, which means achieving the careful balance that is the constant challenge for those in the CFO role: setting up the company to meet long-term goals while, “at the same exact time you're working to minimize execution risk on those things,” he said.

“When you balance those two, what you have to do is, you have to become incredibly clear on, ‘why are we doing something, what is in it for us over the long haul, and also, how are we going to be able to better serve our employees and our customers?’” Carson said.

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