Afp Conversations

Since her installation on Wall Street in March, Fearless Girl has become an iconic symbol for women and girls everywhere. In this episode of AFP Conversations, Dominica Ribeiro and Yeng Butler of State Street Global Advisors and Michelle Demarco, assistant treasurer for Genesys, explain to host Ira Apfel what Fearless Girl means to them, and how they are working to bring gender diversity to the corporate boardroom and workplace.  Thanks for listening to AFP Conversations. Please give it a review on your podcast app of choice -- it will help other listeners find the show, and host Ira Apfel will read your review on air.

This episode of AFP Conversations was recorded in San Diego at AFP 2017, the biggest event in treasury and finance! Everybody here is talking about blockchain, AI and fintech -- and frankly the treasury and finance professionals in attendance at AFP 2017 are worried about their careers. Today's three guests join host Ira Apfel to discuss the digital disruption that is quickly coming to treasury and finance, and their organizations' collective effort -- AFP MindShift -- to confront it: Ori Brafman, author of three New York Times bestsellers, including The Starfish and the Spider. Leslie Chacko, Director, Global Risk Center at Marsh & McLennan Companies. Jeff Glenzer, Chief Operating Officer for the Association for Financial Professionals.  Thanks for listening to AFP Conversations. Please give it a review on your podcast app of choice -- it will help other listeners find the show, and host Ira Apfel will read your review on air.

Helen Kane is widely known and respected in the treasury and finance industry for her expertise on hedge program management and derivative accounting. In this episode of AFP Conversations, Kane discusses hedging and how it’s changed since she founded her company, Hedge Trackers, in 2000. Kane notes that interest rates are rising for the first time in years, presenting a new challenge to many treasury and finance professionals. Thanks for listening to AFP Conversations. Please give it a review on your podcast app of choice -- it will help other listeners find the show, and host Ira Apfel will read your review on air.   

Imagine a virtual reality so vast that all of us could effectively live in it. What would that mean for humankind? And, for our listeners out there, what would it mean for corporate finance?  In this episode of AFP Conversations guest Oliver Lewis discusses the work of Improbable, a tech startup that teamed with the British government to create arguably the most complete virtual simulation ever -- and how it could help corporate finance. Lewis is an academic, innovation adviser and civil servant with interests in near-future technologies, institutional and corporate culture, diplomacy and national security. He will speak at AFP MindShift, October 14, in San Diego: www.AFPonline.org/MindShift. Thanks for listening to AFP Conversations. Please give it a review on your podcast app of choice -- it will help other listeners find the show, and host Ira Apfel will read your review on air. 

2017 is quickly drawing to a close and it’s been a very interesting year for the economy and Wall Street. Issues like the debt ceiling, the Fed outlook, money markets, and tax reform still loom.   So what does all this mean for treasury and finance professionals? Todd Bean and Will Goldthwait of State Street Global Advisors offer their insights and predictions. Thanks for listening to AFP Conversations. Please give it a review on your podcast app of choice -- it will help other listeners find the show, and host Ira Apfel will read your review on air.

Corporate treasurers and finance executives are facing more uncertainty than at any time in recent memory. In this episode of AFP Conversations, Mark O’Toole, Vice President of Commodities and Treasury Solutions for OpenLink, discusses the three Cs of hedging: currency, cash and commodities. Thanks for listening to AFP Conversations. Please give it a review on your podcast app of choice -- it will help other listeners find the show, and host Ira Apfel will read your review on air.

Julia Kirby is the co-author of "Only Humans Need Apply: Winners and Losers in the Age of Smart Machines," which documents how nearly everyone is vulnerable to being replaced by artificial intelligence and machine learning, and was a Financial Times best book of 2016. Kirby talked to AFP Conversations host Ira Apfel about her book, co-authored with Thomas Davenport, and what treasury and finance professionals can do to prepare for the technological revolution.  Thanks for listening to AFP Conversations. Please give it a review on your podcast app of choice -- it will help other listeners find the show, and host Ira Apfel will read your review on air.  

Miko Matsumura, Limited Partner with Pantera Capital and a founder of cryptocurrency exchange Evercoin, talks to AFP Conversations about cryptocurrency -- where it stands, where it's headed, why he's so bullish on it, and how treasury and finance professionals should think about it. Matsumura is one of the keynote speakers at AFP MindShift this October in San Diego: www.AFPonline.org/MindShift. Thanks for listening to AFP Conversations. Please give it a review on your podcast app of choice -- it will help other listeners find the show, and host Ira Apfel will read your review on air.

In this episode of AFP Conversations, business journalist Rana Foroohar discusses the financialization of America, what that means for business, and its meaning for corporate treasurers and CFOs. She also explains how the roles of business and government will merge in the future.  Foroohar is a global business columnist, associate editor with The Financial Times, and the global economic analyst for CNN. Her book, Makers and Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business, was short-listed by The Financial Times and McKinsey Book of the Year Award in 2016. Thanks for listening to AFP Conversations. Please give it a review on your podcast app of choice -- it will help other listeners find the show, and host Ira Apfel will read your review on air.

In this episode of AFP Conversations, guest Lisa Jaster talks about quitting -- or, to be precise, not quitting. In 2015 at the age of 37 Lisa Jaster became only the third woman to graduate from U.S. Army Ranger School, which 36 percent of students fail within the first four days. Now a Major in the U.S. Army Reserve, she’s also a mom, wife and an engineer for Shell Oil. "Don't let the quit in," she says.  Thanks for listening to AFP Conversations! Please give it a review on your podcast app of choice -- it will help other listeners find the show, and host Ira Apfel will read your review on air!

Practically everyone who works in an office has attended a big trade show or conference at some point. But who finds all the keynote speakers and educational session leaders? In this episode of AFP Conversations, John Gibson, PMP, Director of Education and Projects for the Association for Financial Professionals, explains how he and his team identify, assess and book nearly 150 speakers and session leaders every year for the biggest event in treasury and finance. Thanks for listening to AFP Conversations! Please give it a review on your podcast app of choice -- it will help other listeners find the show, and host Ira Apfel will read your review on air!

Technology strategist and best-selling author Salim Ismail explains why some organizations are growing exponentially rather than in a traditional linear fashion. These exponential organizations grow 10 times faster than their traditional peers -- and they will have a dramatic impact on finance and treasury and finance teams. 

Michael High, head of planning, appraisal and reporting for Shell, is tasked with making the company’s new, multi-billion-dollar Deepwater line of business less risky and expensive. High talked about his role with the Deepwater project and his career, including his time as an intelligence offer in the United States Army and how it prepared him for a career in FP&A. 

John Drzik, president of Marsh Global Risk and Specialties and chairman of the Global Risk Center for Marsh & McLennan Companies, talks about risk and how technology, geopolitical changes and broad societal trends are radically shifting the risk landscape.

Jer Thorp is a digital artist who combines science, art, culture and data into his data visualizations. He’s also the former Data Artist in Residence for The New York Times. Thorp will speak at AFP 2017 in October, and he'll address an audience of financial planning and analysis professionals on the challenge of making data more human. www.AFP2017.org.  

You might think that a company transporting thousands of tons of cargo containers by boat around the world is the last place you’d find blockchain in use. In fact, the shipping industry is practically ground zero for blockchain and distributed ledger technology. In this episode of AFP Conversations, Jody Cleworth of Marine Transport International explains why his company has embraced blockchain, and the challenges of converting a supply chain from legacy technology. 

Dan Gardner, co-author of best-selling "Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction," argues that pundits are notoriously inaccurate at predicting the future, and that ordinary people actually produce better forecasts. In this episode of AFP Conversations, Gardner explains how FP&A and finance professionals can turn themselves into superforecasters. He will also keynote the inaugural FinNext.  

Bitcoin has many skeptics in the West but in Africa it could transform payments. In this episode of AFP Conversations, host Ira Apfel spoke to Elizabeth Rossiello, co-founder of BitPesa, a Nairobi-based payments and FX startup which operates in six African nations, about the promise and challenges of bitcoin. 

Best-selling author and NPR correspondent Shankar Vedantam explains how hidden psychological factors shape the decisions made by corporate treasury and finance professionals every day. Vedantam is the keynote speaker at AFP2017.

Currency hedging expert Wolfgang Koester breaks down the results of a new survey on FX impacts and their negative effect on the bottom line. Are corporations doing a better job mitigating FX risk? Koester, the co-founder of FiREapps, gives his thoughts.