The Strategic CFO is Thriving with Risk

Major Bottoms Jr. is a Research Manager and Senior Research Analyst for Levvel Research based in Charlotte, NC. He plays a key role in the analysis and presentation of data for Levvel’s research reports, webinars, and consulting engagements. Major’s expertise lies in the Procure-to-Pay, Source-to-Settle, and travel and expense management processes and software, as well as technologies and strategies across DevOps, digital payments, design systems, and application development. Prior to joining Levvel, Major held various roles in the mortgage finance field at Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Major graduated with a degree in Finance from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Todd Ford is the CFO of Coupa, and oversees the company’s financial operations. Prior to Coupa, Todd served as CFO of MobileIron, where he led the company through a successful IPO in 2014, and was responsible for financial planning and analysis, accounting, treasury activities, and investor relations. Todd was a Founding General Partner at Broken Arrow Venture Capital, where he invested in early-stage companies. He also previously served as CFO and President of Rackable Systems Inc. (now Silicon Graphics International Corp) where he led the start-up from $20 million in revenues to more than $350 million in revenues as a publicly traded company. Todd has also held various management and financial positions with several technology companies including Raster Graphics and Cadence Design Systems. He began his career with Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young. Todd currently sits on the Board of Directors for Performant Financial Corporation. Todd earned a B.S. in Accounting from Santa Clara University.

Rosa is an author, journalist and editor, a generalist by trade and inclination, as well as a writer, teacher, talk-show host, and pundit. She’s written for many major US and Canadian publications on topics ranging from baby food to global economics. Her clients include Time magazine, Fortune magazine, Forbes, Genpact, the Globe and Mail and many others.

She particularly enjoys investigating the ways in which the history of her craft informs and shapes its future. Her Master of Journalism thesis dealt with the changing face of copyright in the digital age. That was completed in 1998. The topic is still a moving target.

She’s taught at Royal Roads University, University of Victoria, Carleton University and Concordia University. Rosa occasionally hosts a talk show on a local radio station and continues to freelance for a variety of publications and serve as a communications consultant for a range of clients. She’s won a Gold and a Silver National Magazine Award for her writing and editing and was one of two people shortlisted for a Canada-U.S. Fulbright Award in 2007 before financial constraints meant the award was withdrawn.