Finance functions could benefit from more outsiders at the top table. Unconventional leaders often bring diverse or unique cultural, educational or industry-based experience that can help challenge groupthink, drive innovation and improve decision-making.
Finance teams are often victims of stereotyping. Most people entering the profession are qualified accountants or auditors. But the industry is crying out for fresh talent, as capable finance leaders are in high demand and short supply. Deloitte’s most recent quarterly CFO survey found that one in four firms is struggling to find its next finance chief. What’s more, 75% of firms do not have a succession plan in place.
Here, three executives share what it means to build a career in finance off the beaten path and what advantages an unconventional background can have.
A pro-gamer turned CRO
In 1996, as a freshman at the University of Kansas, Stevie Case began playing a new computer game that had been released that summer: Quake. In this first-of-its-kind multi-player shooter game, players race through a dark, labyrinthian hellscape and blast each other into chunks. After beating the developer of Quake, John Romero, at his own game, Case shot to gamer fame. Her conquest scored her a sponsorship as the industry’s first-ever professional female gamer.
After quitting the professional gaming scene, Case trained in 3D design and began making mobile video games – a natural next step – for Warner Bros and Alacre. But her competitive streak and performance-focused mindset soon drew her to the sales and revenue side of tech.
In 2022, following almost a decade working in sales at firms including Visa and Twilio, Case took a job as chief revenue officer (CRO) at Vanta, a security and compliance firm. When asked how she ended up in this profession, Case laughs and admits that the question still baffles her. “It was completely unanticipated. I didn’t even know this job existed ten years ago.”
Case no longer plays video games, but the skills she developed during that time in her life have fundamentally shaped her approach to leadership and resilience. In the male-dominated field of pro-gaming, Case had to be assertive and performatively powerful. It also taught her the importance of strategy, creativity and perseverance. “The obstacles I face only make me swing harder,” she says.
Case draws some surprising parallels between the role of a CRO and a pro-gamer. “Both need to create strategies from scratch,” she explains. “You can’t just use someone else’s playbook. You have to be creative and think beyond what others have done or what’s right in front of you. Then there’s the teamwork, the gamesmanship and, honestly, the competitiveness.”
Why engineers make great finance leaders
Michael Sloan became CFO at Whyte & Mackay, a Scottish whisky business, in 2015, after taking finance roles across the drinks industry, including finance director at Tennent’s and group head of commercial finance at AG Baar.
But finance was not his first choice of career. “I was never interested in economics or finance at school. But I was good with numbers and loved physics – I wanted to know how things worked.”
After completing a master’s degree in civil engineering, Sloan took a job at ARP, an engineering consultancy. A few years into the role, however, he experienced a moment of clarity: “Every lunch break I sat in my car and read the business section of the newspaper. Those 30 minutes were the best part of my day and that unsettling realisation made me re-think what I wanted from my career.”
From there, he looked into graduate programmes and opted for the Scottish & Newcastle development scheme, which enabled him to qualify as a chartered accountant.
Sloan credits his success in finance to that early grounding in engineering. “As an engineer your job is to solve problems. You get a plan from an architect and have to figure out how to bring it to life. You don’t just spot the problems, you find a solution.”
That mindset is what separates a good CFO from an exceptional one, he says. “It’s why engineers make such fantastic finance leaders.”
In the drinks industry, there is a huge amount of human interaction, Sloan continues, particularly given that the finance function often partners with sales and operations teams. As an engineer, he spent every day on a construction site, interacting with different people, explaining complicated concepts and orchestrating large-scale projects. This experience was the key to developing crucial communication skills.
“The best finance departments are involved in the business and shape commercial business decisions and strategies,” Sloan says. “The ability to communicate with all levels effectively, and maximise relationships with partners, customers and international stakeholders, is vital for CFOs of the future.”
Finance needs people with different ideas and mindsets, he continues. “Groupthink is rampant in the world of business and it’s so dangerous. If you are in a room and everyone is thinking the same thing, that’s usually not a good sign.”
Mindset is more powerful than skill set
Virpy Richter, CFO at Awin, a marketing firm, has always had a wide range of interests. Growing up in Berlin, Richter originally aspired to be a journalist, but decided instead to study business administration. Still, during her studies, she managed to try her hand at skills ranging from coding to systematic market research. Her thesis on intercultural management, focusing on Herlitz’s Polish and French subsidiaries, reflected an early interest in international business.
“I always had a knack for business.” Richter says. “I used to sell porcelain dolls at the Christmas market in Ku’damm in Berlin.”
Her career in finance didn’t begin until her late-20s. After gaining experience in various internships across logistics and customer care, Richter moved to the Netherlands at age 27 and worked as a portfolio manager, leading a team of 20 people. The fast-paced, unstructured environment instilled in Richer the need to build strong relationships and question everything – qualities she credits to this day as being fundamental in her finance career.
After returning to Berlin, Richter joined a startup, MyToys, where she served as financial director and then managing director.
Richer does not have an accountancy qualification. At times she considered this a shortcoming, especially when struggling through audit meetings or when faced with a very technical problem. But she maintains that her non-number-crunching background brings certain advantages. “You’re able to grasp the big-picture view of the business and understand the broader challenges other departments are facing,” Richter says.
She continues: “The right attitude is far more important than skills or qualifications. A desire to take on challenges, grasp new ideas, seek out and be curious about the world is critical to how the CFO role will evolve over the next several years.”
Finance functions could benefit from more outsiders at the top table. Unconventional leaders often bring diverse or unique cultural, educational or industry-based experience that can help challenge groupthink, drive innovation and improve decision-making.
Finance teams are often victims of stereotyping. Most people entering the profession are qualified accountants or auditors. But the industry is crying out for fresh talent, as capable finance leaders are in high demand and short supply. Deloitte’s most recent quarterly CFO survey found that one in four firms is struggling to find its next finance chief. What's more, 75% of firms do not have a succession plan in place.
Here, three executives share what it means to build a career in finance off the beaten path and what advantages an unconventional background can have.
