​AI as a Force Multiplier: Scaling Lean Finance Teams Without Adding Headcount

​CFO Executive Forum | AI in Finance Panel

​The Challenge

​Venture-backed CFOs are operating in one of the most demanding environments in recent memory. Boards and investors expect rigorous financial discipline, faster closes, real-time scenario modeling, and transaction readiness — all while headcount budgets remain flat or under pressure. For many finance leaders, the ask is simply: do more with less, and do it faster.

​Traditional solutions — adding staff, outsourcing, or deploying legacy ERP tools —are no longer sufficient to meet the pace and complexity that high-growth companies demand.

​The Opportunity

​Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing what a lean finance team can accomplish. From automating routine transactional work to accelerating FP&A cycles, enhancing cash flow forecasting, and flagging anomalies in real time, AI tools are giving finance leaders capabilities that were previously only accessible to large, well-resourced organizations.

​For venture-backed companies specifically, this shift creates a meaningful competitive advantage — the ability to operate with the financial sophistication of a mature enterprise at a fraction of the infrastructure cost.

​What This Panel Will Explore

​This session brings together CFOs who are actively navigating AI adoption within their finance functions — not in theory, but in practice. The conversation will go beyond the hype to examine:

• ​Where AI is delivering real, measurable impact across financial close, FP&A, reporting, and compliance workflows

• ​How finance leaders are managing the human side of AI adoption — team culture, role redefinition, and upskilling

• ​What investors and boards are beginning to expect around AI maturity and finance function efficiency

• ​The governance and data integrity questions that CFOs must address before AI can be trusted at scale

• ​How the CFO role itself is evolving as AI handles more of the tactical work and elevates the function toward strategic partnership

​Why This Matters Now

​AI adoption in finance is no longer a future-state conversation. Tools like generative AI, intelligent automation, and machine learning-powered forecasting are available today and increasingly expected by investors evaluating a company's operational maturity. CFOs who move deliberately and strategically now will be better positioned for their next fundraise, M&A process, or IPO readiness review.

​This panel is designed for finance leaders who want to move from curiosity to conviction — and walk away with practical frameworks and peer insights they can apply immediately.

​Who Should Attend

​CFOs, VPs of Finance, and Heads of Finance at venture-backed companies. The session emphasizes peer-to-peer dialogue and operator-level honesty about what is working and what isn't.

​Why Attend

• ​Hear directly from CFOs putting AI to work in venture-backed finance teams

• ​Take away practical approaches you can apply this quarter

• ​Build relationships with a small group of senior finance peers

​The Room

​Moderator: Christina Bui, Vice President, Robert Half | Protiviti

​Panelists:
- Chithra Rajagopalan, Head of Finance, Obsidian Security
- Hull Xu, CFO, Centific
- Jeff Epstein, Operating Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

​In partnership with:

• ​Christina Bui, Robert Half | Protiviti

• ​Louis Lehot, Foley & Lardner LLP

• ​Ellie Yashiro, Silicon Valley Bank

• ​Janice Berthold, Heffernan Insurance Brokers

​Host

​This event is hosted as part of Open Future Forum, an executive community for the AI era founded by Murray Newlands. Open Future Forum brings together CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, CISOs, founders, investors, and enterprise leaders through Forum Select, Forum Events, private executive dinners, and role-based communities including the CFO Executive Forum, CEO Executive Forum, CMO Executive Forum, and CISO Executive Forum. Learn more about Murray Newlands on the About Murray page. Murray Newlands is also Partner at IA Seed Ventures (IASV). Open Future Forum and IA Seed Ventures are separate organizations.