Meet Prophix’s new CFO, Aaron Levine

In 2024, Prophix continues to be on a growth trajectory that has included an expansion of our customer base and partner networks, the growth of our comprehensive and innovative Financial Performance Platform, and the exploration of new paths to scale our portfolio and geographic reach. To ensure we are in the best possible position for this ongoing growth, we recently announced some exciting changes to our senior leadership team, including Ryan Van Hatten’s move from chief financial officer to chief operating officer and the appointment of Aaron Levine as our new CFO.

We sat down with Aaron to talk about the changing nature of the CFO role across industries, some of his leadership best practices, and what he’s looking forward to in his new position.

On growth as a CFO

Prophix is your fifth CFO role. What’s noticeably different now about being a CFO from your first stop?

AL: To a certain degree, business is business – same movie, different actors – and there are aspects to the financial department that are standard practice and don’t change throughout your career. But at a leadership level, the position of the CFO has certainly evolved. Historically, CFOs are really thought of more as accountant-types – the people who are closing the books. Now it’s clearly more of a strategic role where technology (including, of course, Prophix) plays a huge part in helping uncover efficiencies or deficiencies in the broader business. Technology, and access to precise, accurate data have really enabled CFOs, including myself, to confidently be way more than just “the budget person.”

On leadership best practices

What are some of the leadership best practices you bring to the role of CFO?

AL: Again, because this has become such a unique role, the CFO now works with the CEO to set a business strategy and ensure its implemented across the organization - and that’s a complicated relationship. As in any relationship, trust is built over time and through a series of interactions which prove that both parties have the same goals in mind and are mutually beneficial. You have to maintain a degree of honesty and openness, keep a continuous dialogue, and maintain confidentiality while also instilling mutual respect. So, it’s a relationship that needs to be nurtured like any other.

The CEO cannot and should not solve every problem and make every decision. The CEO can use the CFO as their proxy when their involvement is not required. How the CFO responds and leads earns that trust. A CFO must also demonstrate their value to the broader organization, which, in turn, gains and enhances the trust of the CEO and others throughout the organization. There is no magic button to push or a single moment in time when trust is gained – it’s an ongoing effort to earn and maintain on a daily basis.

On paving the path to Prophix

Tell us about your career journey and your fit with Prophix.

AL: I’ve been working with software businesses my entire career, and clearly feel comfortable in this environment. But my credentials are right in line with the typical Prophix customer, and I have first-hand experience with many of the issues that we’re addressing on their behalf – on the accounting side, the budgeting side, and more.

I started in audit engagement for the software group at PwC and since then I’ve really been deep into the weeds across the office of finance – first on the controller side at two different public companies, before pivoting to more financial performance roles at several private equity and venture-backed organizations. So, I’ve been where Prophix customers have been my whole career – not only with adaptive planning, but posting journal entries, doing account reconciliations, consolidations - and having to do all of it at scale.

I can tell you from first-hand experience that so many of the processes that are central to mid-market and even enterprise-level businesses are manual. In my career, account reconciliations were generally done manually in Excel. And I’ve done huge consolidations in the past and, particularly as you look internationally and need to account for different currencies, there are complexities that even a solid ERP doesn’t serve well.

In my experience, if you have a system in place that can not only help consolidate all the disparate spreadsheets and data sets that go into a budgeting process, but also automate that forecasting function, it changes the entire workflow within the finance department.

On what CFOs bring to the table – beyond the numbers

You’ve said that the CFO role has evolved beyond the numbers. Apart from your finance and leadership skills, what are you hoping to bring to the role at Prophix?

AL: I definitely see myself as a broader operations-type - someone who can strategize and also leverage technology to bring different business functions together and uncover new efficiencies in both the front office and back office.

As we’ve talked about, CFOs are in a very unique position - we have a bird’s eye view of the business. The sales leader is going to be heads down on sales, marketing is heads down on marketing. But as CFO, you really get to step back and see the entirety of the business and how it all comes together.

Now is really an excellent time to be a CFO and be a part of a strong finance department. Technology is changing the way we work for the better, so many of the processes that have traditionally meant late nights and long weekends are no longer applicable, and the best leaders are now able to put their skills to use beyond the books. We can really grow our organizations and grow personally and professionally at the same time. That’s a rare and great position to be in.

On life outside of Prophix

What should we know about you that we wouldn’t know from your LinkedIn profile?

AL: Well, my LinkedIn does say that I am located outside of Washington, DC. I live there with my wife and two kids and have been a lifelong DC sports fan. When I’m not being the CFO, you’ll find me riding my bike, playing basketball, and eating ice cream.

As we continue our growth trajectory, our senior leadership team is ready to tackle the next generation of finance. Aaron, we’re thrilled to have you on board and can’t wait to see what you can do at Prophix!