I've Been on Both Sides.
That's Why I Built This.
I started in 2001 at Campbell University during my MBA — Assistant to the VP in business operations, running a $2.5M food-services budget with 96 FTEs, franchise relationships, and the first campus-wide biometric POS. That job taught me something most finance professionals miss: an organization thinks it's about one thing when it's really about another. Campbell wasn't a food system. It was an education system. The reframe changed how everything got run. That's where “ITABWODI” started.
Then I became a financial analyst at K. Hovnanian Homes, a $9B publicly traded homebuilder. Spreadsheets, reconciliations, SOX/GAAP/SEC compliance. Side A.
Then CFO / Director of Finance at Faulkner/Haynes, an HVAC rep firm — my first board seat. Then Director of Operations & Finance for an international nonprofit in the Dominican Republic. Then the call from Tower Engineering — they needed somebody to RESCUE an in-process M&A. I closed the books in under 45 days for the first time in company history and surfaced $1M+ in billing errors across 40+ divisions.
Then seven years at Bobbitt Design Build. Joined as CFO / Board Member; effectively Interim CEO/COO/CIO for 3+ of those years. It runs today on the infrastructure I built. That's the BUILD-TO-SCALE seat.
Then ITABWODI, LLC as a fractional C-suite practice. Then in 2023, I acquired majority ownership of The CHE Companies — a multi-division exterior construction platform across three states. That's the OWNER-OPERATOR seat I'm in today.
Somewhere along the way, I crossed from Side A to Side B. I stopped being a scorekeeper and became an operator. I stopped reporting the past and started shaping the future.
And I realized the gap between those two sides is the most important gap in the finance profession.
Why CFO OS Exists
When I was a controller, nobody told me what I was missing. I thought the path to CFO was “do the finance work better.” Close faster. Report more accurately. Build better models.
I was wrong. The path to CFO is “stop being only a finance person.” Learn operations. Build strategic judgment. Earn the CEO's trust through leadership, not spreadsheets. Deploy AI to handle the scorekeeping so you can focus on the thinking.
CFO OS is the platform I wish existed when I was making that jump. The Five-Command Model. The assessment that tells you exactly where your gaps are. The AI coach that gives you specific guidance based on where you are today. The courses built from real career moments, not textbook theory.
Every framework on this site comes from real operations. Real turnarounds. Real board meetings. Real AI deployments. I use these same systems to run my company every day.
The Bifurcation Is Real
The finance profession is splitting in two — right now. Scorekeepers are being automated. Operational CFOs are becoming indispensable. The window to cross from one side to the other is open, but it won't stay open forever.
I built CFO OS to help you cross. Whether you're a controller eyeing the CFO seat, a VP of Finance who needs to build operational fluency, a student planning your career, or a fractional CFO building your practice — the Five Commands give you a framework and the tools give you the path.
ITABWODI
“Is There A Better Way Of Doing It?”
This question drives everything I build. It's not a destination — it's a posture. The finance profession has done things the same way for decades. There is a better way. And the people who find it first will define what the CFO of the future looks like.
Find Out Where You Stand
The CFO Readiness Assessment scores you across all five commands in 5 minutes. AI builds a personalized action plan for your weakest area.