THE UK'S PREMIER INVITATION-ONLY EVENT FOR FINANCE EXECUTIVES
Future of Finance Exchange - Day 1
7:45 am - 8:30 am
Event Registration and Breakfast
8:30 am - 8:45 am
Exchange Welcome & Chairperson's Opening Remarks
Armand Angeli -
Vice-President, Digital Transformation and AI Group,
DFCG
8:45 am - 9:15 am
Keynote - Leading Transformation Through Uncertainty – Building Confidence, Culture & Clarity in Finance
Muthumari Duraisamy -
Vice President Finance - EMEA & APAC,
Ranpak
Volatility is the new constant, and transformation is no longer a one-off initiative; it's how finance leads.
This session examines how CFOs and senior finance leaders leverage data-driven visibility, cultural resilience, and decisive leadership to capitalise on uncertainty and drive lasting performance.
Key Takeaways:
• Strengthening decision confidence through visibility and data clarity
• Building resilient, adaptive teams that thrive through change
• Embedding transformation as a continuous capability, not a one-time project
• Balancing human leadership with technology-enabled insight
• Creating the culture and mindset for sustainable growth
9:15 am - 9:45 am
PLENARY FIRESIDE CHAT: Navigating the Shift: Belron’s Blueprint for Global AP Stability Amidst Oracle Fusion Transformation
Simon Wilkie -
Head of Finance Transformation,
Belron International
John Hall - COO & Global Finance Transformation Lead, Bunzl UK and Ireland
As Belron undertakes a multi region transition to Oracle Fusion, the finance organisation faces the challenge of maintaining stability while modernising AP across diverse teams, systems, and regulatory environments. In this fireside chat, we'll explore how Belron designed a unified global strategy, decoupled AP from ERP timelines to protect operational continuity, and strengthened visibility and control through centralised data and automation.
Discussion themes include:
• Balancing global standardisation with local autonomy
• Strengthening strategic decision making through centralised invoice data and real time insight into procurement, supplier trends, and process bottlenecks
• Preserving operational stability during a multi year Oracle Fusion migration by decoupling AP automation from ERP rollouts
• Maintaining a unified AP backbone through Basware, providing stability across regional teams and outsourced delivery models during ongoing ERP change
• Navigating evolving European e invoicing mandates with a scalable, proactive compliance model
9:45 am - 10:00 am
Networking Bingo
Time to get up on our feet and meet the people in the room! Grab a Bingo Sheet and identify your own number. Then look out for the numbers in the room that will help you get 5 in a row and hit “Bingo!” Follow the instructions on your card for a chance to win a prize!
The accounting profession is at a crossroads. With increasing demand for accounting work, a shrinking talent pool, and 75% of accountants are set to retire in the next decade, the need for efficiency has never been greater. Enter AI Agents: not just a tool for automation, but a catalyst for transformation.
In this closed-door think tank session, Hugh O'Neill, former Finance Director, will lead a peer-driven discussion on how AI is reshaping the future of accounting. Participants will explore how FloQast’s AI-powered solutions are empowering teams to move beyond outdated, manual workflows and into a new era of efficiency, accuracy, and control. From automating repetitive tasks like reconciliations and journal entries to enabling accountants to focus on high-value activities, AI Agents are not replacing accountants—they’re amplifying their impact.
This session will map out the full AI adoption journey, from identifying the right workflows to train your AI Agents, to managing risk, governance, and stakeholder expectations. Together, participants will uncover how to responsibly implement AI, maintain human oversight, and build trust across their organisations. Designed as an open exchange, this session cuts through the noise to deliver actionable insights and a clear path forward.
The future of accounting is here. Are you ready to lead the way?
10:40 am - 11:10 am One-to-One Business Meetings | Peer-to-Peer Networking
Finance leaders need a value lens that travels across investment cases, capital allocation, and performance reviews, without collapsing into “earnings at all costs.” In this practical, closed-door session, Ben Walters shares a CFO-ready framework that broadens value beyond profit and cost to include capital efficiency, resilience, and growth contribution. You’ll see how CPInsight can outperform familiar metrics (earnings, ROIC, EVA, cash conversion) as a decision and storytelling tool, then apply it to a live initiative to test alignment with long-term value creation.
Session Outline:
• Defining value creation beyond profit and cost: capital efficiency, resilience, and growth contribution
• Introducing CPInsight, a practical measure that outperforms Earnings, ROIC, EVA, and cash conversion
• Applying CPInsight across investment decisions, capital allocation, and performance reviews
• Aligning boards, investors, and business partners around a shared value framework
• Translating metrics into compelling narratives that resonate with both financial and non-financial stakeholders
• Interactive exercise: mapping a current initiative against the framework to test alignment with long-term value creation
11:15 am - 11:45 am
Plenary - AI eats spreadsheets for lunch: The CFO’s new co-pilot
Ivan Martić -
VP Business Development,
Farseer
Finance has entered a new phase. Excel built the foundation, but AI now drives the future. CFOs no longer work only with static data. They use AI to interpret context, predict outcomes, and automate routine tasks. FP&A tools with built-in AI transform how companies plan, forecast, and make decisions. Instead of manual modeling, finance teams can now ask questions and get instant insights. This shift makes the CFO a strategic co-pilot, not just a controller of numbers.
11:45 am - 12:15 pm
Plenary Panel Discussion - Beyond Survival Mode: Navigating Volatility and Balancing Short-Term Performance with Long-Term Value
Fabio Pesenti -
CFO EMEA Emerging Markets,
Zimmer Biomet
Andreea Popescu - Global Director Business Control Digital & Technology, The Heineken Company
Koula Achillea Achillea - Financial Director - Marella Cruises, Tui
How finance leaders manage competing time horizons while steering through forces beyond their control
12:20 pm - 12:50 pm One-to-One Business Meetings | Peer-to-Peer Networking
As organisations scale, transactional finance quickly becomes a pressure point. Volumes increase, complexity multiplies, and confidence can erode if systems, processes, and governance fail to keep pace. This closed-door think tank explores how finance leaders can transform core transactional operations into a foundation for control, resilience, and strategic confidence.
Facilitated by Fiona Vashi, Head of Transactional Finance & Projects at David Lloyd Clubs, the session moves beyond a traditional case study. Drawing on David Lloyd Clubs’ finance transformation journey, including the evolution of Accounts Payable and Receivable during an ERP migration, participants will engage in an interactive peer discussion focused on the real leadership decisions behind successful change. Through structured dialogue, the group will explore what works, what’s hard, and what remains unresolved when scaling finance in complex, high-volume environments.
Key discussion themes include:
• Making transactional finance scalable without losing control or visibility
• Balancing standardisation with flexibility during ERP-led transformation
• Shifting finance teams from manual processing to higher-value work
• Governance and decision-making in high-volume, multi-entity environments
• What finance leaders would do differently if starting again
12:55 pm - 1:55 pm
Networking Lunch
Fuel up and get ready for the second half of the day with our next Keynotes and our Day 1 Roundtables.
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
PLENARY PRESENTATION: Modernising Finance in Legacy Reality: How to Scale Trust in AI, Not Just Tech
Vladimir Novotny -
Director,
Home Credit
Finance leaders face pressure to adopt AI while maintaining control and board confidence. In legacy organisations, modernisation is a trust challenge, not just technology. In this session, Vladimir Novotny, a senior finance leader at a multinational financial institution (132,000 employees, 10 countries), will share practical approaches to modernising finance amid complex systems and regulatory constraints. Drawing on experience at Home Credit, including processing ~200,000 daily loan approvals, he will demonstrate how finance teams built consistency in KPIs and governance for high-volume decisions, and explore why AI pilots stall and why trusted metrics and controls must precede AI investment.
What CFOs will learn:
Building board-level trust in numbers across regions and functions
Essential governance foundations before scaling AI or automation
Moving from reporting cycles to decision readiness with legacy systems
Why most AI initiatives fail to progress beyond pilots
How trusted data enables AI that improves speed without compromising control
Repositioning finance as a decision authority, not just a reporting function
Real-world lessons from scaling finance operations in complex, regulated environments
Uncertainty is no longer episodic, it is structural. From geopolitical volatility and tariff shifts to energy disruption and prolonged investment cycles, finance leaders must deliver performance while protecting long-term value.
In this interactive executive simulation, participants work in leadership teams to navigate a sudden multi-layered disruption. Confronting real trade-offs around liquidity, capital allocation, governance and stakeholder confidence, teams must stabilise the present while designing a forward-looking resilience framework.
Participants will explore:
• How to prioritise capital when assumptions shift overnight
• Evolving ROI and hurdle-rate models in volatile environments
• Liquidity protection without defaulting to short-termism
• Portfolio rebalancing across regions, business lines and time horizons
• Strengthening governance and decision discipline under pressure
• Communicating difficult trade-offs with clarity and confidence
Designed as a competitive yet candid exchange, this session blends scenario planning, structured debate, and peer benchmarking to surface practical, transferable frameworks that can be applied immediately within your organisation.
3:45 pm - 4:30 pm
Plenary Panel - The AI Debates: Making AI Work for Finance – From ROI Reality to Operating Model Readiness
Muthumari Duraisamy -
Vice President Finance - EMEA & APAC,
Ranpak
Malgorzata Figaszewska - Director Global Finance, Franklin Templeton.
Fred Fowler - Global Head of Finance Services & Transformation Leader, Coty
Brian Kenny - CFO, Private Equity/VC Portfolio Companies
Many finance functions are experimenting with AI, but few have unlocked meaningful ROI. The reason isn’t a lack of technology; it’s the absence of a clear operating model that connects data, people, and platforms to business outcomes. This discussion explores the following themes:
· Defining “real ROI”: What measurable value from AI looks like in finance operations
· The accuracy paradox: Setting realistic expectations for AI versus human performance
· Organisational readiness: New roles, skills, and operating rhythms for AI-augmented finance
· Data as fuel: Embedding quality, governance, and accessibility for AI acceleration
· Platform integration: ERP, IBP, and analytics modernisation as foundations for success
· Human-in-the-loop: Designing oversight frameworks that balance risk and speed
· Implementation lessons: How to move from experimentation to scalable adoption
· Model governance & assurance: Establishing finance-grade validation, testing, and auditability for AI models, agents, and automated decision flows
· Enterprise risk & control alignment: Embedding AI into existing risk frameworks, ensuring controls, escalation paths, and accountability structures are updated for new operational, cyber, and compliance risks.
For CFOs, transformation success is measured not in milestones but in measurable business outcomes. This session explores how finance can move beyond optimisation to become a true engine of enterprise value creation. Drawing on his experiences leading transformation programmes that delivered over £3bn in P&L benefits, this session explores how transformation can be both disciplined and daring, combining strategic alignment, cultural change, and executional excellence to deliver sustainable growth at scale.
Key Takeaways:
• Designing finance transformation programmes that deliver measurable enterprise value
• Aligning commercial, operations, and finance teams behind shared growth objectives
• Sustaining pace and confidence through multi-year transformation cycles
• Balancing governance and agility to ensure results translate to the bottom line
• Building credibility and influence by leading transformation that speaks in P&L terms
Ilya Selivanov
Finance & Transformation Lead, Senior Advisor Private Equity, former SVP ReckittReckitt
Champagne Roundtables - The Skills Needed to Lead
Group B
5:45 pm - 6:30 pm AI IMPLEMENTATION: Designing the AI-Ready Finance Organisation Brian Kenny - CFO, Private Equity/VC Portfolio CompaniesHow does it work? This is a 45-minute discussion on the topic of your choosing, and a chance to hear and interact with peers while sharing your own expertise.
