EUROPE'S PREMIER INVITATION-ONLY EVENT FOR FINANCE EXECUTIVES
Agenda Day 1
Agenda day 1
7:45 am - 8:30 am
Registration & Coffee
8:30 am - 8:35 am
Exchange Welcome
8:35 am - 8:45 am
Chair’s Opening Address
8:45 am - 9:15 am
OPENING KEYNOTE - Progressive Finance: The CFO as a Leader of AI Adoption and Cultural Change
Sebastian Hurst -
CFO at Roche Netherlands,
Roche Netherlands
As organisations accelerate investment in AI, the CFO's role is rapidly expanding beyond traditional financial stewardship. In this era of Progressive Finance, CFOs are uniquely positioned to lead not just the deployment of technology, but the fundamental mindset shift required for its success.
- Why CFOs and the Finance Function are uniquely positioned to lead enterprise-wide AI adoption: Including Roche leadership perspectives.
- Defining high-performing finance teams: Exploring the skill sets and capabilities required when AI becomes the great equalizer.
- Leading through change: The Finance Leader as a role model in AI adoption, fostering an "AI-First" mindset with empathy and adaptability.
9:15 am - 9:45 am
PLENARY FIRESIDE CHAT: Predictive FP&A: Using AI to Forecast Revenue, Costs, and Cash Flow
Traditional financial forecasting often reacts to events after they happen. Today however, AI is transforming FP&A, enabling finance leaders to move from reactive to proactive cost and cash flow management. By spotting deviations in revenue and costs early, AI forecasting gives financial leaders time to respond before small variances impact margins and cash flow.
- Automate anomaly detection: AI can identify deviations from forecasts in real time allowing CFOs to take action sooner rather than later
- Increase productivity time: Ensure resources are deployed efficiently to maximise revenue and profitability
- Shift from time-based to value-based forecasts: Focus on value creation and aligning forecasting with strategic goals
9:45 am - 10:00 am
Networking Bingo
Get to know your peers as you navigate the room to find the needed numbers for you to be able to call "Bingo!"
- The strategic approach taken to move from a fragmented to a harmonised ERP landscape
- Key benefits realised, including improved data integrity and streamlined global reporting
- The challenges encountered during implementation and how they were addressed
- Effective change management strategies to drive adoption across global finance teams
ERP systems were once the core of global finance but for many organisations today, they've become fragmented, country-specific silos connected by layers of complex integrations. As GBS teams face increasing pressure to modernise while maintaining efficiency, compliance, and control, a new question is emerging: is Invoice Lifecycle Management becoming the true operational backbone of finance?
- The benefits of increased visibility, control, and agility
- The challenges of integration, change management, and the continuing role of ERP in core financial processes.
- Challenging finance leaders to rethink their architecture and consider a critical question: When your ILM platform already has a complete view of your global financial operations, what role should ERP play going forward?
11:15 am - 11:45 am
PLENARY PRESENTATION: Case Study: Reimagining Finance Workflows with AI Agents
Finance teams are facing mounting challenges: fragmented data, legacy systems, and increasing expectations from leadership and investors. Much of their time is consumed by manual reporting, data gathering, and reconciliation leaving limited capacity for strategic work. As the role of the CFO continues to expand, this imbalance is becoming unsustainable with 69% saying they're struggling to drive strategy due to an ever-expanding brief.
- Unify data and accelerate decisions: Provide natural language access to both structured and unstructured data, enabling faster analysis, planning, and scenario modelling without reliance on multiple teams or tools.
- Reduce manual effort and elevate focus: Automate repetitive tasks such as data collection, report preparation, and document search, freeing up time for interpretation, forecasting, and strategic guidance.
- Enable trust and control at scale Support transparent, traceable, and auditable outputs aligned to existing governance frameworks helping teams meet regulatory and investor expectations with confidence.
11:45 am - 12:15 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION: Agility, Resilience, and Adaptability: The Three Pillars for Leading Through Uncertainty?
Dennis Sasse -
Group Finance Director,
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Roche
Mohamed Elmeadawy - Vice President Finance & Controlling - Emerging Markets, Groupe SEB
Daniel Martinez - Group CFO, Ferrero International
Elizabeth Shadrack Paszek - CFO Technology, Nordea
Rick Selbach - CFO, Zurich Insurance Benelux
Uncertainty in business is nothing new but today, it has become multi-dimensional and, arguably, the new world order. CFOs and senior financial executives are navigating a world defined by geopolitical tensions, market volatility, currency fluctuations, rapid technological change, and relentless operational pressures. The question is clear: What is uncertainty and how do you manage in these conditions, inspire confidence, and ensure that stores, infrastructure, and supply chains keep running smoothly?
- Embracing a "wait, look, and listen" approach, centred around scenario planning and stress-testing in volatile environments
- Mastering the distinction between perceived and actual crises while communicating financial realities effectively, turning fear of uncertainty into curiosity and courage
- How to balance short-term pressures with long-term stability and growth goals in times of instability
- Navigating fragmented trade dynamics and regulatory shifts to maintain supply chain and capital fluidity
The average ransomware demand in 2025 reached $1.3 million, and that figure does not include the wider financial impact of regulatory penalties, operational disruption, and reputational damage. Cyberattacks are no longer isolated technical incidents handled quietly by IT teams, they are one of the most significant and unpredictable financial risks facing modern organisations.
- Embedding cyber risk into enterprise risk management strategies
- Prioritising cybersecurity investments that strengthen resilience and recovery capabilities
- Ensuring cyber insurance and financial safeguards support rapid recovery
- Leading cross-functional incident response and financial contingency planning
- Strengthening financial disclosures and stakeholder communication around cyber exposure
12:55 pm - 1:55 pm
Networking Lunch
Economic uncertainty, regulatory change, and ongoing market disruption are placing increasing pressure on finance functions to deliver more accurate, and forward-looking insight. Yet many teams remain constrained by legacy FP&A processes including manual workflows, fragmented data models, and static planning cycles that are no longer suited to a more volatile European environment.
- Reducing data silos across the organisation
- Enabling proactive, forward-looking decisions
- Streamlining enterprise-wide planning processes
2:35 pm - 3:05 pm
AI in Finance Debate: Redeploy Talent or Slash Headcount?
Claudia Brambilla -
CFO Nordics,
Pirelli Tyre Nordic AB
Alexandra Kim - BL CFO, Eurofins
Nataliya Rudenko - Finance Director, Just Eat Takeaway.com
Inbal Orbach - Vice President Global Head of FP&A, Lonza Group AG Basel
As AI becomes embedded across the finance function, CFOs face a fundamental strategic question: is the real value of AI in reducing costs and increasing efficiency, or in redeploying talent to higher-value work?
- Efficiency vs. reinvention: Should AI primarily reduce headcount and operational costs, or enable the redeployment of finance talent into more strategic roles?
- Measuring AI's real impact: How CFOs are assessing productivity gains, process acceleration, and value creation across finance workflows
- Redesigning the finance workforce: What AI means for roles, skills, and team structures as automation increases
3:05 pm - 3:35 pm
PLENARY PRESENTATION: Real-Time Financial Reporting: Is Continuous Accounting Achievable?
The traditional month-end close features persistent bottleneck which delay insights, increasing pressure on teams, and limit the strategic value finance can deliver. Even among top-performing organisations, closing the books often takes 4–5 days, leaving finance leaders with reduced time to guide the business.
- What continuous accounting really means in practice and how it differs from a faster close
- Whether a fully "continuous close" is achievable, or if a hybrid model is more realistic
- The operational, technological, and cultural shifts required to move away from traditional processes
- Practical steps to begin embedding continuous processes without overwhelming your team
3:40 pm - 4:10 pm
Pre-scheduled Business Meetings & Networking
Finance transformation is often described as a technology journey. In reality, it is a much broader organisational change that touches operating models and people capabilities.
- Finance transformation quickly becomes organisational transformation: Changes to processes and systems inevitably require changes to roles, structures, and skills.
- Centralisation alone does not deliver efficiency: Without process standardisation, centres of excellence simply centralise inefficiency.
- Technology must come after process redesign: Automation is only effective once processes are aligned and standardised.
4:50 pm - 5:20 pm
CONFERENCE WIDE DISCUSSION: The Future of GBS & Value Creation in the Age of AI
Inbal Orbach -
Vice President Global Head of FP&A,
Lonza Group AG Basel
Over the past 15–20 years, Global Business Services and outsourced finance models have evolved from cost-saving engines into strategic enablers. However, the landscape is shifting rapidly.
- From Cost Efficiency to Value Creation: Is the traditional GBS model still relevant?
- The Impact of AI on GBS : How AI is reshaping shared services and BPO models
- Location Strategy Revisited : Does it still matter where your shared services are located?
5:25 pm - 6:25 pm
THE WINE AND WHINE CLUB
Leading the charge on finance comes with its fair share of challenges. In this roundtable session, enjoy a glass of wine as you discuss (and whine about!) the trials you are up against and come up with actionable insights that you can bring back with you to the office. Choose the boardroom topic that most aligns with your current priorities and interest and join the discussions!
Finance roles are evolving fast. They are no longer defined by control and reporting alone, but by the ability to influence direction, shape strategy, and create value beyond the numbers.
Finance teams are under pressure to leverage AI, yet adoption remains uneven. Fragmented data, slow close cycles, limited training, and the absence of executive mandates are all barriers preventing AI from becoming a core part of finance operations. As a result, only a minority of organisations have successfully embedded AI into their operating model, creating a widening gap between experimentation and true transformation.
In an environment where certainty is scarce and economic conditions shift quickly, cash has become the most critical strategic asset on a CFO's balance sheet. It's not just about liquidity or survival. Strong cash positions give finance leaders the flexibility to make confident decisions when the future is unclear.
This roundtable will explore how finance leaders can effectively measure their "scorecard" in an environment of rapid transformation and rising strategic expectations. As organisations modernise their finance functions, many still face challenges in defining what good looks like, moving beyond traditional metrics, and ensuring reporting keeps pace with the needs of the business.
As AI rapidly reshapes finance—from predictive modelling to automated decision-making—CFOs are facing a critical challenge: how to harness its power without losing control, accountability, or trust. This interactive roundtable brings together senior finance leaders to explore how organisations are defining effective guardrails, governance frameworks, and human oversight in an increasingly AI-enabled finance function. With AI now embedded across FP&A, forecasting, and decision support, the question is no longer whether to adopt it, but how far it should go and who ultimately owns the outcome. Discussion will focus on where to draw the line between automation and human judgment, how accountability is maintained when AI generates insights, and what "human-in-the-loop" truly looks like in practice.
As the role of the CFO evolves from financial steward to strategic partner, the pressure has intensified. Today's CFO is expected to navigate constant change, support the CEO, lead transformation, manage talent challenges, and embrace AI all while maintaining performance and composure.
