In this issue
FEISV Chapter Newsletter | August 21, 2026 
FEI Silicon Valley Events
09/15 - Pre Dinner: The CFO’s Next Chapter: Leading Through Growth, Capital and Change
09/15 - AI: Hype or Reality? A CIO's Perspective on the Future of the Enterprise and the Office of the CFO
09/25 - Financial Officers Forum (FOF) (Virtual)
09/29 - People, Payroll, and Profitability: What Every Finance Leader Needs to Know Before a Transaction, System Change, or Hyper-Growth Event
10/20 - Monthly Speaker Event - Save the Date!
11/18 - Annual Women CFOs of the Year Awards
12/09 - Annual President's Party
Partners & Other Chapter Events
08/25 - Close the AI Trust Deficit: Aligning the C-Suite on Data Strategy (Virtual) | FEI
08/25 - Ready or Not: Gain the AI Advantage for Mission Impact | Armanino LLP
09/09 - ICONS: Women of Note (Hybrid Event) | FEI
09/24- How to Improve Financial Forecast Accuracy When Business Conditions Keep Changing (Virtual) | FEI
09/14 - Q3 2026 Quarterly Accounting Webcast (Virtual) | PwC
09/30 - Global Finance Trends Survey (Virtual) | FEI
10/13 - Private Company Roundtable (Virtual) | FEI
10/15 - Financial Scenario Planning: How to Prepare for Disruption and Make Faster Decisions (Virtual) | FEI
10/28 - 10/29 - AI Update and Use Cases Conference (Virtual) | FEI
Latest Trends in FEI
Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Topgolf Social! It is always a great time to play Topgolf, and it was even better to connect with fellow FEI Silicon Valley Members and Partners. Your presence, enthusiasm, and support made the evening especially memorable, and we truly appreciate you coming out.
We have many more exciting events coming up on the FEI Silicon Valley calendar, with more opportunities to connect, learn, and have fun together. Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest news, event announcements, and updates.
AI Without Compromise: Executive Strategies for High-Stakes Work
Agentic AI is moving from concept to reality faster than most organizations are ready for. Gartner predicts that, by 2029, at least 50% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI. The organizations building toward that now will operate faster, at greater scale, and establish greater competitive advantage. That's why FEI is hosting AI Without Compromise: Executive Strategies for High-Stakes Work.
But most AI hasn’t been built for work that needs to hold up under scrutiny. Finance, risk, and sustainability leaders need agents and AI that they can stake their reputation on.
Join experts for a candid discussion with a panel of Workiva executives to learn more about Workiva’s vision for agentic AI and how we’re enabling our customers to achieve traceable outputs, governed actions, and defensible outcomes.
AI Without Compromise: Executive Strategies for High-Stakes Work will be held virtually on Tuesday, August 25th, from 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Pacific.
FEISV Members & Partners, and Other FEI Members: Free | Registration: Here
Select Sponsorship Opportunities: 4th Annual Women CFOs of the Year Awards
The 4th Annual Women CFOs of the Year Awards will take place on November 18 at Green Hills Golf & Country Club, bringing together an exceptional community of leaders who are shaping the future of finance.
This event is a platform to recognize and elevate women who are driving innovation, strengthening organizations, and inspiring the next generation of financial leadership. Their impact extends far beyond their roles, influencing industries, workplaces, and communities.
Sponsoring this event is a meaningful opportunity for your organization to align with that impact. It positions your brand alongside excellence, leadership, and progress in the accounting and finance space. More importantly, it demonstrates a clear commitment to supporting and advancing women in executive roles—something that resonates with clients, partners, and employees alike.
With a range of sponsorship options available (some with limited availability), now is the time to secure your place and ensure your organization is part of this important evening.
To explore and claim sponsorship opportunities, please download the sponsorship form attached to this email.
4th Annual Woman CFO of the Year Awards Dinner will be held at the Green Hills Golf & Country Club on Wednesday, November 18th, from 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm Pacific.
FEISV Members & Partners: Free | Non-Members: $275 | Registration: Here
Why B2B Payments Resist Optimization and What Changes When AI Enters the Decision
Every business-to-business payment involves conflicting incentives. The payer wants to hold cash as long as possible, preserving working capital and the value of float. The payee wants the cash as soon as possible for the same reason. Both are trying to do the same thing: optimize their own cash and working capital, from opposite perspectives. When the payment is made, the tension is resolved.
This resolution is rarely reached on merit. It is reached by default — whatever method happens to be on file, executed whenever someone gets to the invoice. The disagreement is real and has real economic content, but the benefit of optimizing on a single invoice is small, and the complexity involved can be significant. So the problem gets settled instead of solved.
Learn more. Read Why B2B Payments Resist Optimization and What Changes When AI Enters the Decision via FEI Daily.
AI Beyond the Hype: What It Means for Finance Leaders
Artificial intelligence dominates boardroom conversations, but separating meaningful transformation from inflated expectations remains a challenge for finance and technology leaders alike.
Join us for a candid discussion on how today’s CIOs are evaluating, adopting, and operationalizing AI across large organizations and what those changes mean for the modern finance function. This session moves beyond the buzzwords to explore where AI is producing measurable value, where the technology is still maturing, and how CIOs and CFOs can partner to harness it responsibly.
From automating close and reporting cycles to strengthening controls, forecasting, compliance, and decision support, we’ll examine the practical realities of enterprise-scale AI adoption. Attendees will gain insight into how CIOs are prioritizing AI investments, separating durable value from short-lived hype, and navigating the governance, data quality, and security considerations that responsible deployment requires.
Whether you are an early adopter or a thoughtful skeptic, this conversation will help you cut through the noise and better understand how finance and technology leaders can align AI ambition with meaningful operational results.
AI: Hype or Reality? A CIO's Perspective on the Future of the Enterprise and the Office of the CFO will be held at Pillsbury in Palo Alto on Tuesday, September 15th, from 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm Pacific.
FEISV Members & Partners: Free | Other FEI Members: $135 | Registration: Here
Help Reduce Cybersecurity Risk with Robust Supply Chain Due Diligence
Help Reduce Cybersecurity Risk with Robust Supply Chain Due Diligence
IT and finance professionals, how well do you know your company’s vendors? It’s not an easy question to answer.
Most companies interface with hundreds (even thousands) of third-party organizations and independent contractors each year. These can be temporary staff working onsite during peak seasons.
Payroll services firms that streamline employee compensation. Cloud and SaaS platforms that facilitate customer orders. Managed services providers monitoring critical networks for uptime. The vendor list at most organizations is long and varied.
What these outside entities have in common is some level of access to your facilities, your systems, and even your proprietary data.
That necessary interconnectivity is why supply chain due diligence is now an essential component of modern cybersecurity. An attack can originate at a vendor, then cascade through connected organizations.
One in three data breaches now involves a third party. Protecting your company means ensuring external vendors and contractors apply the same level of vigilance as your own company.
Learn more. Read Help Reduce Cybersecurity Risk with Robust Supply Chain Due Diligence via our Platinum Partners at Wells Fargo.
FEISV Member of the Week
Howard Wilson is CFO and Strategic Advisor at PagerDuty, working in various roles throughout the organization. Previous experience includes Chief Commercial Officer, EVP at Keynote Sessions, SVP-Field Operations at Ventyx, and VP, Sales at Oracle Corporation, among prominent roles in other organizations.
Howard graduated from the University of South Africa with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Information Systems. He also studied Diametric, Computer Science.
FEISV Partner of the Week
Wells Fargo Commercial Banking serves the diverse financial needs of companies and institutions. They provide credit, treasury management, and commercial capital solutions, ranking #1 in the primary relationship market share in the US for the middle market* and #2 in the primary relationship market share in the US for the emerging middle market.*
Wells Fargo Commercial Banking brings together the benefits of exceptional relationship management, extensive industry experience, and comprehensive financial services offerings. Their teams pride themselves in working in a collaborative fashion, developing long-term client relationships that can endure the cycles of the business, industry, and the economy.
As part of Commercial Banking, their specialized Technology Banking group delivers a complete range of capital, advisory, risk management, and operating solutions tailored to scale through all stages of the technology life cycle. The group supports a growing portfolio of clients in the Software, Fintech, Internet and Digital, Hardware, and Sustainable technology sectors within the Bay Area and across the US. The depth and breadth of industry knowledge and experience allow the specialized group to provide strategic and balanced guidance in addition to operational and capital support.
*Barlow Research – rolling 8 quarter data (Q3 2021 – Q2 2023); Middle Market defined as $75 million -
CONTACT:
Armello Rodriguez
Vice President, Business Development – Technology Banking Group
400 Hamilton Ave., Suite 210
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Phone 650-847-0578 | [email protected]
Special Thanks to Our Strategic Partners
Marquee Partners
Platinum Partners
Gold Partners
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