In this issue
FEISV Chapter Newsletter | October 02, 2026 
Celebrating 50 Years of FEI Silicon Valley!
2026 marks FEI Silicon Valley’s 50th Anniversary! We’re excited to celebrate this incredible milestone with our Members, Partners, and friends throughout the year.
The celebration will culminate in April with a special 50th Anniversary Casino Night, and we’re making it a night to share — significant others are invited! More details will be coming soon.
But we’re not waiting until April to start celebrating! At each Keynote event leading up to our anniversary celebration, we’ll hold a special 50th Anniversary Raffle, with one lucky attendee taking home a $50 bottle of wine.
50 years of connections, leadership, and community — and plenty to celebrate!
FEI Silicon Valley Events
10/20 - Pre-PD: AI and Compliance for Finance Leaders
10/20 - Keynote: How Finance Leaders Can Harness AI Without Losing Control
11/18 - Annual Women CFOs of the Year Awards
12/09 - Annual President's Party
04/27 - FEI Silicon Valley 50th Anniversary Celebration: Casino Night - Save the Date!
Partners & Other Chapter Events
10/06- 4 Financial Modeling Fundamentals for Quality Outputs in Age of AI (Virtual) | Ramp
10/07 - Beyond SAP BPC: Rethinking Finance for the AI Era (Virtual) | FEI
10/08 - From Information to Intelligence: New Disclosure Signals and How Finance & Legal Leaders Are Putting AI to Work (Virtual) | FEI
10/08 - Strategic Financial Leadership for the Modern Creative Economy (Virtual) | FEI
10/13 - Private Company Roundtable (Virtual) | FEI
10/14 - Introduction to the Accounts Payable AI (Virtual) | FEI
10/15 - Beyond Spreadsheets: Building an Audit-Ready Fixed Asset Process for Complex Lifecycles (Virtual) | FEI
10/15 - Financial Scenario Planning: How to Prepare for Disruption and Make Faster Decisions (Virtual) | FEI
10/22 - Is Your Budgeting and Forecasting Software Built for Where You’re Going — or Just Where You’ve Been? (Virtual) | FEI
10/26 - Private Company Roundtable (Virtual) | FEI
10/28 - 10/29 - AI Update and Use Cases Conference (Virtual) | FEI
11/10 - 2026 Corporate Financial Reporting Insights (CFRI) Conference (Virtual) | FEI
Latest Trends in FEI
Not all "AI" in finance is the same. Do you know which kind you're using?
Rule-based testing, machine-learning anomaly detection, and generative AI each play a different role in compliance. Each also has its own limits. Before the October Keynote, this Pre-Keynote session helps finance and audit leaders tell them apart and match the right tool to the right job.
Alejandro Rodriguez of AIVER brings a background in digital forensics, data integrity, and internal audit investigations. Neil Chua of SOAProjects has spent nearly three decades advising on ERP systems and controls. His experience includes PwC, KPMG, and Dolby Laboratories. Manpreet Grover, SOAProjects' Managing Partner and CEO and a Past President of FEI Silicon Valley, will moderate and take audience questions.
You will leave able to:
- Identify where each type of AI supports compliance, and where it falls short.
- Judge whether your NetSuite data, access, and workflows are ready.
- Describe the controls that keep AI-assisted work defensible: validation, privacy, documented review, and escalation.
Come early, sharpen your questions, and join the conversation with peers.
Pre-PD: AI and Compliance for Finance Leaders will be held at Pillsbury in Palo Alto on Tuesday, October 20th, from 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm Pacific.
FEISV Members & Partners: Free | Other FEI Members: $50 | Registration: Here
From Rearview Reporting to Real-time Strategy
Join us for the October Keynote: How Finance Leaders Can Harness AI Without Losing Control, featuring Gargi Ray.
Gargi Ray has spent 25 years in high-stakes finance. She helped guide Infosys from $1B to more than $15B, served as CFO of Infosys Consulting, and now leads Revenue FP&A, GTM Finance, and Order-to-Cash at Synopsys. She is also helping steer the financial integration of Synopsys' $35B acquisition of Ansys.
Now she is applying that experience to a different question: how does finance become an AI-driven engine for real-time strategy, rather than a function that reports on the past? Gargi has built production-ready AI capabilities, and she will share what she learned along the way.
Jan Robertson, Managing Partner and CFO of SiVal Advisors and the 2025 Financial Executives Distinguished Service Award recipient, will moderate. Expect an interactive session with slides and dedicated time for your questions.
Come hear a finance executive who has done the work, and bring your own questions for her!
Keynote: How Finance Leaders Can Harness AI Without Losing Control will be held at Pillsbury in Palo Alto on Tuesday, October 20th, from 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm Pacific.
FEISV Members & Partners, and FEI SF Members: Free | Non-Members: $135 | Registration: Here
Nominate Yourself or Another Deserving Woman CFO
Hard work deserves to be seen. Put your name forward, or someone else's.
Strong CFOs often spend their careers making other people look good. They steady the numbers, guide the hard decisions, and mentor the people coming up behind them. Recognition tends to come last, if it comes at all.
Nominations are now open for the 4th Annual Women CFOs of the Year Awards, and you have a say in who gets the spotlight. You can nominate yourself. You can nominate a colleague, a mentor, or a leader you have watched make a difference. Either way, you decide whose story gets told.
Honorees will be recognized in five categories:
- Public Company CFOs at organizations with a market capitalization of $1 billion or more
- Public Company CFOs at organizations with a market capitalization below $1 billion
- Private Company CFOs at organizations with revenue of $50 million or more
- Private Company CFOs at organizations with revenue below $50 million
- Non-Profit Organization CFOs
Think of the woman who steered a company through change, helped a growing business scale with discipline, or advanced a mission when resources were tight. Her work shaped strategy, strengthened her organization, and inspired others in accounting and finance.
Now it is your chance to make sure that work is recognized...even if that woman is you!
Fill out the nomination form here. Submit nominations by the end of the day on October 30, 2026.
Don't wait for someone else to speak up. Nominate yourself or the leader who deserves it.
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
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
Financial Executives International Launches Media Finance Section
FEI has officially opened its Media Finance Section, the association's first industry-specific section and the new home for the members, programming, and peer networks of the Media Financial Management Association (MFM).
The Section gives financial leaders in media and entertainment a permanent place inside one of the longest-standing communities of senior-level corporate financial executives, and it gives that community a direct line into an industry that is rewriting how subscription, advertising, and content revenue is earned, valued and reported.
Following MFM members' vote to approve the merger, approximately 1,200 business and financial executives across broadcast, cable, publishing, streaming, and digital media now have full FEI Membership, access to our local Chapter network, and continued access to the Financial Leaders Forum, the Executive Summit, and media-specific education.
Learn more. Read Financial Executives International Launches Media Finance Section.
Read The Roles You Can’t Risk Leaving Vacant: Why Compensation and Benefits Openings Can Hurt You
If your compensation analyst or benefits specialist gave notice tomorrow, how quickly could you replace them? And perhaps more importantly, what happens to all the decisions they help make while that seat is vacant?
Those are questions more employers should be asking. Our Partners at Robert Half continue to see clients across industries and geographies looking for skilled compensation and benefits professionals.
Robert Half research backs that up. Demand for benefits/compensation managers remains strong, and 59% of HR leaders say finding the skilled talent they need is more challenging than it was a year ago. That's a tough combination, especially when an opening comes unexpectedly.
Learn more. Read The Roles You Can’t Risk Leaving Vacant: Why Compensation and Benefits Openings Can Hurt You via our Platinum Partners at Robert Half.
FEISV Member of the Week
Linda Diaz is a Controller who specializes in compliance and driving financial integrity. Previous roles include Controller at Golden Valley Industries and Duane Martin Livestock. In addition, Lisa served as a Staff Accountant for Brown Armstrong Certified Public Accountants and Visionary Home Builders.
Linda attended Highline College and earned an Associate of Arts in Accounting. She graduated from California State University, Stanislaus with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.
FEISV Partner of the Week
Robert Half is the world's first and largest specialized talent solutions firm that connects opportunities at great companies with highly skilled job seekers.
They offer contract, temporary, and permanent placement solutions for finance and accounting, technology, marketing, and creative, legal, administrative, and customer support roles.
Specifically for their finance and accounting specialization, Robert Half provides companies with an alternative to the traditional consulting firm approach and helps them succeed through a variety of financial talent and project consulting solutions. Whether it's one person or an entire project team, Robert Half has a large network of seasoned professionals with experience in finance, accounting, and business systems who are available to step in immediately.
Named to Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies and 100 Best Companies to Work For® lists and a Forbes Best Employer for Diversity, Robert Half is the parent company of Protiviti®, a global consulting firm that provides internal audit, risk, business, and technology consulting solutions.
Explore their talent solutions, research, and insights at RobertHalf.com.
CONTACTS:
Jeremy Cole, Client Solutions Director
Phone: 950.292.0431
Email: [email protected]
Rob Bonner, Senior Client Solutions Director
Phone: 415.805.9019
Email: [email protected]
Syed Hussain, Director of Permanent Placement Services
Phone: 650.292.0232
Email: [email protected]
Stephen Hilton, SVP Corp Controller & Treasurer
Phone: 925.913.2638
Email: [email protected]
Special Thanks to Our Strategic Partners
Marquee Partners
Platinum Partners
Gold Partners
Silver Partners
