Agile Bottom Line: The Spreadsheet Stories Episode #2

We are continuing our conversation with Nevine White, Senior VP of Finance at Greater Technology Together and a member of the Beyond Budgeting Round Table. Nevine has spent nearly two decades guiding organizations through the shift from rigid annual budgets to adaptive, rolling financial frameworks that enable true business agility.

In this episode, Nevine explains how she executed the shift to rolling forecasting. She details the initial varied reactions, the creation of a robust training program, and the integration of finance teams into regional operations for real-time decision-making. Nevine also elaborates on gamification strategies, overcoming executive resistance, and the importance of continuous learning and communication. Highlighting her experience of guiding executive leadership through this transition, she emphasizes the role of proactive coaching and effective upward management.

• 00:00 Introduction to Agile Tales
• 01:57 Transitioning from Traditional Budgeting to Agile Financial Planning
• 02:24 Implementing Rolling Forecasting: The First Steps
• 03:14 Training and Engaging the Organization
• 06:27 Challenges and Emotional Impact
• 08:14 Burning Platform Conversations
• 11:19 Embedding Finance in the Regions
• 14:38 Building a Collaborative Learning Environment
• 19:00 Executive Leadership Buy-In and Coaching
• 26:13 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Nevine's insights highlight that there’s no one-size-fits-all playbook for financial agility. Instead, transformation requires experimentation, iteration, and courage to question the sacred cows of yearly budgets. Her experiences demonstrate how finance - often seen as the last function to change - can become a catalyst for business agility, resilience, and innovation.

About Nevine White:
Beginning her 35-year career in telecom engineering, Nevine moved on to leading the FP&A function for TW Telecom for two decades. There she championed powerful changes in financial planning that enabled an agile and effective management structure by eliminating traditional budgets. After the sale of the company, Nevine continued this work with Live Future Ready, leveraging her experience to support organizations in their financial transformation efforts across various industries. In 2019, Nevine joined Hargray Communications Group as the VP Accounting, before taking on building the Finance and Administrative functions for a broadband start-up. She is currently the Senior Vice President of Finance at Greater Technology Together, a leading network and security as a service firm. 

Recognized for her experience in finance agility and building effective teams, she has been featured at conferences and on podcasts, and enjoys sharing her learnings and experiences with all who are seeking to meaningfully change and enable their teams. 

You can follow Nevine on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nevinewhite/

Podcast music courtesy of www.purple-planet.com

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