Spend Culture: Conversations on Spend Management, Procurement, and Finance Leadership
Procurement doesn’t have to be complex. Spend Culture is the podcast where finance and operations leaders share how they’re transforming the way their organizations manage spend — from purchasing and accounts payable to expenses and payments. Through candid interviews with industry experts, CFOs, and procurement pros, we explore practical strategies, emerging tech like AI, and real-world stories that help you work smarter, not harder. Whether you’re scaling your finance function or fine-tuning your processes, this show will help you simplify spend control and stay ahead of what’s next
Episodes
Candid conversations about what really happens behind the numbers.
In this episode, we sit down with Vikas Kante, Head of Finance at Mitra Chem, for an unfiltered look into the decision-making moments that shape high-growth companies. From navigating complex tradeoffs to aligning strategy across investors, boards, suppliers, and customers, Vikas shares how finance leaders can stay agile without losing control.
We unpack:
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In this Digest edition of Spend Culture, we break down key insights from Procurify’s 2025 Procurement Benchmark Report. Built on $20B+ in real procurement data, this episode explores how organizations can use benchmarking across 11 key KPIs to spot inefficiencies and identify opportunities for optimization.
The KPIs are tied to major procurement objectives like maximizing supplier value, cutting costs, and tracking procurement’s im...
Can charter schools beat budget pressure? In this episode, from Procurement Week for Charter Schools, Raj Thakkar, Founder & CEO at CSBM, shares proven strategies from his Fiscal Responsibility Method to help charter schools tackle financial challenges, optimize spending, and ensure fiscal responsibility. Gain actionable insights from an award-winning financial leader with 20+ years of experience in charter school finance, ...
How are finance leaders preparing for 2025–2026 budgeting? In this episode, from Procurement Week for Charter Schools, school finance leaders share strategies for financial stability, transparency, streamlined operations, and compliance. Get ahead of the curve with insights from experienced leaders on adapting to funding shifts, rethinking staffing models, and navigating the complexities of modern charter school finance.
Discover how real charter school leaders are enhancing their purchasing and accounts payable workflows in this episode from Procurement Week for Charter Schools. Featuring four innovative charter school leaders at the forefront of procurement transformation, you'll hear firsthand how they’ve optimized purchasing workflows, improved budget visibility, and leveraged technology to streamline operations. Learn how to tackle rogue s...
What does smarter school spending look like in action? This episode, from Procurement Week for Charter Schools, explores how AI-powered procurement and AP tools are helping schools cut costs, reduce manual work, and gain control over every dollar—just in time for budgeting season. Listen to learn about Procurify’s latest features, including AI-powered contract management and AP automation, and learn how these tools can help you...
In this episode of Spend Culture Stories, Darrell Cox, CFO at Vena Solutions, explains how technology is bridging the gap between finance and everyone else, why self-created uncertainty can be a boost, and the importance of being a business partner as well as a numbers guy.
In this episode, Anna McGovern, the Chief Supply Chain Officer at Food Bank for New York City and procurement/supply chain influencer shares how procurement can truly have a seat at the executive table as a business partner. Procurement is often seen as a cost-cutting role, but Anna gives specific case studies and examples on how procurement can truly become a value-driver, and how it can influence innovation within organizations b...
Twyla Verhelst joins us to chat about how accounting leaders can adopt an entrepreneurial mindset to their work, and how to elevate themselves to become better business partners to the organizations they work for. In addition, Twyla provides some great tips to deal with change management and automation issues, and how to overcome them.
In this episode, Sam Gupta, the Principal Consultant at ElevatIQ and host of the WBS Rocks podcast joins us to discuss how growing companies can identify whether they are ready for an ERP, and also how to make the best decision on behalf of their organization.
We chat about ERP implementations gone wrong, how to evaluate a solution, and getting the right stakeholders on board to make your tech stack a success.
Pamela Steer, CFO of Payments Canada and CFO of the Year™ award winner for 2019 joins us in this episode to chat about the newest developments in Payments, and also her experiences being a woman finance leader. We chat about how organizations can leverage the newest payment technology to stay competitive in 2021, and how to elevate other women in the finance and accounting sector.
In this episode, Softbank Vision Fund's CFO and Managing Partner Navneet Govil shares his insights on scaling the vision fund's finance team, how he was able to use technology to make finance strategic, and his opinions on how finance leaders can be better business partners.
In addition, he gives a glimpse into how Softbank Vision Fund selects their portfolio companies and how portfolio company CFOs can benefit from being a part of...
In this episode, Evan Wells, the VP BizOps & Financial Services at Jirav shares the biggest challenges organizations face when budgeting in a remote world.
We discuss how finance leaders can make accurate forecasts when we're still in a world of uncertainty, and how Jirav is also navigating the new year as a...
In this episode, Scott Omelianuk, Editor-in-Chief of Inc. joins us to chat about the biggest learnings business owners had from 2020, and strategies on how small-medium businesses can regain momentum for success in a new year.
Scott also shares his lessons as an entrepreneur himself, and how he helped other comp...
In this episode, Pinder Sekhon, the Sr Director of Finance at Vancouver-based company Unbounce shares her experience as a people-first finance leader who made her transition from the more bureaucratic, traditional industries to the agile, fast-paced culture at Unbounce. She shares how to build a proactive spend culture using technology, and how finance leaders can balance control with trust in fast-scaling organizations.
Shouvik Roy, the CFO of Drop joined the company during the 2020 pandemic, having to adapt to a new team and environment while being completely remote. As a seasoned financial executive in the fintech sector, Shouvik discusses the challenges in tech startups during downturns, as well as the CFO's role in setting vision, strategy, and fundraising in 2021
In this episode, Jenny Bloom, the Chief Financial Officer at Zapier shares her learnings as a seasoned finance executive at multiple fast-growing tech companies. She chats with us about how to support team members during remote work, how Zapier has adapted throughout the downturn, and their plans for growth in 2021.
Wajdi Goussoub, the Director of Finance at Plooto gets honest about the changes and sacrifices made during the pandemic, and how he built a successful spend processes that empowers the individual team members within the company. Wajdi also draws to his prior experience as a VC and identifies what makes successful startups stand out from the rest.
In this episode, Jim Kelliher, the CFO at Drift shares how Drift became the fastest growing tech company in Boston, and how they navigated strategic challenges during a downturn by being customer-centric, trusting the team, and investing in the right processes and people.
In addition, Jim shares his advice on IPO best practices from his previous CFO roles, and what a fina...
In this episode, Kingsley Chan, Director of Finance at Finn Ai shares his insights on what makes a forward-thinking, strategic finance leader, and why being informed, connected, and humble and keys to success. In addition, he shares his remote work tips on how Finn Ai was able to adapt with agility to the downturn.
Speakers: Kingsley Chan, ...
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