What was a big jump for you?

I mean, it's not without a lot of challenge along the way, but instead of all the education that I had, I just... just started playing music and figuring out how can I make a living playing music, which was proved really, really hard to do.

But I recorded an album of songs that were written by Sarah.

I started a pediatric cancer foundation in her honor to see if I made any money playing music.

I would want some of it to go back to find a cure for other young people like her.

And I went to her family and said, I want to do this.

And we did it together.

Like what's the best way to find Brad and what's the best way to find re-imagine and like,

What was the moment that made you decide that grief and mortality needed their own platform and, and basically their own conversation?

I feel like it was honestly many, many years ago, near the time of 9/11.

I had been playing music at the time for people that ha- someone that had passed away in my life.

I sat by my friend Sarah's bedside.

Um, this is what kind of got me started i- i- in that vein, and, um, it was so healing for me and, and after, and for Sarah.

And after she, she passed away, I launched a pediatric cancer foundation and started writing songs for other young people that had been diagnosed, um, with cancer.

And sometimes I would be invited to their funerals at, to reprise a song that I had written for one of these bright, shining, young spirits while they were alive.

Can you, um, tell me about her and how she became a part of the Reimagine community?

What is a great CFO today to how do they contribute? When you think about operating at the top of their business as a CFO, what does that look like?

Yeah, I, I think, you know, it's, it's, it's the same as it, it's been in the past.

It's just, it just accelerated.

You know, a, a, a great CFO is, is strategic and he's on the front end.

Y- you know, difference between being a controller and being a CFO is, is a CFO is a business partner to the CEO, to the board, uh, on the front end, looking into the future and saying, you know, "What if?" Uh, w- you know, six months, 18 months, 36 months from now, five years from now, based on a wide variety of variables, what are the possibilities and how should we set up our capital structure? How should we do our, our capital allocations to take advantage of opportunities and avoid risks? That's, that's been the job for a long, long time.

It-- the speed at which you have to, uh, be involved now, it, it used to be that, you know, transactions moved more slowly, uh, uh, et cetera.

Now AI is making it to where everything is almost, is gonna be real time, which means your CFO has to be on the front end, has to be involved in the, uh, architecting of the data, uh, data accuracy, data integrity, has to set up the controls.

And when you talk to CEOs, how do you talk to them about thinking about the financial function in the business, the CFO role? How much of it is FP&A versus just getting the books closed correctly, getting accurate advice? How do you, how do you think about advising CEOs on hiring CFOs?

What is a great CFO today to how do they contribute? When you think about operating at the top of their business as a CFO, what does that look like?

Yeah, I, I think, you know, it's, it's, it's the same as it, it's been in the past.

It's just, it just accelerated.

You know, a, a, a great CFO is, is strategic and he's on the front end.

Y- you know, difference between being a controller and being a CFO is, is a CFO is a business partner to the CEO, to the board, uh, on the front end, looking into the future and saying, you know, "What if?" Uh, w- you know, six months, 18 months, 36 months from now, five years from now, based on a wide variety of variables, what are the possibilities and how should we set up our capital structure? How should we do our, our capital allocations to take advantage of opportunities and avoid risks? That's, [lip smacks] that's been the job for a long, long time.

It-- the speed at which you have to, uh, be involved now, it, it used to be that, you know, transactions moved more slowly, um, uh, et cetera.

Now AI is making it to where everything is almost, is gonna be real time, which means your CFO has to be on the front end, has to be involved in the, uh, architecting of the data, uh, data accuracy, data integrity, has to set up the controls.

And when you talk to CEOs, how do you talk to them about thinking about the financial function in the business, the CFO role? How much of it is FP&A versus just getting the books closed correctly, getting accurate advice? How do you, how do you think about advising CEOs on hiring CFOs?

Like, why would we do this? And one of the things I was going to say in my intro, and I kind of skipped over, but so much of your work now is guided by this question, why wait? And I think that this is all, I can see how it stemmed from you as a young child, right? As someone learning these stories.

Yeah, I wrote a song called Why Wait based on, I'll share the quick backstory here.

But for my whole life, I wanted to record my grandmother's story.

um because she she didn't wait to show kindness amidst all this suffering and here i was one i wanted to record her story but then her her hearing uh disappeared and i was unable to to record her her story i was about to launch reimagine which was an organization focused on helping people transform pain into beautiful, beautiful things.

Somehow I had this premonition.

I started thinking, I wonder, you know, I had gotten wind, Steven Spielberg did this large-scale survey of Holocaust survivors and after Schindler's List, and I think even before, conducted all these interviews.

And I never really knew about this project, but I got wind of it, and then I decided to reach out.

Like, I like this idea that there really is science behind it and not just emotion.