Tropic Expands Executive Leadership with Russell Lester Joining as CFO

Russell brings over two decades of experience across operational leadership and accounting and finance roles, specializing in FP&A and analytics. He has led financial and operational transformation at companies like Intuit, Keap, and most recently Versapay. He also served as Calendly’s CFO during their hyper-growth period where headcount and recurring revenue quadrupled, leading to a $3B+ valuation.

Throughout Tropic’s journey, we’ve had the privilege of working alongside 100s of innovative finance leaders as they look to unlock efficiency gains during a rapidly changing market – our next stage of growth doubles down on that. Russell’s vision that CFOs are strategic business partners and proactive agents of change aligns with how we want to continue to uplevel/impact the finance function and help them become the superheroes of their organizations.

We knew Russell was our guy when we understood his passion for data, which increasingly stands at the epicenter of an evolving CFO role. In his words, “The amount, variety, and complexity of data continues to accelerate for businesses. A CFO’s ability to adeptly navigate the choppy waters of that data to drive action will enable them to transform into a strategic advisor while also helping finance teams more efficiently scan for opportunities to unlock untapped value.” 

Like me, Russell believes that a robust solution married with strong data can help companies not only manage spend more effectively, but proactively deliver accurate and persuasive insights that drive growth and unlock efficiency. As a long-standing advocate for the space and solution that Tropic serves and provides, he understands that finance leaders “have the full opportunity to transform how procurement and spend management operate together.”

With all that in mind, Russell is the right person to help lead us into the next stage of growth. His desire as a CFO to provide proactive insights for the business and serve as a source of input over the intake-to-procure lifecycle is a beacon that all companies should strive for.

When I started Tropic, a critical criteria was building a company that defends and empowers the underdog. I’m thankful that the office of the CFO has been able to take the wheel and ascend over the last few years, in part due to Tropic, but the work isn’t done. 

During our interview, I explained it like this to Russell: “We are the Rebel Alliance taking on the Deathstar,” at which point he slid a wrist-wearing Star Wars watch slowly into view of his camera. Five minutes into our first discussion, I knew we’d found our new CFO. His passion, persistence, and personality matched our passion, persistence, and personality. It couldn’t have been a better fit. Welcome Russell!