Building Teams, Driving Enterprise Value, and Leading Through Transformation: With CFO Kari Dixon

In this episode of Building People, Companies and Careers, AccruePartners' Amy Pack sits down with Kari Dixon, CFO of MCA. Over 15 years, Amy has watched Kari's career grow across many of Accrue's clients — from public accounting at PwC to leadership roles across private equity-held portfolio companies, a stint as a CEO, and multiple first-time-CFO leaps. In a wide-ranging conversation, Kari shares how she thinks about value creation, building finance teams, adopting AI, and where the CFO role is headed next.

Amy: The role of the CFO is changing immensely — regulation, compliance, technology. Identifying talent is key to moving organizations forward. But I always like to start with the classic interview question: tell me about yourself.

Kari: I'm Kari Dixon, CFO of MCA. I've had a wonderful career — really a series of running toward the right fires and figuring it out — surrounded by wonderful mentors and champions along the way. I started very traditionally at PwC, in the Baltimore office, where I was first introduced to private equity, portfolio companies, and large publicly traded organizations. Most importantly, it's where I met my husband, Ryan — the best thing that ever happened to me. We moved to Charlotte with PwC, and after that I spent my career predominantly in private equity-held portfolio businesses, focused on transformation, value creation, and M&A roll-ups. I even did a stint as a CEO, which was a wild ride.

Amy: I didn't realize your time at PwC was focused on PE-backed companies. That really explains the foundation of your journey.

Kari: It did. It was a great way to start a career, especially graduating during the recession. A lot of us were fortunate to have jobs whose start dates didn't get delayed. There was a company that had gone private — a KKR-held portfolio business that went from public to private and ran an M&A roll-up strategy. I had a wonderful mentor there, Andy Schulman, who pulled me along. It was really great.

Amy: What have been some of the defining moments that shaped how you operate as a CFO today?

Kari: It goes back to running toward fires. Over a career, you develop an innate sense of which fires to run toward and which to run away from — and you learn from both. A great experience was being at a business called Form Technologies, where I had an amazing mentor, Keith Wideman. The chance to grow, learn, try something new, and take chances on myself while he was taking chances on me was formative.

When I left there, I did something I'd never done. I'd been in PE portfolio businesses almost my whole career, and I moved to a publicly traded company focused on M&A. Midway through, our FP&A leader and investor relations leader both left, and the CFO asked me to take on both roles — at the same time. I said yes.

Building a career is a series of taking chances on yourself, but only when you'll get something out of it. What professional growth, what skills, what experiences — good and bad — will you be exposed to? And do you have someone who has your back?

When I left to become a CFO for the first time, I joined a business that was going public. We did all the work — S-1s ready, bankers involved, a team built — during the SPAC craze. Then the capital markets started to backslide. The CEO who recruited me sat me down, said he was leaving for private equity, and told me I should take his job. I took the chance. It was an absolute wild ride — you go from leading finance teams to leading operations, sales and marketing, HR, legal and compliance, board management, and investor management. Those were some of the toughest times, but growth in your career is like growing muscle at the gym. It hurts. It takes dedication and consistency.

Amy: There's an art to building a career, but some people expect others to build it for them rather than seeking it out. You had someone take a chance on you, and you've clearly done the same for others. What makes a leader able to do that?

Kari: It's something you can grow and be taught, and it starts with picking the right bosses and the right mentors. When you interview with me, I'll interview you harder than you interview me — and it should be that way. It's a huge commitment; at a minimum you're investing a year of your life in a new adventure. So surround yourself with the right people.

About five or six years ago I read Extreme Ownership, written by two Navy SEALs who translated the leadership principles they taught in the SEAL program into how you manage a team. I tell everyone about it now. I don't look like the typical reader — I don't do jujitsu — but the principles are so clear in a team environment: mission clarity, so we're all aligned on what success looks like; decentralized command, so everyone understands success and I don't need to be in the room for great decisions to get made; and being a force multiplier. We actually have the principles of Extreme Ownership hanging on our office wall, and they translate well to home life too.

You have to be genuine about it. People can sniff out when you don't really care about their career or development, so you need to walk the walk. I've built wonderful teams, and what's wonderful is that they go on to build their own teams. You create a strong bench, they prove it, and then you ask, "What do you want to do next — here or somewhere else?" These become 20-, 30-, 40-year relationships. My goal is to leave behind a flow of potential CFOs, COOs, and CEOs. That's what I want my legacy to be.

Amy: CFOs in private equity sit at the center of growth, capital allocation, and execution. How do you define the CFO role in an organization like MCA — going through many acquisitions and PE-backed growth?

Kari: At its core, the CFO role is about value creation, and that's consistent from private equity to publicly traded organizations.

Number one is complete alignment with your investors. In PE, that's your deal team: What was their deal model? Why did they invest in the platform? What do they think growth rates and the five-year plan look like? They can be one of your best allies. It's a true, two-way partnership — you learn from them, and you sometimes re-explain the business to them as it evolves, helping them stay excited about the platform.

The next piece is talent — even in this AI world. Nothing beats talent. At the end of the day it's about people, process, technology, and now data. I call it my "nine block" — a three-by-three, very linear, a very accounting way to think about it. In PE businesses you always start with stability across people, process, and technology, because without stability nothing gets done. Then you simplify — most PE organizations are the product of roll-ups where you're putting 55-plus businesses onto the same platform, so keep it simple. At the higher end, it's about enabling growth across all of it, including data. Good luck going into an exit process without complete mastery of your data.

Finally, you're a business partner. A business is like the human body, and finance is the connective tissue — the one function with a reason to connect with every other function. The real magic that drives enterprise value happens when you sync priorities and initiatives across functions and reflect that back into the deal model. On a highly acquisitive platform, I borrow words from my CEO, Vince Foody: it's about being "better together." Why are these businesses better together? And M&A is about building stronger teams faster. Pull those into your vision, and you will drive enterprise value.

Amy: Where do CFOs get it wrong most often? What are the top three?

Kari: I've made these mistakes myself, so the list comes from experience.

1. Number one is confusing your ERP and tech stack with business process. Everyone believes that if you just get everyone on the same ERP and perfect the technology stack, that's the secret sauce. Some of that is true — up to a point — and then you hit a brick wall of business process. In a PE roll-up you'll have 55 different ways of doing things, so you can't lose sight of process. The best outcomes come when technology and process go hand in hand, with a strong business partner on the other side: "I'll get you this far with technology, but we need to work together to harmonize our business processes."
2. The second mistake is forgetting that the foundation has to be right. Don't chase shiny objects if your foundation isn't solid — and that foundation is a strong accounting team and controllership, with bench built in as you grow through acquisition or as people move into new opportunities. 
3. Third, you have to be able to call your business — top line and bottom line. It doesn't matter whether you're public or private. Public companies have a 90-day shot clock; private companies have a 30-day shot clock, and your sponsors have access to everything. Being able to call your numbers is credibility. It comes from understanding how the business makes money, knowing how to signal when it's going to make more, and looking around the corner to flag a risk before it arrives.

Amy: One of your three pillars is talent. Talent in accounting and finance has been a challenge for years. What do you look for when building your finance teams?

Kari: This has evolved a bit over time, but there are three things I won't compromise on.

Number one is grit. Nothing beats grit, and nothing ever will. Number two is bedside manner. In finance you need to get business intelligence out of your partners, and no one tells you anything if they don't enjoy working with you or if they think it'll come back to bite them. The message has to be, "I'm here to help you — not to indict you or point out where you're going wrong." Number three is honesty — and not just telling the truth or upholding our professional ethics, but saying the hard truth when nobody else wants to.

Amy: Being the unpopular voice in the room.

Kari: Exactly, and it can be a lonely place. I've learned it's not "I told you so," it's "I didn't tell you enough" — both from being the person who should have said more, and from having people who should have told me more, because I would have made a different decision. Everything else is a skill. Finance isn't that complicated; we can teach almost anyone. But I don't know that you can teach grit. I think you either have it or you don't.

Amy: We say the same thing at AccruePartners — you either have it or you don't. And you wonder what was instilled early on; they say it's those formative years.

Kari: I wish I had the answer — I have a six-year-old and an eight-year-old. As a parent you want your kids to be safe, healthy, good human beings who work hard. Do I want them to have the same experiences that gave me grit? I don't know. Do I want them to have experiences that will give them grit? Absolutely — because that will get them through anything.

Amy: Grit shows up differently across professions. You came up through public accounting — that grit is long hours and marking it done. That's probably the number one challenge when we talk to clients about identifying talent: finding people with the grit and curiosity to advance their careers and the business.

Kari: You can often sniff it out in an interview. The first thing I ask is, "Tell me about you as a person" — we'll get to your career later. Where people choose to start is always so interesting, and you learn a lot from how they talk about their family. It's the most important thing when you're hiring. You can keep a veneer up for an hour, so what you're really trying to figure out is how someone reacts when something goes sideways — because it will. Are you going to be resilient? Are you going to be my partner? Will you come to me and say, "This went sideways, here's how I think we should fix it — what do you think?"

Amy: When you ask that question, it's a completely open platform. We coach our candidates to be prepared for it — there's no right or wrong answer, but you want to address it well, because people want to know who they're hiring. You're getting the whole person.

Kari: That's right.

Amy: Let's talk about technology and AI as an enabler. It's becoming increasingly important in the finance function. How do you think about leveraging these tools to drive better decisions and efficiency?

Kari: In finance — information systems, FP&A — you're using and transforming data to get insights, then sitting down with business partners to guide decisions or flag that a decision is coming. AI should change where the thinking happens, or where the work happens. Take things that are repeatable and consistent and let AI handle those.

I'm not a proponent of eliminating jobs with AI. I'd rather take the people I have, use AI to take things off their plate, and ask, "What else do you want to do? How do we use your talent to drive the performance of the business?"

This reminds me of offshoring 10 or 12 years ago, when everyone rushed to offshore everything. Make sure the business process you're trying to "AI away" is locked down first, because there's no substitute for that. If you offshore a poor business process, you get poor results — and if you AI away a poor business process, you'll absolutely get a poor result.

The other open question is ROI. I've been asking my network and consultants whether anyone has figured out the ROI model. The word is "tokens" — how many tokens is this agent using, and are we getting a return? Have we replaced head count, or is this just a cool tool we're using right now? We're at the very early stages as a profession. Someone — maybe at one of the breakfasts you all hosted — compared it to the early internet: you either engage or you don't. I think you have to engage with AI and use it in your business, but be thoughtful, because it can get expensive very quickly.

Amy: Are you at a point of measuring AI adoption? We hear there's a lack of adoption, and it creates a big change-management challenge. At AccruePartners we talk about adoption daily and weekly.

Kari: Yes. In each function you'll have a few people who are excited about AI, some who worry it will take their jobs, and a bunch in between. We're taking the people who are excited in each function and pulling together an AI council. It's almost like a CapEx approach — for my fellow CFOs and controllers, you should already have a robust process for spending on CapEx, with a bubbling-up of what you need it for, the ROI, and whether everyone's aligned. We use that as a funnel: Where can we use AI? What should the technology of choice be? Should we build an agent, or is this a one-time thing? And what's the return? I'm not saying it's the right way — it's the way we're doing it right now.

I'm in a service business, so this won't replace our frontline team; they're critical. For us it's about enabling the back office to work on more complex things, bring their perspective on business-process improvements, help integrate new acquisitions, and build bench strength.

Amy: Every article asks where AI sits on your org chart — like we'll all have an agent with an ID name.

Kari: Right — do we do a performance evaluation? What do I do with these "people"?

Amy: It's come a long way in a year. What will it look like in 12 to 18 months?

Kari: And on cost. It feels like a black box right now — these are great things, but how much do they cost, and does it make sense? That comes back to the CFO role and capital allocation: How much capital are we allocating? How ready is our organization for adoption? And where are the opportunities?

Amy: As you look ahead, how do you see the CFO role continuing to evolve, and what capabilities will define the next generation of finance leaders?

Kari: When I was coming up, it was very reporting- and numbers-focused. Then came the transition to data and insights. Now I see CFOs increasingly held responsible — as they should be — for transformation.

For a long time that meant finance transformation, which is just the beginning, because you need trustworthy numbers first. They don't have to be perfect, but they do have to be trustworthy, especially when you're looking at forward indicators like sales funnels, pipelines, churn rates, and hit rates.

So it starts with insights, then goes further into business process. CFOs and finance leaders are best positioned to see the whole playing field — to say, "This function is going this way, that one's going that way; how do we bring them back together?" You're the connective tissue leading business transformation, while recognizing when to hand things to your COO or chief revenue officer, where your CEO needs to be pulled in, and where you need buy-in from your PE sponsors, because it's an expensive transformation.

Before, finance transformation led to digital transformation. I fundamentally believe we're heading straight into full business transformation, because so many roll-ups came together over the last five to eight years. A lot of them aren't ready for exit — I hear this from bankers — because they have many businesses that aren't integrated. Or they went through an exit but left a turn, or a turn and a half, of EBITDA on the table. Bringing consistency and efficiency to business processes is a critical part of the operating agenda for the next PE sponsor. Finance transformation asks: Can you close the books accurately and on time? Digital transformation asks: Can you turn all your data — not just debits and credits — into insights? The next frontier is true business transformation. And I'm not saying it's easy — it's really hard.

Amy: Especially when you're doing that many acquisitions, with vastly different business processes and cultures on top.

Kari: It's culture, culture, culture. Everyone knows the phrase "culture eats strategy for breakfast," and it's so true right now. You don't have to be a multibillion-dollar company to be publicly traded anymore. All these businesses came together, got great valuations, and now they're struggling to grow. You need clarity on how you'll grow and who's doing what — with culture as the underpinning when it gets hard.

Amy: That's when you know the culture is there.

Kari: One of the things that's been so much fun about MCA is walking into a strong culture. It took me a year to say, "Is this real?" — and it is. It's a culture where, when a founder sells their business, you can tell them, "You're going to be in good hands." Somewhere people want to come work. It predates me — I walked into it, and it helped recruit me. It really is a differentiator in the market.

Amy: And that's what helps you attract great people.

Kari: It truly does.

Amy: What was your first real career lesson?

Kari: It's important to fail — and fail fast. Learn how to fail, turn around, be resilient, and go win the next day.

Amy: A piece of advice you've received?

Kari: Bad news doesn't age well. I got that from Tim Ryan, who led PwC. I was leaving the firm, and they had me meet with him to see if I'd stay. I told him, "I can't believe you made time for me. I'm still leaving, because this is a really cool opportunity — but while I have you, what are your guiding principles?" That was one of the things he told me, and I've repeated it many times since.

Amy: A leadership trait you value most in others?

Kari: Candor — full stop. Do you trust my ability enough to give me hard news so we can work through it? Are you going to tell me what's actually going on so I can partner with you? I value a relationship where we can cut through the nonsense, have the hard conversation, and make the hard call.

Amy: A saying you're known for?

Kari: "I reserve the right to get smarter." It's okay to change your mind with more information — that's part of being a nimble, agile executive. We'll make the decision based on what we know now, and when we know more, we'll make a better one.

Amy: And your favorite lunch spot?

Kari: I'm a very consistent person — I like to eat at the same places. Probably Pastinos, an Italian café in the Ballantyne Bowl, or Zeituni's, a Lebanese restaurant in the Ballantyne area.

Amy: I've never been to either — we'll have to come to Ballantyne and go. Kari, it was great to hear your lessons and thoughts today, and it's been more than fabulous to see your career grow and the impact you've made on so many others.

Kari: Thank you so much for having me.