The best CFOs don’t just report history. They make history. CFO Bootcamp is an intensive 8-module program that transforms finance executives into indispensable strategic leaders.
Kicks Off Sept. 10, 2026
All Sessions Recorded
Certificate of Completion
Up to 19 CPE Credits
Limited enrollment
Launch: June 18, 2026
All Sessions Recorded
Certificate of Completion
Continuing Education Credits
Limited enrollment
Financial expertise gets you to the CFO chair. Strategic and leadership mastery determines what you accomplish when you’re in it.
Today’s most effective CFOs are no longer just financial stewards — they are growth architects, board confidants, technology navigators, and culture builders. They don’t just report what happened; they shape what happens next. Yet most finance executives arrive at the C-suite without formal training in the leadership, strategy, and business acumen skills that separate good CFOs from great ones.
CFO Bootcamp was built to close that gap.
Developed by the CFO Leadership Council — the premier association for CFOs and other senior financial executives in the world — this 8-module program delivers the strategic and leadership curriculum that no accounting degree or financial certification ever taught you. You’ll learn from some of the most respected voices in finance leadership, engage with peers at your level, and walk away with immediately applicable frameworks for leading at the highest level.
The CFO Bootcamp is designed as a true peer learning experience.
Participants experience the program as a cohort, exchanging ideas, pressure-testing decisions, and learning from one another in real time. Combined with faculty made up primarily of current and former CFOs, the result is a highly practical, experience-driven environment you won’t get from traditional training programs.
Live online sessions with recordings available for all participants
(8) 2-hour online classes with a live peer discussion following each module
Limited to 32 participants—first come, first served
Sept. 10, 2026
$4,995
All course materials, session recordings, community access, a new network of peers and continuing education credits
Current CFOs who want to elevate their game, new CFOs, VPs of Finance, Controllers, and other senior financial executives ready to increase their strategic impact
“An exceptional learning experience. The bootcamp provided direct access to industry experts, valuable peer insights, and actionable skills to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving landscape.”
Financial Professional
“The CFO Bootcamp has provided practical, real-world insights that strengthen strategic leadership. The knowledge, tools, and peer learning can be applied immediately to create greater value.”
Director of Finance, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund
“Finance isn’t a back-office job. Bootcamp helped me to start thinking and leading like it belongs at the center of the business.“
Vice President of Finance, FORUM Credit Union
“The sessions were practical, relevant, and immediately applicable to the real challenges CFOs face. I left with greater confidence in communicating with boards, leading through complex decisions, and thinking more strategically about the business.”
Chief Finance Officer, Mortage Center
“The CFO Bootcamp has been a great learning experience! Great leaders, great speakers, and great participants! Relevant topics that can be applied right away.“
Chief Financial Officer, MATT Construction
“The curriculum of the CFO Bootcamp goes beyond technical finance into the parts of the job that are harder to formalize—board communication, strategic decision-making, leading through pressure.”
Head of Finance, Zinnia
CFO Bootcamp is designed for senior financial executives who want to operate with greater strategic influence, leadership authority, and business impact. Whether you’re a sitting CFO looking to sharpen your edge, or a finance leader building toward the top role, this program will accelerate your trajectory.
This program is ideal for:
CFO Bootcamp is designed as a progressive, high-impact transformation—each module builds with intention, evolving you from finance depth to strategic command. This is your complete operating system as a world-class CFO.
Bootcamp sessions are held on Thursdays from 4:00-6:00 pm ET
The CFO’s seat at the strategy table is earned, not given. This module shows you how to earn and keep it — by working through the actual frameworks strategic CFOs use: Porter’s Five Forces, competitive positioning, value chain and Jobs-to-Be-Done analysis, and portfolio and capital allocation discipline. You’ll apply them live to a real board-level case — assessing industry attractiveness, defending a positioning choice, and building a capital allocation recommendation you could bring to your own board. Finance leaders who understand strategy don’t just approve plans; they shape them.
Chairman, Chief Executive Group & CEO, Chief Executive Network
The CFO’s most underrated skill isn’t financial — it’s the ability to make numbers mean something to the people who need to act on them. This session reframes financial communication as a strategic discipline, not a reporting function. Working through three real scenarios — a quarterly miss, a restructuring, and an acquisition — participants use the Audience Translation Canvas to take the same set of facts and reshape the message for the board, the C-suite, investors, and employees, each of whom needs a different version of the truth. By the end, you’ll have a repeatable tool for financial storytelling that cuts through noise, drives decisions, and elevates the CFO from scorekeeper to strategic voice.
CFO, Wrapbook
Data fluency is now a non-negotiable leadership skill. This module builds your literacy in analytics — how models actually learn, and how to tell a real signal from a spurious one — without requiring you to become a data scientist. Working through real finance use cases, from cash flow forecasting to fraud detection, you’ll learn to open the black box instead of just trusting it: what’s inside a model, what its accuracy claims really mean, and the statistical traps — survivorship bias, spurious correlation — that fool even careful analysts. You’ll leave with ten questions sharp enough to put any vendor’s AI pitch on trial. CFOs who can open the black box own the strategic conversation.
Experienced CFO | AI & Data Expert | Author of Two Definitive Books on AI in Finance
Digital strategy used to sit with IT. It sits with the CFO now — and most finance leaders inherit that seat before they feel ready for it. This module runs two live decision exercises. First, you’ll argue build, buy, or partner for an AP function that’s drowning, and watch the sticker-price ranking invert once integration debt and data-exit costs get priced in. Then you’ll turn the same scrutiny on a polished AI vendor pitch, working through the ten questions that find what a headline accuracy number is hiding.
Along the way you’ll get plain-English definitions of AI, ML, RPA, generative AI, and agentic AI — enough to tell a working tool from a deck full of promises — and a framework for the CFO as digital guardian, covering the four conversations you’ll own with the board, the CEO, IT leadership, and regulators. You’ll leave with a 90-day plan for inventorying your own digital stack.
You don’t need to be a technologist. You need to be the executive who asks the right questions before you sign.
Experienced CFO | AI & Data Expert | Author of Two Definitive Books on AI in Finance
The CFO occupies a unique position in any organization — the only executive with a board relationship that exists independent of the CEO. Managing that relationship well, across good quarters and bad, is one of the highest-leverage things a CFO can do. This session covers the full governance landscape: audit committee dynamics, board meeting design, investor narrative construction, and the hard situations that test even experienced CFOs. Whether your board is a public company’s independent directors, a private equity firm, or a nonprofit’s volunteer trustees, the disciplines of trust, transparency, and strategic communication apply equally.
CFO, International Battery Company
M&A, fundraising, IPO prep, private equity partnerships — these are the moments that define a CFO’s career. This module demystifies them. You’ll walk through the key terms, processes, and decision frameworks that govern deals, and participate in a mock transaction exercise that puts you in the driver’s seat on valuation, negotiation, and integration planning. Whether your company is considering a capital raise, a strategic acquisition, or an exit, this module ensures you’re not just prepared — you’re indispensable.
CFO, First National Realty Partners
CFO, realtime
Founder & CEO, Bear Hill Advisory Group, LLC
Most finance executives become CFOs without much formal leadership development. This session addresses that gap head-on. You’ll explore team dynamics, the architecture of trust across the C-suite, and how to influence culture as a finance leader. You’ll also build frameworks for leading through the hard moments: restructurings, performance issues, organizational crises, and transformational change. The best CFOs don’t just interpret the numbers — they shape how people respond to them.
CFO, CarMax Auto Finance
The final module brings it all together through a high-stakes simulation: you’ll assume the CFO role, present to a mock board, and respond to the kind of challenge that tests everything — your strategic thinking, communication under pressure, and executive presence. You’ll close with peer-to-peer coaching, structured goal-setting, and a candid conversation with sitting CFOs who have navigated the exact journey you’re on. You’ll leave not just with a certificate — but with a clear, personalized plan for what comes next.
Founder, CFO Leadership Council | 3-Time Tech CFO | Author | Forbes Contributor
All sessions are delivered live and led by expert instructors—giving you the ability to ask questions, engage with peers, and participate in real-time exercises.
Can’t make a session? Every module is recorded and available to all enrolled participants, so you never fall behind.
Comprehensive materials for every module—frameworks, templates, case studies, and exercises you can apply to your organization immediately.
Upon completing CFO Bootcamp, you’ll earn formal recognition from the CFO Leadership Council as a leader prepared for enterprise-level CFO responsibility.
CFO Bootcamp qualifies for continuing education credits, helping you meet professional development requirements while advancing your career.
Join a cohort of peers at your level and gain ongoing access to the CFO Leadership Council community—a network of 3,000+ CFOs and senior finance executives.
Work through real challenges alongside 31 other senior finance executives. The relationships formed in this cohort will last far beyond the program itself.
Participate in a live board presentation simulation in the final module—the ultimate test of everything you’ve learned, and the perfect way to enter your next challenge with confidence.
If you’re ready to invest in your leadership, there’s no better time than now.
Whether you’re ready to reserve your seat or just want to learn more about the program, our team is happy to help. Contact us directly or fill out the form below and a member of the CFO Leadership Council team will be in touch within one business day.
Managing Director, CFO Bootcamp
CFO Leadership Council
jack@cfolc.com | (617) 678-0957
Director, CFO Bootcamp
CFO Leadership Council
caroline@cfolc.com | 484-745-3725
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CFO Bootcamp is designed for current CFOs, VPs of Finance, Controllers, and senior financial executives who are ready to expand their strategic and leadership capabilities. It is particularly well-suited for executives at companies with $10M to $1B+ in revenue who want to operate with greater influence at the C-suite and board level.
All eight modules are delivered live online, allowing you to engage directly with instructors and cohort peers in real time. Every session is recorded and made available to all enrolled participants, so if you have a conflict during a live session, you won’t miss a thing.
The program runs over 8 weeks, with one live session per week. The schedule for the upcoming cohort can be found here.
Your enrollment includes access to all 8 live modules, session recordings, full course materials, a certificate of completion, continuing education credits, and ongoing access to the CFO Leadership Council community of 3,000+ senior finance executives.
CFO Bootcamp qualifies for continuing education credits. Full details on the number of credits and qualifying bodies can be found here.
CFO Bootcamp is led by Jack McCullough—founder of the CFO Leadership Council and three-time tech CFO. In each live two-hour module, Jack will be joined by experienced CFOs and industry experts. View the full list of instructors here.
If you are interested in enrolling multiple members of your finance leadership team, please contact Jack McCullough at jack@cfolc.com to discuss group enrollment options.
We’re happy to help. Fill out the inquiry form on this page and a member of the CFO Leadership Council team will be in touch within one business day.
Founded in 2006 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the CFO Leadership Council has grown from an informal gathering of finance peers into the premier global community for CFOs and senior financial executives. Today, we are a global community of approximately 3,000 financial leaders — spanning chapters in major markets and a robust national events calendar.
A member of the Chief Executive Group family — which engages more than 300,000 senior executives across peer networks, research, and events — the CFO Leadership Council provides its members with peer insights, expert briefings, national conferences, and tools designed to help finance leaders grow, lead, and thrive.
CFO Bootcamp is our most comprehensive training program to date — and reflects our founding belief: that the best finance leaders are made, not just found..
The CFO Leadership Council is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 700, Nashville, TN, 37219-2417. Website: www.nasba.org
Instructional method: Group-Internet-Based
Recommended CPE Credits: Up to 19 Credits
Experience Level: Basic
Prerequisites/advance preparation: None
For CFOLC CPE credits, one credit hour equals 50 minutes according to NASBA guidelines. Some state boards may differ on how many minutes constitute a credit hour. Contact your state board for more information. Questions or comments? Contact Nancy at nancy@cfolc.com