Latest news with #HunterMadeley
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
From Back Office to Center Stage: Vena Honors Finance and Operations Heroes With 2025 Venny Awards
Honorees recognized for excellence in finance and operations, demonstrating outstanding innovation, leadership and strategic impact TORONTO, May 27, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vena, the only Complete FP&A platform powered by agentic AI and purpose-built to fully amplify the Microsoft technology ecosystem, today announced the winners of the 2025 Venny Awards. The awards, presented at this year's Excelerate Finance 2025 conference, celebrate the Heroes of Finance who are setting new standards for innovation, operational excellence and strategic leadership within their organizations. "The Venny Awards recognize leaders who aren't just embracing technology, but leveraging it to drive meaningful change across their organization," said Hunter Madeley, CEO of Vena. "These leaders are pushing the boundaries of what's possible in finance and operations, using data and technology to create real impact. We're proud to celebrate their achievements and the role they play in shaping the future of finance." The Venny Awards, comprised of seven categories, were presented to the following winners: Financial Modeling Mastery: Acknowledges individuals who leveraged Vena's platform to boost operational agility and resilience through advanced financial modeling techniques. Winner: Kwame Moloko, Acting Chief Financial Officer at Scancom Ltd (MTN Ghana). Moloko led the introduction of Vena at MTN Ghana, embedding it into core planning and reporting processes. His forward-thinking approach to financial modeling has helped his organization uncover new efficiencies and drive smarter, data-driven decisions. Financial Insights Innovator: Recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional use of Vena's analytics and AI capabilities to generate groundbreaking financial insights that transform strategic decision making. Winner: Brandon Combs, Director of Finance at Young Life. Combs has redefined how Young Life approaches data, using Vena's analytics and AI tools to turn financial complexity into clarity. His use of real-time data and enhanced analytics has helped transform the organization's decision-making process—surfacing key insights that drive meaningful action and measurable impact. His work exemplifies how data-driven innovation can shape what happens next in finance. Excellence in Complete Planning: Celebrates leaders who have mastered the integration of financial and operational planning to drive strategic insights and enhance organizational agility. Winner: Meg Bear, Controller at Turner Enterprises. Bear works diligently to find ways to make planning smarter, more aligned and more actionable. This award recognizes her commitment to complete planning that drives results and supports long-term success. Excellence in Financial Leadership: Honors leaders who have exemplified outstanding achievement in driving transformation to elevate the office of finance and improve business performance. Winner: Brandon Sharp, Chief Information Officer at Brookfield. Through the strategic use of Vena, Sharp has led Brookfield in building a continuously evolving, driver-based forecasting model that keeps pace with a volatile market. His leadership has redefined what agile planning looks like—breaking down silos, aligning cross-functional teams and delivering real-time insights that shape confident, data-driven decisions and meaningful impact. Microsoft Innovation Leadership: Celebrates individuals or teams who have leveraged Microsoft's ecosystem to drive transformative innovation in finance and operations, showcasing exemplary collaboration and technological excellence. Winner: Andrew McFarlane, Finance Manager at Kuali. McFarlane was a pioneering user of Vena Copilot, participating in the solution's beta program and demonstrating great technical acumen as one of the product's first power users. McFarlane's proactive approach to optimizing ETL processes and simplifying allocation templates has streamlined data management and improved overall workflow, making him a standout leader in the Vena community. Community Advocate Award: Celebrates those who have played a pivotal role in building and nurturing the FP&A community. The recipient of this award has demonstrated exceptional leadership and dedication, continuously advocating for their peers and helping drive the community forward through innovative practices and collaborative efforts. Winner: Gus Arndt, Performance Reporting Manager, Associate Managing Director at Oakworth Capital Bank. As co-chair of the Banking & Credit Union user group at Vena, Arndt has demonstrated exceptional leadership, from setting agendas to facilitating meetings and driving collaboration. His advocacy and commitment to strengthening the FP&A community have made him a standout leader, dedicated to fostering innovation and knowledge sharing. Strategic Integration Partner: Recognizes partners who have integrated Vena's planning platform with other systems to enhance capabilities. Winner: Citrin Cooperman. A long-standing and trusted Vena Partner, Citrin Cooperman has been instrumental in helping customers unlock greater value from the Vena platform. Their expert integration strategies bridge Vena's Complete Planning platform with source systems to enhance the capabilities of the Office of Finance. By aligning technology with trust, Citrin Cooperman continues to empower finance teams to go further, faster—turning complexity into opportunity through collaboration. Looking ahead, the Venny Awards will continue to grow, welcoming nominations from a broader community to foster wider recognition of excellence in finance and operations. The program will expand to include new categories, reflecting the evolving role of finance. For more highlights on Excelerate Finance 2025, visit About VenaVena is the only agentic AI-powered FP&A platform purpose-built to harness the full power of the Microsoft technology ecosystem for finance teams everywhere. Vena amplifies Microsoft's world-leading productivity tools, cloud technology and AI innovation to make FP&A, operational planning and adjacent strategic processes more flexible, efficient and intelligent. Thousands of the world's leading companies rely on Vena to power their planning. For more information, visit View source version on Contacts Media:Jonathan PaulVice President, Content Marketingjpaul@
Business Wire
27-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
From Back Office to Center Stage: Vena Honors Finance and Operations Heroes With 2025 Venny Awards
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vena, the only Complete FP&A platform powered by agentic AI and purpose-built to fully amplify the Microsoft technology ecosystem, today announced the winners of the 2025 Venny Awards. The awards, presented at this year's Excelerate Finance 2025 conference, celebrate the Heroes of Finance who are setting new standards for innovation, operational excellence and strategic leadership within their organizations. 'The Venny Awards recognize leaders who aren't just embracing technology, but leveraging it to drive meaningful change across their organization,' said Hunter Madeley, CEO of Vena. 'These leaders are pushing the boundaries of what's possible in finance and operations, using data and technology to create real impact. We're proud to celebrate their achievements and the role they play in shaping the future of finance.' The Venny Awards, comprised of seven categories, were presented to the following winners: Financial Modeling Mastery: Acknowledges individuals who leveraged Vena's platform to boost operational agility and resilience through advanced financial modeling techniques. Winner: Kwame Moloko, Acting Chief Financial Officer at Scancom Ltd (MTN Ghana). Moloko led the introduction of Vena at MTN Ghana, embedding it into core planning and reporting processes. His forward-thinking approach to financial modeling has helped his organization uncover new efficiencies and drive smarter, data-driven decisions. Financial Insights Innovator: Recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional use of Vena's analytics and AI capabilities to generate groundbreaking financial insights that transform strategic decision making. Winner: Brandon Combs, Director of Finance at Young Life. Combs has redefined how Young Life approaches data, using Vena's analytics and AI tools to turn financial complexity into clarity. His use of real-time data and enhanced analytics has helped transform the organization's decision-making process—surfacing key insights that drive meaningful action and measurable impact. His work exemplifies how data-driven innovation can shape what happens next in finance. Excellence in Complete Planning: Celebrates leaders who have mastered the integration of financial and operational planning to drive strategic insights and enhance organizational agility. Winner: Meg Bear, Controller at Turner Enterprises. Bear works diligently to find ways to make planning smarter, more aligned and more actionable. This award recognizes her commitment to complete planning that drives results and supports long-term success. Excellence in Financial Leadership: Honors leaders who have exemplified outstanding achievement in driving transformation to elevate the office of finance and improve business performance. Winner: Brandon Sharp, Chief Information Officer at Brookfield. Through the strategic use of Vena, Sharp has led Brookfield in building a continuously evolving, driver-based forecasting model that keeps pace with a volatile market. His leadership has redefined what agile planning looks like—breaking down silos, aligning cross-functional teams and delivering real-time insights that shape confident, data-driven decisions and meaningful impact. Microsoft Innovation Leadership: Celebrates individuals or teams who have leveraged Microsoft's ecosystem to drive transformative innovation in finance and operations, showcasing exemplary collaboration and technological excellence. Winner: Andrew McFarlane, Finance Manager at Kuali. McFarlane was a pioneering user of Vena Copilot, participating in the solution's beta program and demonstrating great technical acumen as one of the product's first power users. McFarlane's proactive approach to optimizing ETL processes and simplifying allocation templates has streamlined data management and improved overall workflow, making him a standout leader in the Vena community. Community Advocate Award: Celebrates those who have played a pivotal role in building and nurturing the FP&A community. The recipient of this award has demonstrated exceptional leadership and dedication, continuously advocating for their peers and helping drive the community forward through innovative practices and collaborative efforts. Winner: Gus Arndt, Performance Reporting Manager, Associate Managing Director at Oakworth Capital Bank. As co-chair of the Banking & Credit Union user group at Vena, Arndt has demonstrated exceptional leadership, from setting agendas to facilitating meetings and driving collaboration. His advocacy and commitment to strengthening the FP&A community have made him a standout leader, dedicated to fostering innovation and knowledge sharing. Strategic Integration Partner: Recognizes partners who have integrated Vena's planning platform with other systems to enhance capabilities. Winner: Citrin Cooperman. A long-standing and trusted Vena Partner, Citrin Cooperman has been instrumental in helping customers unlock greater value from the Vena platform. Their expert integration strategies bridge Vena's Complete Planning platform with source systems to enhance the capabilities of the Office of Finance. By aligning technology with trust, Citrin Cooperman continues to empower finance teams to go further, faster—turning complexity into opportunity through collaboration. Looking ahead, the Venny Awards will continue to grow, welcoming nominations from a broader community to foster wider recognition of excellence in finance and operations. The program will expand to include new categories, reflecting the evolving role of finance. For more highlights on Excelerate Finance 2025, visit exceleratesummit.. About Vena Vena is the only agentic AI-powered FP&A platform purpose-built to harness the full power of the Microsoft technology ecosystem for finance teams everywhere. Vena amplifies Microsoft's world-leading productivity tools, cloud technology and AI innovation to make FP&A, operational planning and adjacent strategic processes more flexible, efficient and intelligent. Thousands of the world's leading companies rely on Vena to power their planning. For more information, visit venasolutions. com.
National Post
15-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
Vena Sets New Standard in Agentic AI for FP&A With Microsoft Teams Integration
Article content Article content TORONTO — Vena, the only Complete FP&A platform powered by agentic AI and purpose-built to fully amplify the Microsoft technology ecosystem, today announced the general availability of Vena Copilot for Microsoft Teams. Designed to bring dedicated FP&A expertise and insights into businesses' workflows, this launch marks a bold new era for the Strategic Office of Finance. Article content Unveiled at the company's annual community conference, Excelerate Finance 2025, Vena Copilot for Teams is a giant step forward in agentic AI for FP&A. For the first time, users across the business can access Vena Copilot's industry-first, agentic AI purpose-built for FP&A directly within Teams meetings, chats and channels—putting an FP&A analyst in every conversation, and the power of best-in-class FP&A expertise at the fingertips of every decision maker. From generating instant insights to scenario simulations to collaborative Excel reports, Vena Copilot is transforming how FP&A teams and business leaders plan, decide and drive impact together—without ever having to leave Microsoft Teams. Article content 'The best organizations thrive in all market conditions by simply being better at leveraging the power of data and their people to act decisively. To lead, businesses need connected, intelligent systems that enable real-time collaboration and actionable insights,' said Hunter Madeley, CEO of Vena. 'Vena Copilot for Teams delivers just that—freeing FP&A teams to focus on strategic planning while giving business leaders and budget owners instant access to the kind of insights and expertise they need to make faster, smarter decisions and stay ahead of what's next.' Article content Agentic AI Already Transforming the Office of Finance Built for agentic AI from day one, Vena Copilot now extends its power with Vena Copilot for Teams—bringing intelligent automation to finance professionals and decision makers where they work. With two purpose-built agentic AI tools and seamless orchestration that coordinates multiple capabilities behind the scenes, it's a smarter, faster way to plan, analyze and act—with more innovations on the way. Article content Vena Reporting Agent: Officially launched at Excelerate Finance 2024 following a successful open beta, this powerful tool turns natural language prompts into custom, pre-formatted reports in seconds. It enables finance teams to deliver quick, confident answers to stakeholder questions and dive deeper into analysis through Vena's Ad Hoc Reporting—without the manual lift. Vena Analytics Agent: An industry-first for FP&A, this agentic AI powerhouse was first introduced at Excelerate 2024 and has been helping teams move faster and plan smarter ever since. It runs complex variance and trend analyses, powers scenario simulations and delivers real-time, actionable insights—so finance and business leaders can lead with clarity, speed and impact. Vena Planning Agent: (Roadmap 2025) This new AI agent integrates Vena Copilot right to where you do your planning—in Excel. Through a chat interface, users can perform driver-based planning and predictive forecasting—leveraging AI to deliver highly accurate financial plans informed by historical data and real-world economic trends. Article content Trustworthy AI Purpose-Built for FP&A Powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI, Vena Copilot is a virtual FP&A partner working seamlessly alongside professionals in both the Vena platform and in Microsoft Teams. Built with enterprise-grade security, it derisks the adoption of agentic AI by protecting customer data and never training public AI models—ensuring confidentiality and control at all times. Article content Vena Copilot transforms conversational prompts into complex FP&A tasks, completed in seconds by a team of purpose-built AI agents. What once took hours is now automated—delivering instant outcomes with full transparency and data integrity. Article content This innovation doesn't just automate—it democratizes FP&A. By removing workflow bottlenecks and making advanced AI accessible to all users, Vena Copilot frees up finance teams to focus on strategic priorities. With Vena Copilot, finance teams become faster, smarter and more agile, while maintaining the highest standards of security and trust. Article content Already Delivering Results: Vena Copilot Is Turning AI Potential Into Real Performance Vena Copilot for Teams is already driving measurable outcomes in the Office of Finance. With agentic AI tools and smart orchestration working behind the scenes, finance teams, like the Association for Institutional Research (AIR), are planning, analyzing, and executing faster and smarter. Article content Charles McCumber, Director of Finance at AIR, adopted Vena Copilot to scale his team's capabilities, allowing him to focus on higher-value, strategic work. He shared the following insights based on his experience with Vena Copilot for Microsoft Teams: Article content 'Copilot in Teams is a natural fit—it's where our tools and processes already live. I can answer stakeholder questions faster, keep meetings on track, and cut time spent on recurring tasks by at least 25%—freeing me up to focus on higher-value work like scenario planning, budgeting and thinking strategically about the future.' Article content Smarter, Faster, More Intuitive: What's New in the Vena Copilot Suite In addition to the launch of Vena Copilot for Teams, Vena's agentic AI suite received a series of powerful enhancements designed to elevate the user experience and accelerate time to value: Article content An updated UI that prioritizes scalability, readability, functionality and ease of use—including intelligent guidance that directs users to the right AI agent based on their prompts. New pre-built prompts customized to each user's data set, giving first-time users an intuitive way to explore and get started. A major expansion of the Vena Copilot prompt bank, with 500 new prompts tailored to real-world FP&A scenarios—based directly on user feedback. Proactive feedback from Vena agents to continuously refine and improve output performance in real time. Article content Innovation That Helps You Plan Better and Achieve More Also announced at Excelerate, our latest wave of innovations brings powerful new capabilities across the Vena platform. From AI-driven insights to deeper integrations and more intuitive user experiences, these updates reflect our ongoing commitment to continuous innovation—so you can keep driving smarter, faster decisions with confidence. They include: Article content Template Studio (Generally Available) Quickly create standardized financial templates with a drag-and-drop builder and a library of pre-designed options like Custom Planning, OPEX and Income Statement templates. Export API (Generally Available) Seamlessly connect Vena's planning platform to your broader data ecosystem, enabling flexible consolidation, visualization and analysis. Enhanced Ad Hoc Features (Generally Available) Use Drill Transactions for detailed transparency and Aggregation for on-demand financial consolidation and streamlined analysis. Enhanced Task Tab (Open Beta) Boost workflow efficiency with advanced search, filtering and a scalable task view to help prioritize and complete work faster. Vena for PowerPoint Improvements Simplify template enrollment by managing it directly within Vena's PowerPoint add-in for a smoother onboarding experience. Article content To learn more about how Vena enables finance teams to plan with confidence and lead with agility, visit Article content About Vena Vena is the only agentic AI-powered FP&A platform purpose-built to harness the full power of the Microsoft technology ecosystem for finance teams everywhere. Vena amplifies Microsoft's world-leading productivity tools, cloud technology and AI innovation to make FP&A, operational planning and adjacent strategic processes more flexible, efficient and intelligent. Thousands of the world's leading companies rely on Vena to power their planning. For more information, visit venasolutions. com. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content Article content Article content
Business Wire
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Vena Sets New Standard in Agentic AI for FP&A With Microsoft Teams Integration
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vena, the only Complete FP&A platform powered by agentic AI and purpose-built to fully amplify the Microsoft technology ecosystem, today announced the general availability of Vena Copilot for Microsoft Teams. Designed to bring dedicated FP&A expertise and insights into businesses' workflows, this launch marks a bold new era for the Strategic Office of Finance. Unveiled at the company's annual community conference, Excelerate Finance 2025, Vena Copilot for Teams is a giant step forward in agentic AI for FP&A. For the first time, users across the business can access Vena Copilot's industry-first, agentic AI purpose-built for FP&A directly within Teams meetings, chats and channels—putting an FP&A analyst in every conversation, and the power of best-in-class FP&A expertise at the fingertips of every decision maker. From generating instant insights to scenario simulations to collaborative Excel reports, Vena Copilot is transforming how FP&A teams and business leaders plan, decide and drive impact together—without ever having to leave Microsoft Teams. 'The best organizations thrive in all market conditions by simply being better at leveraging the power of data and their people to act decisively. To lead, businesses need connected, intelligent systems that enable real-time collaboration and actionable insights,' said Hunter Madeley, CEO of Vena. 'Vena Copilot for Teams delivers just that—freeing FP&A teams to focus on strategic planning while giving business leaders and budget owners instant access to the kind of insights and expertise they need to make faster, smarter decisions and stay ahead of what's next.' Agentic AI Already Transforming the Office of Finance Built for agentic AI from day one, Vena Copilot now extends its power with Vena Copilot for Teams—bringing intelligent automation to finance professionals and decision makers where they work. With two purpose-built agentic AI tools and seamless orchestration that coordinates multiple capabilities behind the scenes, it's a smarter, faster way to plan, analyze and act—with more innovations on the way. Vena Reporting Agent: Officially launched at Excelerate Finance 2024 following a successful open beta, this powerful tool turns natural language prompts into custom, pre-formatted reports in seconds. It enables finance teams to deliver quick, confident answers to stakeholder questions and dive deeper into analysis through Vena's Ad Hoc Reporting—without the manual lift. Vena Analytics Agent: An industry-first for FP&A, this agentic AI powerhouse was first introduced at Excelerate 2024 and has been helping teams move faster and plan smarter ever since. It runs complex variance and trend analyses, powers scenario simulations and delivers real-time, actionable insights—so finance and business leaders can lead with clarity, speed and impact. Vena Planning Agent: (Roadmap 2025) This new AI agent integrates Vena Copilot right to where you do your planning—in Excel. Through a chat interface, users can perform driver-based planning and predictive forecasting—leveraging AI to deliver highly accurate financial plans informed by historical data and real-world economic trends. Trustworthy AI Purpose-Built for FP&A Powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI, Vena Copilot is a virtual FP&A partner working seamlessly alongside professionals in both the Vena platform and in Microsoft Teams. Built with enterprise-grade security, it derisks the adoption of agentic AI by protecting customer data and never training public AI models—ensuring confidentiality and control at all times. Vena Copilot transforms conversational prompts into complex FP&A tasks, completed in seconds by a team of purpose-built AI agents. What once took hours is now automated—delivering instant outcomes with full transparency and data integrity. This innovation doesn't just automate—it democratizes FP&A. By removing workflow bottlenecks and making advanced AI accessible to all users, Vena Copilot frees up finance teams to focus on strategic priorities. With Vena Copilot, finance teams become faster, smarter and more agile, while maintaining the highest standards of security and trust. Already Delivering Results: Vena Copilot Is Turning AI Potential Into Real Performance Vena Copilot for Teams is already driving measurable outcomes in the Office of Finance. With agentic AI tools and smart orchestration working behind the scenes, finance teams, like the Association for Institutional Research (AIR), are planning, analyzing, and executing faster and smarter. Charles McCumber, Director of Finance at AIR, adopted Vena Copilot to scale his team's capabilities, allowing him to focus on higher-value, strategic work. He shared the following insights based on his experience with Vena Copilot for Microsoft Teams: 'Copilot in Teams is a natural fit—it's where our tools and processes already live. I can answer stakeholder questions faster, keep meetings on track, and cut time spent on recurring tasks by at least 25%—freeing me up to focus on higher-value work like scenario planning, budgeting and thinking strategically about the future.' Smarter, Faster, More Intuitive: What's New in the Vena Copilot Suite In addition to the launch of Vena Copilot for Teams, Vena's agentic AI suite received a series of powerful enhancements designed to elevate the user experience and accelerate time to value: An updated UI that prioritizes scalability, readability, functionality and ease of use—including intelligent guidance that directs users to the right AI agent based on their prompts. New pre-built prompts customized to each user's data set, giving first-time users an intuitive way to explore and get started. A major expansion of the Vena Copilot prompt bank, with 500 new prompts tailored to real-world FP&A scenarios—based directly on user feedback. Proactive feedback from Vena agents to continuously refine and improve output performance in real time. Innovation That Helps You Plan Better and Achieve More Also announced at Excelerate, our latest wave of innovations brings powerful new capabilities across the Vena platform. From AI-driven insights to deeper integrations and more intuitive user experiences, these updates reflect our ongoing commitment to continuous innovation—so you can keep driving smarter, faster decisions with confidence. They include: Template Studio (Generally Available) Quickly create standardized financial templates with a drag-and-drop builder and a library of pre-designed options like Custom Planning, OPEX and Income Statement templates. Export API (Generally Available) Seamlessly connect Vena's planning platform to your broader data ecosystem, enabling flexible consolidation, visualization and analysis. Enhanced Ad Hoc Features (Generally Available) Use Drill Transactions for detailed transparency and Aggregation for on-demand financial consolidation and streamlined analysis. Enhanced Task Tab (Open Beta) Boost workflow efficiency with advanced search, filtering and a scalable task view to help prioritize and complete work faster. Vena for PowerPoint Improvements Simplify template enrollment by managing it directly within Vena's PowerPoint add-in for a smoother onboarding experience. To learn more about how Vena enables finance teams to plan with confidence and lead with agility, visit About Vena Vena is the only agentic AI-powered FP&A platform purpose-built to harness the full power of the Microsoft technology ecosystem for finance teams everywhere. Vena amplifies Microsoft's world-leading productivity tools, cloud technology and AI innovation to make FP&A, operational planning and adjacent strategic processes more flexible, efficient and intelligent. Thousands of the world's leading companies rely on Vena to power their planning. For more information, visit venasolutions. com.
