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Circle CFO Naeem Ishaq\u2019s Forrest Gumpian career trajectory has given him extraordinary exposure to most of Silicon Valley\u2019s touchstone technologies \u2013 the semiconductor, cloud computing, mobile payments and, most recently, cryptocurrency. After a stint as a dot.com-era entrepreneur he launched as an undergraduate, Ishaq has invested the past 18 years accumulating a trove of experience within some of the technology industry\u2019s most iconic companies, including Intel, Salesforce, Square, Box and Circle. Along the way, he learned crucial leadership lessons from a remarkable collection of CEOs and CFOs, including former Intel finance chief and current Intel chairman Andy Bryant. Ishaq says Bryant demonstrated what it takes to cultivate a thriving \u201cstrategic finance culture.\u201d Today, as head of Circle\u2019s finance team, Ishaq views the ability to quickly \u201cshift context\u201d as key to nurturing his team. He honed that agility at Salesforce when its market capitalization (now $100 billion) was a plucky $3 billion. As head of finance for Salesforce\u2019s emerging businesses group, Ishaq managed the finance functions of 13 different divisions. \u201cIt was definitely great training to be a CFO and to really context-shift between different businesses,\u201d he adds. \u201cThe reality of being a CFO is that you are often shifting context between many different parts of the business.\u201d