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It was October 2019. Red Hat, Inc., was preparing to submit its latest quarterly results to its new parent, IBM Corp., and Laurie Krebs had just been named Red Hat software\u2019s new CFO.

As a senior vice president of finance for Red Hat, Krebs had worked closely with the former CFO and more or less assumed that the acquiring company would likely prefer to fill C-suite spots from its \u201chome team\u201d talent bench of senior executives.

In fact, Krebs says that during the course of her career she had never truly aspired to be a CFO: \u201cI often wondered who would want all of that responsibility, especially after Sarbanes-Oxley came in. And then, at the time, I realized that IBM had just acquired us for $34 billion and that it was going to be up to us to deliver the results that were needed.\u201d \xa0

Krebs says that the finance team at Red Hat, like many executive teams within newly acquired companies, had experienced some attrition and was perhaps not as highly functioning as it had been prior to its acquisition. \xa0

As the first quarterly close for the newly acquired Red Hat approached, Krebs sought to reassure her CEO that she would continue to lead the team. \u201cI\u2019ll help you out until you get a legit CFO,\u201d Krebs recalls saying\u2014to which her CEO replied: \u201cNo, no, no\u2014we want you to be it.\u201d

The CEO then reassured Krebs that it had been a unanimous opinion across Red Hat\u2019s and IBM\u2019s leadership teams that she should become Red Hat\u2019s next CFO.

Still, the pressure was on, and Krebs had to not only deliver the company\u2019s first post-acquisition quarterly results but also activate the collaborative processes required to satisfy a giant parent company. \xa0

\u201cI did what I always do. I surrounded myself with the right talent and strong skillsets and created a team out of it,\u201d comments Krebs, who says that her team today includes a seasoned \u201cIBM finance partner\u201d now tasked as sort of a go-between and translator for Red Hat and its parent.

Echoing the executive\u2019s words, Krebs relays his guidance: \u201cHere are the deliverables that IBM\u2019s looking for. Here\u2019s why they look for them. When they ask for this, this is typically what CFO\u2019s look for.\u201d

Krebs adds: \u201cHe has been what I call a \u2018gift\u2019 on our team." - Jack Sweeney\xa0 SUBSCRIBE