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When Ben Chrnelich tells us that the banking sector\u2019s recent unrest is the third period of disruption that he\u2019s \u201ccycled through\u201d during his finance career, we can\u2019t help but wonder about the other two.

Of course, they are hardly a secret. As did that of many of his CFO peers, Chrnelich\u2019s early career appears to have weathered no shortage of economic hijinks, thanks to the dotcom bubble (2002) and Wall Street\u2019s subprime mortgage crisis (2008).

\u201cThe opportunity to be sort of at the epicenter of these events really allowed me to form my risk assessment as a CFO and be able to better assess where we are on any given business cycle,\u201d comments Chrnelich, who was working for Lehman Brothers when the investment house collapsed in 2008.

Unlike many of his Lehman colleagues, Chrnelich was able to find a silver lining in Wall Street\u2019s economic turmoil\u2014in his case, this took the form of employment as CFO of a technology business created by NYSE to serve Wall Street clients.

Known as NYSE Technologies, the business was established to target revenue opportunities for a number of software technologies that NYSE had developed in-house, as well as a number that had been acquired by NYSE.

\u201cFor me, it was an opportunity to transition into a CFO role with a company that had lots of capital already invested and the support of NYSE,\u201d recalls Chrnelich, who served as CFO of the company for roughly 6 years.

In February of 2020, Chrnelich was named CFO of Symphony, which offers secure messaging and other collaboration tools for bankers and those who work with them. Three years and a number of acquisitions later, Symphony has powered up its AI strategy as it pursues its goal of providing more actionable insights to portfolio managers.   

Reports Chrnelich: \u201cWe know specifically what they need, and we\u2019re getting more face time and consideration by buyers than ever before.\u201d \u2013Jack Sweeney