Keith Masiulis (Unilever): Positioning finance for faster, more confident decisions

Unilever’s Keith Masiulis joins Pigment’s Stephen McFarlane to discuss how the work of reconciling numbers can get in the way of the decisions that finance and commercial teams need to make. Keith reflects on the challenge of bringing functions together when each has its own systems, language, and priorities. He shares why Unilever is working to make forecasting an operating rhythm rather than an event, what changes when leaders can focus on closing a business gap instead of debating whose number is right, and how a trade-close process involving roughly 100 Excel files became a zero-day close. The conversation also explores how AI is changing finance work. Keith discusses using AI in a controlled environment to help build models, test ideas, and surface anomalies more quickly – while finance continues to supply the financial principles, oversight, and change management behind the process. His advice for finance leaders looking to stand out: build, don’t critique. Read the full companion article here: https://www.pigment.com/customers/portraits-podcast/keith-masiulis-unilever Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.