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Introduce yourself to your fellow members

  • 1.  Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-12-2021 12:47

    Welcome to the Plan To Grow Forum!

    We're very excited to build this community together with you. With that, there are three simple steps members can quickly take advantage of the Plan To Grow Forum:

    1. We'll need to get to know one another to build this community together, please update your profile by clicking on the link to import your LinkedIn profile (to save uploading your photo and bio again etc).  If you don't have a LinkedIn profile, simply enter your into on the profile page.

    2. Take the time to reply to this thread and introduce yourself here as well:

    • Role & company
    • Favourite excel feature
    • One interesting fact

    3.  If you have any questions or insight you would like to share with your peers, start posting here to begin your Vena Plan To Grow Forum experience.
     
    If you have questions or suggestions for improving this new member benefit, please use the "Reply to Sender" link next to this message to reply to me directly (vs. replying to the group).

    Now that we have the admin items out of the way, let's start the introductions!


  • 2.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-12-2021 13:36

    Hi everyone - I'll kick start the intros!

    I'm Truman Tang, VP of Community Marketing at Vena Solutions and also a very proud Plan To Grow Forum member. My team and I are responsible for the Vena Plan To Grow forums and our mission is to deliver a great experience (and provide the most value) to each member.

    My favourite excel feature (and I am on a newbie level) would be pivot tables - so good!

    When I am not being inspired by each of you, I am chasing my 2 year old and making sure he doesn't cause a heart attack to our little Shitzu-Poodle.

    Excited to meet each of you!





  • 3.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 11-12-2021 16:48
    I'll jump in too. My name is Brandon Combs. I serve the mission of Young Life as the finance director for our summer camping operations. We host hundreds of thousands of kids each year at 35 different properties around the US, a couple in Canada, and some in various other countries.

    We've been with Vena for about five years and it has revolutionized our FP&A journey.

    I love kids- my wife and I have nine children, no twins, and yes- they are all naturally born to us!

    Look forward to building a community where we can help one another meet the challenges of our jobs with excellence.

    ------------------------------
    Brandon Combs
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-12-2021 17:10
    Brandon! You're one of the firsts and wow - 9 bundles of joy! Definitely a festive household! Great to have you join and looking forward to growing together!

    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 11-16-2021 08:01
    Hey guys

    My name is Mani Alkhafaji, I'm the VP of Business Planning & Procurement at First Majestic Silver. We're a silver and gold mining Company based in Mexico and the US. We've been using Vena for almost four years now and very pleased with this product and company in general!

    I love traveling and my work makes this very easy for me (currently on the road), one of the coolest places I've traveled/lived in was Mongolia a few years ago and was an awesome experience!

    Pivot tables are cool Truman, but I find myself stuck in nested if statements more than I'd like.

    Looking forward to getting to know you guys here and hopefully we get to do something social soon (definitely down to hit the mountains for snowboarding).

    Mani


    ------------------------------
    Mani Alkhafaji
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-16-2021 10:11

    Welcome Mani! And that's two for the slopes! You'll have to share your Mongolia stories - definitely a place I've always wanted to visit.

    My infant excel skills will have to look into  nested if statements - sounds like it would make my life a lot easier.



    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 12-13-2021 14:37

    Hello Fellow Members!!

    I'm Paula Batras, Senior Customer Marketing Manager here at Vena Solutions. It's our team's mission to bring value to your success across the board. Finding ways to improve your Vena experience is in our DNA:)

    My favourite Excel feature is real simple. Filtering and sorting data.

    I don't have a dog... so there's that. I was born and raised in Toronto where I also raised my 2 amazing daughters. I'm a total music junkie, traveller, thrifter, and a self proclaimed DIY interior decorator. In my spare time I love painting, designing, cheffing it up and entertaining friends. 

    Very much looking forward to connecting and growing together!



    ------------------------------
    Paula Batras
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 11-15-2021 11:57
    Brian Hyde here.  I am the director of FP&A at Maverik.  We operate about 380 convenience stores in the Western US.  Maverik is headquartered in SLC, Utah.  I've been with the company for a little over 6 years now and have been with Vena for the last 4.  We are loving Vena and have really streamlined our annual planning process with it.  We've also revolutionized the periodic P&L review process with our directors and VPs and are continually enhancing our process.

    Outside of work, I spend most of my recreation time out in the mountains.  I do a lot of trail running and rock climbing in the summer and a lot of skiing in the winter.  At home, I have 4 kiddos (3 boys ages 12 to 9, 1 girl who is 7).  So, my wife has the more challenging job.

    I always happy to connect with other Vena users and finance pros in general!

    ------------------------------
    Brian Hyde
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 11-15-2021 12:04
    Nice to meet you Brian. I have been in your Maverik stores. They are nice and you sell ethanol-free gas! I use it in my small engine equipment- chainsaws and whatnot.

    ------------------------------
    Brandon Combs
    Director of Finance
    Young Life
    Colorado Springs CO
    18287735371
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-15-2021 17:06
    We have a skier in the house! Hopefully we can organize a Vena Nation at the slopes - or at least a satellite event. Excited to have you on the forums Brian!

    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 11.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 11-15-2021 12:00
    Hi all!

    Clement Marlin, Senior finance specialist at WWF-Canada. The environmental NGO, not the wrestling org.
    More info about our mission here!

    Enjoying Vena since early 2019 and still discovering some new functionalities.

    Favourite Excel feature is a tricky question. The INDIRECT formula is very dear to my heart but I also discovered the UNIQUE and FILTER functions recently, and I found them pretty cool (as cool as Excel formulas can be at least).

    I look forward to sharing best practices in reporting and budgeting, especially in the NFP sector, learning new Vena functions, and all the moral support that the community can bring!


    ------------------------------
    Clement Marlin
    ------------------------------



  • 12.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-15-2021 17:05
    You may not be associated to the wrestling org but you're still the people's champ in FP&A! ;)

    Going to have to try that INDIRECT formula, this marketer is a padawan for Excel

    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 13.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 11-15-2021 13:26
    Hello Friends!

    My name is Madison Estes and I am currently a Financial Analyst at 
    Maverik (with the one and only Brian Hyde!). I have been with the company for almost two years and have been using Vena since my first day on the job.  We are loving Vena!

    Outside of work, I teach indoor cycling and spend time with my dog Rosie. 

    Looking forward to furthering our connections!


    ------------------------------
    Madison Estes
    ------------------------------



  • 14.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-15-2021 17:09

    Madison! Welcome to the forums and great to see you! What is your stance on Paleton? Do you own one?

    Also, welcome and hello fellow dog parent! I have one too who makes sure there are no left overs from dinner.



    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 15.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-15-2021 18:38
    Hi Everyone!

    I'm Frank Del Pinto, Senior Director of Product Marketing here at Vena and our task is to make sure both our customers and upcoming customers know everything they need to know about our product. We're only successful when you're armed with all the latest news about new and existing features, access to early releases or betas and have seen where the product is headed.

    My favourite Excel feature is the simplest - inserting multiple rows at once (highlight rows + right click Insert).

    The newest addition to my family is our french bulldog - her name is Picco. Picco is short for Piccolina which is Italian for the little one. She definitely small but with a big personality.

    Can't wait to connect with you here in our new PlanToGrow Forum! Feel free to message me!

    PS. Picco welcomes you too!
    Picco says Haaaaaay!!!

    ------------------------------
    Frank Del Pinto
    ------------------------------



  • 16.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-16-2021 10:15
    Welcome Frank! Looks like we have a sub-dog family crew happening over here. Yes! Would love your insight into product and to gather the feedback for the team in general. Great!

    Also, double snap to your excel feature :p

    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 17.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 11-16-2021 13:19

    Hi all. I'm Brendan Eger, Assoc. Dir. of Information Systems and Analytics at Partners In Health (PIH). I've been with PIH for over 7 years and using Vena for just about 4 years for grant and operational budgeting, compensation planning, and occasionally capital and procurement planning. PIH provides healthcare to communities most in need, often in rural areas with the least access, in 10 countries across the globe. At PIH, we believe strongly in accompaniment by working side by side and I hope to bring that same ethos to this community.

    My favorite Excel feature is a combination of the LEFT and FIND functions, used to separate part of some text in a cell (typically a code from it's accompanying description).

    Though PIH's US office is in Boston, I've been working remotely from New Orleans for the past 4 years which allows me lots of time with my dog Marengo (seen below in the smoky mountains of Tennessee).



    ------------------------------
    Brendan Eger
    ------------------------------



  • 18.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-16-2021 17:45

    Brendan! Thanks for joining the party! We definitely need a separate Finance Furry Friend thread up in these Forums ;) 

    Umm...do you have a youtube video for your favourite excel feature? I could really really use that.

    Marengo is a beauty!



    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 19.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 11-16-2021 14:18

    Hi all!

    My name is Christine Sawyer and I am the Director of Finance and Accounting at the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). ACHE is a professional society for healthcare leaders and is the professional home for over 48,000 healthcare executives.

    I like many Excel features, but pivot tables still have my heart.

    We've been with Vena for two years. We have only done a few new things beyond the processes we implemented with. Looking forward to engaging with this group on finance and accounting topics as well as Vena use cases, tips and tricks!



    ------------------------------
    [Christine] [Sawyer] [CAE]
    [Director, Finance and Accounting]
    [American College of Healthcare Executives]
    [Chicago] [IL]
    [312-424-9391]
    ------------------------------



  • 20.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-16-2021 17:46
    Hi Christine! Pivot tables for the win and thanks for joining the Forums! Looking forward to growing together!

    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 21.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 11-17-2021 16:39
    Hey everyone. I'm Devendra, but everyone calls me Dev. I am a Senior Manager at Capstone Infrastructure Corporation. Capstone is a developer, owner, and operator of clean and renewable energy projects across North America. Our portfolio includes approximately 766MW gross installed capacity across 29 facilities, including wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and natural gas cogeneration power plants.

    We have been with Vena since 2015, initially implementing it as an account reconciliation solution, but since then we have expanded the use case to include our KPI, business planning and reforecasting reporting. The journey has been great, and the payback from the solution incredible.

    Favorite excel feature is INDEX(Match) or using shortcuts to cut down on the mouse usage. Outside of work, I am an avid traveler, and excited to be travelling post-covid lockdowns! Look forward to sharing ideas, and connecting with everyone!

    ------------------------------
    Devendra Kalwani
    ------------------------------



  • 22.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-19-2021 09:53
    Hi Dev! Welcome and thanks for adding your starpower to the forums! I am all for reducing mouse usage - amen! Where do you think the next travel spot will be?

    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 23.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-18-2021 11:04
    Hi all! My name is Jonathan Paul and I am the Director of Content and Communications here at Vena. Very excited to join you all here in the Plan To Grow Forum!

    Truman! We share a brain. Pivot table are the bees knees and also my favourite Excel feature.

    And when I'm not busy overseeing Vena's content strategy and production, I'm spending time with my wife, my toddler and, when the weather is nice, on the golf course. Excited to meet you all!

    ------------------------------
    Jon Paul
    ------------------------------



  • 24.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 11-19-2021 09:34
    Hello All,

    My name is Garrett Litwin. I am the Director of Corporate Finance with FirstService Residential. We are a residential property management company in North America with 1.2 billion in revenues. My favorite excel feature is VENA! My fun fact is I bowl in a league once a week.

    Look forward to syncing with all of you.

    Garrett

    ------------------------------
    Garrett Litwin
    ------------------------------



  • 25.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-19-2021 09:54

    Garrett you smooth operator with the excel feature. We're blushing and thank you!

    We have a few mighty lanes up here. Let's make sure to get you over and have a few games!



    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 26.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 11-19-2021 09:51
    Love me some good pivots! Welcome Jon! Let's have a Plan To Grow golf trip for all of our members some time ;)

    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 27.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 11-22-2021 20:17
    Helloooooo....is anyone out there?

    I'm Dominic DiBernardo and I'm currently a Partner at Citrin Cooperman as my former company, The DB Group, was just acquired by them. I have the unique perspective of being both a client of Vena's (almost 6 years) and an implementation partner (almost 3 years).

    Vena had me at Excel! (Vena and Excel really are better together)

    My background is in Corporate Finance and in 2014 I accelerated my career as a finance professional by implementing Vena and elevating Finance to that of a strategic partner allowing me to design my own C-Suite role as Chief Business Intelligence Officer at Cumming Group. It was so good for my career that I decided to do it at scale by starting a business that exclusively implements Vena - that was The DB Group.

    Since I'm in a Vena forum it might be challenged but I've always described myself as THE Vena evangelist.

    My favorite excel feature is Goal Seek...I'm still shocked how many finance professionals still have never used it.

    The only thing interesting and out of the norm besides my extreme obsession with Vena is that I can do MAGIC!

    ------------------------------
    Dominic DiBernardo
    ------------------------------



  • 28.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 12-08-2021 15:02
    You're a legend Dom! Hope the trip was well. Now that you're back, we'll have to host a session with you around Goal Seek ;)

    Not to mention...MAGIC WHAT? You more of a card guy or illusionist?

    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 29.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 12-03-2021 21:00
    I am a self-employed part-time interim controller, FP&A director, and special projects manager.    I currently consult with ElderCare Alliance, a non-profit management firm for five senior living facilities offering assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing and independent living. I was the project manager on their Vena implementation that went live January 2021 with Budget and Reporting.   Phase 2 was Forecasting, Compliance Reporting and improving the Phase 1 templates.   Phase 3 is Account Reconciliations; template automation; fancier reporting; importing more statistical information; Excel charts; and hopefully some more Data Visualization

    I like all of the formula functions in Excel, and copy>paste>transpose

    My first career was as a research economist and my first job was to study the market potential for hydrogen power automobiles in Belgium from 1980 to 2020.  There was no potential then for that timeframe and my prediction proved accurate.  Today I read extensively about climate change.  I serve on the leadership team of Sustainable Rossmoor. We advocate for adoption of renewable energy, electric vehicles, planet friendly diets, forest preservation and more.   I enjoy spending time with like-minded retirees from a broad range of professions to address serious world issues on a local basis.




    ------------------------------
    Amanda Casey
    ------------------------------



  • 30.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 12-09-2021 22:30

    Amanda! Hello again and welcome to the forum. This is really great and to show how you are growing with Vena. Excel charts and Data Visualization - oh lala. Love it!

    Your background is so fascinating. Lots to discuss on hydrogen powered automobiles. Perhaps a seperate dedicated thread? :)



    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 31.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 12-10-2021 12:39

    Hi Everyone!

    I'm Irene Tang (no relation to our very own Truman here :)), Community Marketing Manager at Vena Solutions. I just joined the team this past Monday, and I'm looking forward to getting to know each of you and to provide as much value to you through the forums.

    My favourite Excel features would be using vlookups, pivot tables, and definitely the auto-recovery (that's saved me a lot of hours of work!).

    Outside of work, I'm usually spending time with my retired racing greyhound, Toby! I adopted him back in 2016, where he previously raced in Florida (albeit, not very well since he retired just after 5 races).

    I'm looking forward to the great conversations we're going to have here!





    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 32.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 12-13-2021 14:47
    Hi All,

    I'm Casey Bork, and I'm the Accounting Manager at Boulder Associates.  We are an architecture firm that specializes in healthcare.

    My favorite Excel feature is VLOOKUP.

    My interesting fact... I grew up on a dude ranch.  Spent my childhood riding horses and meeting people from all around the world.


    ------------------------------
    Casey Bork
    ------------------------------



  • 33.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 12-29-2021 11:26

    Casey! Welcome welcome!

    Apologies for the late reply. I clicked submit and went into some digital paperwork then came back a few later to realize it didn't post!

    VLOOKUP is so classic. :) 

    What are your horses names?



    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 34.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 12-30-2021 10:37
    We had hundreds of horses.... I don't have any anymore which breaks my heart.  Growing up stinks.

    ------------------------------
    Casey Bork
    ------------------------------



  • 35.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 12-21-2021 13:20
    Hello Everyone!

    I'm Tracy Cook, Business Intelligence Manager at ACME Lift.  The job title is a little deceiving - my tasks lean way more into Financial Reporting Manager/ Accounting fill-in along with technology representative for our very lean & mean Accounting / Finance team.

    I like to call my department BDASS: Business Development and Accounting Shared Services

    ACME is a pretty unique company where we own Earth Moving Equipment (I like to call them Big Boy Toys) and rent out to companies so that they don't have to cash flow large equipment purchases.

    We are now in our 4th year of using VENA for our Consolidations, Financial Reporting, Budgeting and Equipment tracking/reporting.
    I can't imagine life without it, honestly.

    My new favorite excel feature is the indirect function. It's shaved hours off my month end close and once you learn it you can certainly "wow" people. Hopefully next week I'll find an even cooler feature.

    I'm always on the hunt for finding nerdy excel shortcuts - can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!




    ------------------------------
    Tracy Cook
    ------------------------------



  • 36.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 12-29-2021 11:18

    Tracy Cook in the house!!! 

    BDASS needs to be a tshirt and I would place boxes of orders. :)

    Also, the indirect function is super new to me. I would be one of the first to sign up - especially if it's taught by you as a workshop.



    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 37.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 01-11-2022 18:17
    Hello Everyone!

    Sorry I'm late to the party but the last few months have been full of long hours and countless meetings. My name is Juan Bravo and I am the Sr. Financial Analyst for Beacon Specialized Living Services, a mental health services provider headquartered in Michigan but providing services to folks in need in five states. We are constantly growing (just acquired another company in December), and Vena has been instrumental in making that possible. As a company we've been using Vena for 5 years now, and we are still amazed at what it has helped us achieve.

    Favorite Excel feature/formula would have to be Index(Match) formulas, which I use everyday. Oh and also always trying to find ways to not use my keyboard.

    I look forward to future discussions and networking as much as possible with other Vena-nites!


    ------------------------------
    Juan Bravo
    ------------------------------



  • 38.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 01-12-2022 09:11
    Welcome Juan!!

    Glad to have you on board, I'm excited to see all the discussions to be had! It's great to hear how Vena's helped in your growth, I'm sure there's lots of learnings to share with everyone here!
    Index(Match) formulas are fantastic - used them frequently in a lot of my old reporting! And love the quest to not use the keyboard!

    Excited to have you here! 🎉

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 39.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 01-14-2022 16:45
    Hi Everyone,

    Very happy to be here!  It's awesome to see the early adopters (and some of our favourite people from the Vena Community) contributing to the foundation of Plan to Grow forums.

    I'm Tim Szego, Vice President of Customer Success here at Vena. I've had the pleasure of scaling our customer success team over the last 3.5 years from 5 to 25 people with a focus on building trust and guiding our customers to continued value through every stage of their unique finance transformation journey.

    My favourite excel feature is PivotTables which, in addition to Adhoc in Vena, are powerful tools I use almost daily to slide/dice data to plan and for operational purposes.

    Interesting fact: Earlier in my career, I unexpectedly became the homepage welcome image of "Topliners" community that had over 100,000 users. This made attending our annual user conference a fun experience where undoubtedly several people who I hadn't had the opportunity to meet would insist they knew me from somewhere.  Hoping that in time our "Venanites" can experience something similar when we grow this community to 100,000+!

    I can't wait to connect with customers through this new channel and see the collaboration and knowledge sharing in the coming months!


    ------------------------------
    Tim Szego
    Vice President, Customer Success
    Vena Solutions
    Toronto
    ------------------------------



  • 40.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 02-03-2022 09:39
    Hello Hello!

    I'm Thanusan, Customer Success Manager ("CSM") here at Vena. I get the pleasure of working closely with our Mid-Market customers to ensure that their organizations feel well equipped and excited about leveraging Vena internally - ultimately leading to an optimal ROI for our customers from their Vena investment.

    My favorite Excel feature/formula has always been vlookups, so simple yet effective!

    Fun fact, when I'm not CSMing or spending time with my wife and - at time of writing - 7 month old daughter, I moonlight as a Bollywood Dance Fitness Instructor.

    Looking forward to some engaging conversations in this forum!
    Thanusan

    ------------------------------
    Thanusan Chelva
    ------------------------------



  • 41.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 02-07-2022 12:17
    hi,
    I'm Josh, head of Financial Systems & Change at Citizens Advice, a large UK based charity. Great to see some other NFP representation here.

    We implemented Vena about 18 months ago and are really pleased with its impact - it has been significantly more efficient that our previous tool, and most valuably, supported us in managing our complex needs around staffing when budgeting/forecasting & reporting, something which was just hugely manual and spreadsheeted before.

    Lots of love for Excel but my favourite (or at least favourite that hasn't already been mentioned much) is tables. Using them can really simplify calculations & pivot tables & just generally tracking where data is etc.

    We're currently gearing up to change our underlying finance system (currently Infor SunSystems)... our very positive experience implementing Vena gives me great (too much?!) confidence we can also move to a more SaaS ledger system. Maybe with better integration to Vena (though our current way works fine)!

    I haven't yet been able to ski/board with my two daughters (4 & almost 2) but am absolutely desperate to get back out on the slopes again.




    ------------------------------
    Josh Weinberg
    ------------------------------



  • 42.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 02-07-2022 14:27
    Welcome Josh!! So glad to have you here in the forums 🥳
    Tables are so handy, I know I don't use them as often as I should. Hopefully you'll find time this winter to hit the slopes, but if not, maybe watching the Olympics can fill that void!

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 43.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 02-08-2022 10:55
    • Role & company -
      • Senior Financial Analyst with New Sunshine LLC, better known by our SPF sunscreen and other skin products line Australian Gold.
    • Favourite excel feature
      • I have recently become a big fan of xlookup and hlookup. 
    • One interesting fact
      • I have lived in all states that begin with an "I" except Idaho.


    ------------------------------
    Benjamin Cleaver
    ------------------------------



  • 44.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 02-08-2022 12:00
    Welcome Benjamin!! So happy to have you join us on the forums 🎉!
    I'm seeing more and more people talk about xlookup and hlookup! My go-to is always the good ol' vlookup. And that's such a cool fact! As a Canadian, I had to Google how many states started with an "I", but now I know 😄!

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 45.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 02-11-2022 16:55

    Hi everyone, my name is Gus Arndt and I work at Oakworth Capital Bank. I have been a part of the CFO's office for going on 6 years now, though doing various different roles in that time. I am currently our Data Analytics & Business Intelligence manager, but like most of the people on this forum, more commonly known as the data person for our organization.

    My favorite excel feature is Power Query. All the x/h/vlookups are significantly easier for me with Power Query, and it is obviously a core part of Power BI, so I get to leverage the skills in both systems.

    We are still relatively new on Vena, as we have quickly approaching our 1 year anniversary, but we have already reaped the benefits we set out to accomplish with more granular and accessible budget scenarios, as well as daily reporting that simply wasn't good on our core. I am very excited to interface with you and learn how you are leveraging Vena and its connection with Power BI.



    ------------------------------
    Gus Arndt
    ------------------------------



  • 46.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 02-11-2022 17:22
    Big welcome, Gus! Super excited to have you join us on the forums and to build this community together! 🎉
    Very glad to hear that Vena has provided so much benefit to you and your team! I'm sure there will be lots of knowledge sharing on the forums so everyone can level up their skills! 📈

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 47.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 02-14-2022 17:47
    To introduce myself (finally)

    Jeff Kaminsky with a few roles at Buckman Labs (chemical manufacturer)..I am the Corporate Controller as well as the Sales FP&A "Guy".  In the past have done Sales FP&A and Corporate FP&A plus a few other finance/consulting roles.

    I'm not sure I have a favorite excel feature, but I know I rely too much on pivot tables and have been trying to get away from that.

    My interesting fact would be that I live in Memphis, TN despite moving away twice and saying that I'd never come back (the first time).  The second time we tried to stay but my company paid field trip had to end with a transfer back to HQ.

    ------------------------------
    Jeff Kaminsky
    ------------------------------



  • 48.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 02-15-2022 11:07
    Welcome, Jeff!! Glad to have you here and engaging in the forums!
    Pivot tables are so handy, I can see how anyone would rely on them a lot. And that's such a fun fact, who knows, maybe 3rd time's the charm? 😂

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 49.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 02-16-2022 15:59
    Hi everyone!!

    I am thrilled to be the newest member of the Plan To Grow Forum! My name is Tika Sithiravadivel and I am a Customer Success Manager at Vena Solutions where I get to work closely with our customers to ensure their success with Vena. It's exciting to already seeing some familiar faces on this thread!

    I'd have to agree with @Dominic DiBernardo and double down on Goal Seek and the 2 Data Variable tables being my favourite excel features! Definitely takes me back to the good old days of financial modeling.

    Outside of work, I have a huge passion for Bharathanatyam, the classical dance originating from South India. As a student, I used to travel to India each Summer to train professionally, and now I teach my own classes on the weekends!

    I'm very excited to be part of this group and get to know all of you better. :)

    ------------------------------
    Tika Sithiravadivel
    ------------------------------



  • 50.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 03-08-2022 09:57
    Greetings.  Late to introduce myself but here goes.  I am VP, Finance at World Wildlife Fund Canada [WWF-Canada].  Please note 'Fund' not 'Federation'.  Pet peeve is seeing 'federation' in the media.  In my past I have worked for a bank, a mutual fund company, conference event organization [the company produces 2 day and three day industry or topic conferences].  I have served on the Board of Directors for the Toronto Wildlife Centre and on the Condo Board for the building where I live.  I am a CPA, CMA specializing in management accounting - I was never an auditor.  My role is to lead a team of accounting and finance staff.  Timely, accurate processing of transactions.  Planning, forecasting, controlling future transactions.

    At this stage of my career I don't do a lot of Excel functions.  My interests right now is upgrading to modern systems and processes to create efficiencies.  Implementing Vena was one project.  A cloud-based invoice and expense software solution was another.  Currently WWF-Canada is looking to do a full system upgrade replacing MS Dynamics GP (2018), Blackbaud's Raisers' Edge 7, and introducing an integrated ERP/CRM platform.

    Interesting fact?  Not sure. I own a Shar-Pei.  What's interesting is that the colours are 'blue' and white.  A 'flowered' Shar-Pei.  Very unique.

    ------------------------------
    David Cornfield
    ------------------------------



  • 51.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 03-10-2022 15:51
    Welcome David!! Better late than never to the Introduction thread party! 😊
    Sounds like lots of exciting projects going on at WWF-Canada! I'm sure the forums will definitely benefit from your passions and expertise, as well as being a place where you can also get some great tips.

    I love Shar-Peis!! Would love to see any pictures of your pup (I'm a huge fan of dogs!). Here's my boy - he's a 7 year old retired racing greyhound!


    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 52.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 03-08-2022 12:04
    Hello VENA users,

    My name is Christopher Rivera. I am the current Finance Systems Administrator for Liberty Bank in Middletown, Connecticut. I look forward to using this forum to share and discuss how we all use the VENA tool to further optimize all our experiences with the benefits VENA can provide.

    Thank you

    ------------------------------
    Christopher Rivera
    ------------------------------



  • 53.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 03-10-2022 15:44
    Welcome Christopher!! Happy to see you here and engaging on the forums 🎉!

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 54.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 03-09-2022 16:23
    Hi All,

    My name is Nick Tsutsumi and I'm currently a Sr. Financial Analyst at a SaaS startup called Propel PLM.  I've previously worked for a multi-hospital NFP health system, a publicly traded bank, and one of the Big 4 accounting firms.

    Hard to choose only one, but one of my favorite excel features is formula-driven conditional formatting.

    An interesting fact is that I live in Hawaii.

    Still early in our Vena journey at Propel (we're in the implementation phase) but very excited about all the capabilities with Excel functionality.

    ------------------------------
    Nick Tsutsumi
    ------------------------------



  • 55.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 03-10-2022 15:43
    Welcome Nick!! So glad to have you on here, I think you'll find a lot of great insights from our fellow members on Vena's capabilities!
    And wow, Hawaii! That's one of my bucket list places to visit. Hopefully I'll get to go one day 🤞

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 56.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 03-17-2022 16:00
    Hi Everyone!

    I'm Glen Camden, Customer Success Manager at Vena! I'm a huge Excel forum fan and I love this Vena forum idea - way to go Truman and team!

    My favourite Excel feature would be impossible to choose just one, but I love the new Lamda and Let functions!

    I live about 3 hours north of Toronto with my wife and 2 Cavapoo pups and grew up on the Canada's east coast in a city called Halifax.

    Looking forward to meeting and interacting with you all!

    ------------------------------
    Glen Camden Camden
    ------------------------------



  • 57.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 03-22-2022 08:42
    I had never heard of the LAMBDA function... it looks so cool (in an Excel-cool kind of way!), thanks Glen!

    ------------------------------
    Clement Marlin
    ------------------------------



  • 58.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Founding Member
    Posted 03-25-2022 08:04
    really interesting @Glen Camden Camden I was also intrigued by Lambda & Let functions ... not for the first time (especially in a Vena context) I feel I'm slightly missing out by being in a Google-first org that doesn't have Excel 365!​

    ------------------------------
    Josh Weinberg
    ------------------------------



  • 59.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 03-23-2022 16:09
    Hello,

    My name is Vicente Balmoja. I work as a Financial Reporting Specialist for MedPOINT Management based in California. We're new to Vena and we're still currently getting it fully set up. After using it for awhile, it became my new favorite toy at work. Vena has made creating financial reports easier and more fun. There are still a lot of things I need to learn about it and I can't wait to try them out and use them to make my reports better.

    I don't really have a favorite feature in excel because I think all of them are great.

    One interesting fact about me is that I studied and graduated with a bachelors degree in Biology but I ended working in Finance. I guess, sometimes, things don't go the way you plan it to be but I'm very happy working in Finance.

    I look forward networking with you all! I'm sure I will learn a lot!

    ------------------------------
    Vicente Balmoja
    ------------------------------



  • 60.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 03-24-2022 13:43
    Welcome Vicente!! Glad to have you here in the Forums, and it makes me so glad that you're enjoying Vena so much! There's going to be a lot of content on the forums and great minds to share best practices 💪
    Also, totally understand what you mean by things not going to plan. I started off my bachelors in Accounting & Finance, and found my passion in marketing (... and then ended up back in the finance space 😂!)

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    ------------------------------



  • 61.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 04-12-2022 12:20
    I am late to the introduction game and jumped right into discussions so a little backtracking here!

    My name is Olivia MacDonald and I'm a Senior Manager of Financial Systems and Operations here at Vena (aka Finance Transformation in other organisations). Our Vena implementation probably has the award for being the longest-running out of all our customers so now our team is working to push the boundaries of what Vena can do, while also making sure we're benefiting from features that weren't available when we first implemented.

    My favourite excel feature is vlookup and I am finding the transition to xlookup so hard after depending on vlookup for so much of my career! I originally joined Vena as a consultant and it was actually a client who had me join the xlookup fan club but it's hard not to revert to old faithful vlookup. I am also a fan of nested IF statements and (sadly) enjoy them as much as finishing a sudoku. I am definitely in the right job!

    My interesting fact is I am from Ireland and originally came to Canada to get one year's international experience. Three years later, I'm pretty smitten with the place. I also have an incredibly well-traveled dog who went from living in a shelter in Ireland to alternating her holiday season between Florida, Ireland, and Toronto. She is living the life.



    ------------------------------
    Olivia MacDonald
    ------------------------------



  • 62.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 04-13-2022 09:20
    Hi Everyone!

    I'm Heather Birker, a Sr. Practice Manager here at Vena. Really excited to be a part of the forum and meet so many new faces!

    My favourite excel feature would have to be the good old vlookup - though I'm interested in learning about all of these excel shortcuts in the #nomouseclub thread!

    When I'm not working, I'm running! While pushing my 1 year old in the jogging stroller to add a bit of a challenge!



    ------------------------------
    Heather Birker
    ------------------------------



  • 63.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 04-13-2022 12:17
    Hi everyone! It's nice to see some friendly names and faces. For those I haven't had a chance to meet, my name is Michelle. I'm a Senior Training Specialist at Vena, where I've had the fortune to meet and train over 1000 unique individuals. I look forward to meeting and growing with everyone here!

    Like you Truman, I'm also a big fan of Pivot Tables, and Vena is a bit like a massive pivot table but much more flexible and powerful. I also like Index Match for finding data, and graphs for visuals. Speaking of visuals, (shameless plug) Tuesday, May 10th has all day sessions on Power BI content. Check it out!

    Now that the weather is nice, on the weekends you'll find me on the golf course looking for my golf balls in the weeds.

    Look forward to seeing everyone at the sessions! Cheers!

    ------------------------------
    Michelle Sun
    ------------------------------



  • 64.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 04-14-2022 09:51
    Hi everyone,

    Excited to be here and looking forward to connecting, chatting and growing with you all. For those of you I have not met, my name is Sarah and I am Director of Brand and Creative Services on the marketing dream team here at Vena. 


    When I am not aligning with Venanites to bring the Vena brand to life, you can find me on the ski hill with my kiddos (two boys aged one and five), listening to audiobooks, traveling or painting landscapes!

    Look forward to chatting and seeing your faces at the sessions.


    ------------------------------
    Sarah Carter
    ------------------------------



  • 65.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-09-2022 17:26

    Hi Everyone,

    Nice to meet you all virtually! Vena opens up a world of Excel knowledge that I've never known before, hoping to learn more from each other!

    Role & company -- Choy Chu, Manager of FP&A at Pipedrive
    Favorite excel features -- vlookup and pivot tables
    One interesting fact -- I only recently picked up guitar lessons and realized I cannot count beats...



    ------------------------------
    Choy Chu
    Planning Manager
    Pipedrive
    ------------------------------



  • 66.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-10-2022 08:43
    Welcome to the Forums, Choy!! So glad to have you here during Excelerate 🌱
    Learning guitar has been one of those bucket list items for me, but I can recall my same struggle of counting beats when I learned music in elementary school!
    Can't wait to see all the great conversations to be had with you here! 😊

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    Community Marketing Manager
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 67.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-10-2022 08:49
    Hey all!

    • Role & company: Director Financial Operations, Arcos LLC.
    • Favourite Excel feature: PowerBI 
    • One interesting fact: Spent 2 years in Air Force Pilot Training before finding out I couldn't see well enough to fly 😳


    ------------------------------
    Gabe Denny
    Director, Financial Operations
    Arcos, LLC
    ------------------------------



  • 68.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-10-2022 10:51
    Welcome to the community, Gabe! So happy to have you here!
    Oh wow!! That's an interesting fact indeed! Do you need 20/20 vision to fly planes? 😮

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    Community Marketing Manager
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 69.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-10-2022 12:21
    Haha no you don't need that...I have better than 20/20 but had undetected anisometropia which impacted my depth perception...kind of kept trying to crash into other planes while flying (which is bad).  

    ------------------------------
    Gabe Denny
    Director, Financial Operations
    Arcos, LLC
    ------------------------------



  • 70.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-10-2022 13:05
    There's vision that's better than 20/20 🤯?! But yes, crashing into other planes would be a bad thing 😆

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    Community Marketing Manager
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 71.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-10-2022 12:13
    Hi All,

    Ed Fuchs here. I am the Director of FP&A at Scentbird, a DTC subscription fragrance company that helps users find the scent that the love with an easy queuing process. I've been here a few months, and we are definitely reliant on a a lot of heavy excel models that are slow, error-prone, and overly complicated. While I'm first focusing on getting the reporting and forecasting in order, my mid-term plan is to bring on a better solution (like Vena possibly), to help improve quality of life for the finance and accounting teams, and provide better visibility to management of the KPIs that matter.

    My favorite excel featuee by far is Power Query and Power Pivot. Since learning how to use these tools, I feel like I am incorporating them into almost everything I do!

    Doesn't say that it has to be an interesting fact about me....so I'm just going to put out there that everyone includes the Pterodactyl when talking about dinosaurs, but it wasn't one! It's a pterosaur!

    ------------------------------
    Edouard Fuchs
    Director of FP&A
    Scentbird
    ------------------------------



  • 72.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-10-2022 14:09
    Welcome to the community, Ed! So glad to have you here in this community 🌱
    This is the place for you! We have a lot of fantastic community members who have great insights and best practices to share, so I'm sure you'll enjoy your experience here!
    I had to Google your dinosaur fact myself, I couldn't believe it! 🦖 I'm always learning something new in the forums!!

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    Community Marketing Manager
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 73.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-10-2022 16:53
    Hello all!  I'm excited to learn how to further use Vena to improve efficiency and let's be honest, make the accountants look like wizards!
    My name is Toby Reel, Director of Corporate Accounting @ White Castle.  Yes, that White Castle - where Harold and Kumar went on a wild journey a few times.
    We have been using Vena since 2015/2016 and use it for budgeting, P&L and some forecasting.

    Favorite Excel function is Power Query - I love to setup database connections where the data just comes to me preprocessed and formatted.

    interesting fact - my first job was climbing tv towers, it gives a great perspective. :)





    ------------------------------
    Tobin Reel
    Director of Corporate Accounting
    White Castle
    ------------------------------



  • 74.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-10-2022 17:24
    Welcome, Toby to the community!
    Glad to have you here and I'm sure everyone in the forums would love to share some of their secrets! 🧙‍♂️
    Amazing!! I'm sure anyone who sees this post will be looking to you for a burger connection 🍔
    Also - love the subtle pun; was it intended? Haha!

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    Community Marketing Manager
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 75.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-13-2022 14:43
    Hi All,

    Im Steve Vosburg, Sr Manager of FP&A at Phillips Pet. My team and I are responsible for all reporting and planning functions at Phillips for our Operations, Transportation and Sales Fuctions.

    I am currently engaged getting married in September and we have 2 cats named Hot Dog and Relish and a frog named Shake. We had two frogs but Shake ate Milk, so only one frog now.

    ------------------------------
    Steven Vosburg
    Senior Manager - Financial Planning & Analysis
    Phillips Feed Service, Inc
    ------------------------------



  • 76.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-13-2022 15:30
    Welcome to the Forum, Steven! So glad to have you here and I'm looking forward to the great conversations to be had.
    Congratulations on the engagement and I bet there's a lot of excitement for September to roll around!

    I love the names of your pets 🐱🐸!! Although your story of Milk and Shake (I get the names now 😂) really took me on a journey!

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    Community Marketing Manager
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 77.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-13-2022 15:10
    Hello! I am the Finance Manager at Mitsubishi Chemical: Methacrylates Division.  My favorite excel feature is SUMIFS.  I enjoy reading and running (not at the same time) in my spare time.

    ------------------------------
    Cindy Tynan
    Finance Manager
    Mitsubishi Chemical
    ------------------------------



  • 78.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-13-2022 15:35
    Hi Cindy and welcome to the Forum!! 🌱
    So happy to have you here and I'm excited for all the great conversations to be had!
    It would be quite impressive if you did read and run at the same time 😂 (although does listening to audio books while running count? 🤔)

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    Community Marketing Manager
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 79.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 07-13-2022 14:25
    Hello all!    I'm Kimberly Joyce, CFO of RL Hudson in Oklahoma and our sub, Rapid Production Tooling in Colorado.   We are brand new on our Vena journey and targeting to go live on 9/30 in advance of our 2023 budget kickoff.

    I love all things Excel, but particularly Goal Seek,  Pivot Tables, and "Find & Replace"

    I have two dogs, two cats, a daughter getting married in December, and a husband with never-ending patience  :-)
    When I'm not at work, I'm at Pilates, in my garden, or working in the community.  I've served on several non-profit boards and am currently President-Elect of Resonance Center for Women and Secretary for Tulsa Girls Art School.

    ------------------------------
    Kimberly Joyce
    Chief Financial Officer
    RL Hudson
    ------------------------------



  • 80.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 07-13-2022 15:43
    Hi Kimberly & welcome to the community! So glad to have you here, especially as you start off your journey with Vena 🌱

    I had to Google what Goal Seek was, and wow!! I wish I knew this tool in my previous role - it would've saved me so much time.

    Sounds like you're busy on and off work! I recently tried out Pilates and it's so much harder and a challenge than I thought it would be, but such a satisfying workout!

    Please feel free to reach out to me or anyone in the community if you have any questions or comments. I want to make sure this community brings value to all of the members! 😊

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    Community Marketing Manager
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 81.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 07-14-2022 16:57
    Hi there, everyone. I am Tasha Orange and it is very nice to virtually meet you.

    My organization is new to Vena and I am still trying to understand it all. I joined this forum in hopes to leverage some of the knowledge resources available in my peers, reading and Venamites (I don't know why I just LOVE that Venamite tag, lol). I look forward to growing my knowledge so that I can also be a resource to other Vena users.

    I am a Manager of Finance and Accounting at a Florida insurance brokerage company. I've been with my organization for about 15 years now and I love what I do as well as the organization.

    My favorite excel feature is Power Pivot and Power Query.... it brings me happiness to pull many things together and make them one report, with substance and meaning.

    One interesting fact is that my whole life has been one heck of a ride so far, in the greatest way possible.

    I look forward to getting to know some or all of you! :)

    ------------------------------
    Tasha Orange
    Accounting & Finance Manager
    US Assure
    ------------------------------



  • 82.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 07-15-2022 09:00
    Welcome Tasha to the Forum!! So excited to have you here 🥳

    We have an amazing community of people who are willing to help and share their knowledge, so I'm looking forward to seeing this community to grow more with your presence. I'm always around to help and find the answers for the community too!

    Can't say I've used Power Pivot or Power Query much - but it sounds like they are powerful tools! 😂

    This one heck of a ride life sounds very interesting - would love to hear more about it!

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    Community Marketing Manager
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 83.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 08-05-2022 11:21
    Hi everyone!!

    I am super excited to be the newest member of the Plan To Grow Forum! My name is Andrew Gabriel and I am a Enterprise Customer Success Manager at Vena Solutions where I get to work some of our larger customers and help them realize effeciencies in their financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting processes. I have been at Vena for almost 3 years now!

    Although I would not consider myself an excel nerd since moving out of the traditional CPA world, some of my fav excel functions are Index Match and Goal Seek!

    Outside of work, I love spending time with my dog - Stitch, keeping up with all things electric vehicles and energy transition, and listening to investing podcasts!

    I'm very much looking forward to be part of this group and get to know all of you better. :)

    ------------------------------
    Andrew Gabriel

    ------------------------------
    Andrew Gabriel
    Manager, Customer Success
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 84.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 08-08-2022 14:44
    It is very nice to meet you, Andrew! Full disclosure, I am going to Google goal seek, so thanks for sharing!!! :)

    ------------------------------
    Tasha Orange
    ------------------------------



  • 85.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 08-09-2022 20:21
    Hi Everyone
    Graham Walters CFO of Jason Windows, a company in Western Australia. We have been a vena user since Nov 2017. Always seeking how to do more with vena and really like the integration with PowerBi.

    ------------------------------
    Graham Walters
    CFO
    Jason Windows
    ------------------------------



  • 86.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 08-11-2022 09:26
    Hi Graham & welcome to the Forum! 🎉
    So glad to have you here, and it's amazing to see a long-time Vena customer join the community! I'm sure the community will have a lot of great insights for you, as well as some of your tips and tricks for us!
    Be sure to check out the #GiveAndGetHelp and #PowerBI tags, and I'd like to invite you to share some knowledge in this thread! ​​​😊
    Looking forward to seeing you around!

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    Community Marketing Manager
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 87.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 11-29-2022 15:58
    Hello VENA people,

    I am glad to start to get to know members here (and I have a backlog of 2 years to read) but I'll start by introducing myself

    I am Soufyan Hamid from Brussels, Belgium and after 15 years working in Audit, Consulting and FP&A, I decided to take a different path and start my own company aimed at two things
    • Teaching and Coaching Finance Professionals to make better presentations; from the message you get from the data to the recommendation you give in your speech, there are many ways to make sure you influence the decision making process with Financial Analysis
    • Since I still want to be connected to the day to day Finance world, I work also as an interim manager for temporary assignments in Controlling and Finance business Partnering functions
    My favourite Excel function is CUBEVALUE (if you use PowerPivot): it's so elegant and intelligent

    Apart from that, I have a family composed of my girlfriend, my 8yo daughter and my 5yo son... and also my dog

    Finally, I have some difficult to admit passions like watching football (soccer for most of you) and food (preparing but mostly eating)

    I hope we will get meaningful connections in this forum (and don't hesitate to contact me directly if you wish to ask me a question)



    ------------------------------
    Soufyan Hamid
    SouFBP
    ------------------------------



  • 88.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 12-16-2022 14:28
    Hello all!  I am a Senior Financial Analyst with Indiana Tech, a private not-for-profit university in northwestern Indiana, although I work remotely from Portland, Oregon.  My main areas of focus are budgets and ad-hoc reporting.  We are at the beginning of our Vena journey (in the first year) and I am very excited about what I see so far.  I look forward to learning all the ways we can use Vena to improve our processes.

    A favorite Excel feature that I don't see mentioned yet is the IFERROR formula, especially used nested with other formulas like VLOOKUP.  It helps with automatic data scrubbing for reports where I don't want or need to do that part manually.

    When I'm not at work, I love cooking, baking, fantasy books, video games, and food photography, so naturally I combined those hobbies and write a fantasy-themed food blog.  (My instagram is in my Plan To Grow profile if anyone is curious)

    ------------------------------
    Jessica Pena
    Financial Analyst
    Indiana Tech
    ------------------------------



  • 89.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 12-16-2022 16:25
    Hey Everyone - Happy Friday 🥂

    I'm Chris Andrassy, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Astral insights, a new strategic partner of Vena. We are a boutique consulting firm in the decision intelligence space, blending strategic consulting, AI & advanced analytics, data visualization, and cloud infrastructure. We often work on FP&A use cases, and our client base has considerable overlap with the Vena client network.

    I look forward to contributing to the Plan to Grow forums, focused on using Power BI more effectively to supercharge FP&A insights.

    Needless to say, our team is incredibly excited for the future of our partnership and supporting the Power BI + Vena integration.

    Looking forward to meeting all of you.

    Cheers,
    Chris

    ------------------------------
    Chris Andrassy
    Astral Insights LLC
    ------------------------------



  • 90.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 12-22-2022 16:09
    Hello!  I'm Jessica Parker and I work for Orthodontic Partners (back of the house to the provider practices).  I am a Senior member of the FP&A team and am set to be the Subject Matter Expert for Vena.

    My favorite (US spelling LOL!) Excel feature recently is Sparklines for a quick easy visual.  My go-to function would be some form of an extremely nested INDEX MATCH.

    One interesting fact about me is that I am married to a hockey goalie, IYKYK.

    ------------------------------
    Jessica Parker
    FP&A
    Orthodontic Partners
    ------------------------------



  • 91.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 12-23-2022 08:49
    Hello and welcome to the community to our recent introduce yourself participants!! @Jessica Pena @Chris Andrassy @Jessica Parker

    Loved reading about each of you and having such interesting and amazing people in our community! Loved seeing the yummy pictures of food, ​​​hearing about the amazing partnership between Astral Insights and Vena, and the fact that I had to Google this hockey goalie reference (I still don't know LOL please enlighten me 😂)!

    Looking forward to all the great conversations in the community!

    ------------------------------
    Irene Tang
    Community Marketing Manager
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 92.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 12-23-2022 09:53

    Similar to @Irene Tang, @Jessica Parker -- I also googled but found Sarah Jessica Parker feeds instead....lol....

    ------------------------------
    Choy Chu
    Planning Manager
    Pipedrive
    ------------------------------



  • 93.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-09-2023 16:07

    HELLLLLLLO Everyone!

    My name is Brandon Donahe. I'm currently the Director of FP&A at a company called Innovation Refunds.

    I'm no stranger to Vena - I made an attempt to implement at EquiTrust Life Insurance (they are finally going through the process now), utilized at WR Berkley, and most recently we've just kicked off our journey at my current company; Innovation Refunds. To say that I love Vena would likely be an understatement!!

    Favorite excel feature? Seriously??? Well, I enjoy working with data tables and all of the fun formulas that can go along with those. One of my favorites would have to be the Index/Match formula but there is a long line of favorites - I have to admit!!

    When I'm not busy plugging Vena and working like a mad man - I love being a chauffeur to my two girls (ages 10 and 13). With summer around the corner life has been filled with softball games, and volleyball practices not to mention the other 2,754,888 social things that my girls love to do. If there is anything I love more than Vena itself it's being a Dad to two awesome daughters (and being a husband of course).

    Anyway, super pumped to get to meet some awesome people - build my network - and provide and gain support through this group!!

    Thanks all!! 



    ------------------------------
    Brandon Donahe
    Director of FP&A
    Innovation Refunds
    ------------------------------



  • 94.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Venanite
    Posted 05-16-2023 09:47

    Brandon! Welcome! I can relate to the double role of chauffeur! When we're not in Excel we're in the car!

    Awesome to have a Vena veteran join the forum. You've come to the right place to build your network and support. 

    PS - Will have to level up my Excel skills to keep up with you.



    ------------------------------
    Truman Tang
    Principal
    Vena Solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 95.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-09-2023 17:55

    Hello Everyone!

    I'm Janee Baker, Senior Cost Analyst at RL Hudson - plastic and rubber injection molding facility in Broken Arrow, OK.  I also oversee our factory in Berthoud, CO.

    My favorite Excel feature is probably INDEX-MATCH but I have many that are also way up on the list. I'm one of only a couple Excel power users here so I'm always getting requests for help.

    One interesting fact about me is that I love MotoGP and my CBR600RR. Coworkers never expect an accountant to ride a sportbike :-)

    It's great to be part of this group!  I'm sure I'll be reaching out for my own help here and there!



    ------------------------------
    Janee Baker
    Senior Cost Analyst
    RL Hudson
    ------------------------------



  • 96.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-09-2023 19:58

    Hey Everyone,

    I'm Chris Andrassy, co-founder and managing partner at Astral Insights. We are a proud Vena partner focused on helping our clients harness analytics and AI to make more profitable strategic and operational decisions. Recently, we released several Power BI and Chat-GPT solutions that are embedded within Vena.

    I rarely use Excel, but my favorite feature is probably the new integration with the Microsoft Co-Pilot AI Chatbot.

    Outside of work, I am a musician, avid skier, and love traveling as much as I can. Looking forward to meeting some of you at the event tomorrow!

    Cheers,
    Chris



    ------------------------------
    Chris Andrassy
    Astral Insights LLC
    ------------------------------



  • 97.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-10-2023 10:24

    Really exciting to hear of these AI integrations and supercharging what we know (knew?) as our productivity landscape!  Looking forward to hearing more about the evolving world of GPT based solutions. 



    ------------------------------
    Andrew Lee
    Prolytics Consulting Group
    ------------------------------



  • 98.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 05-10-2023 10:20

    Hey Janee, great to see you in the group and NIIIICE choice of sport bike!  You must have some fine riding roads out in CO!! Jealous over here!



    ------------------------------
    Andrew Lee
    Prolytics Consulting Group
    ------------------------------



  • 99.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 06-02-2023 13:30

    Hi Everyone

    I am late to join this group as well as the Vena Forum as a whole.  My name is Mark Dose, Practice Manager at Delbridge Solutions.  I manage a team of experienced consultants who are always happy to help our clients and love to solve problems.  We have more than 80 Vena implementations under our belt.  I will be looking at this form and contribute as more of a giver of advice and help.  I look forward to contributing more to this group.  

    I don't have a favorite excel formula, but I love the flexibility of use any formula in excel with vena as well as the flexibility with mapping to use formulas with form variables. 



    ------------------------------
    Mark Dose
    Practice Manager
    Delbridge Solutions
    mdose@delbridge.solutions
    ------------------------------



  • 100.  RE: Introduce yourself to your fellow members

    Posted 06-05-2023 16:14

    Hello everyone - I was recently made aware of this forum and am excited to join. I am Amee Gupta and my background is Audit, Accounting, FP&A and some Sales Operations.  Over the last decade, I have led FP&A teams at software companies held by private equity firms. My teams have implemented Planning Analytics and Adaptive Insights at my last two companies. I have not come across Vena, but will be sure to check it out in the future. I am currently looking for my next opportunity in the FP&A space while taking some time off this summer. 

    My favorite excel features are Lookups and Pivot tables.

    I am a mom of two teenage daughters who keep me on my toes :) We love to travel to explore various cultures and cuisines. I try to find time to work out regularly, but am not very successful at that. When I do work out, my favorite class is Hot Yoga!

    Looking forward to make new connections, learn and contribute to the forum!



    ------------------------------
    Amee Gupta
    PE backed portfolio companies
    ------------------------------