A Different Kind of CFO
I'm a global CFO, board director and advisor with more than 30 years of experience across healthcare, consumer goods, food systems, education and supply chains, with organizations such as Dole, Temasek, VF Corporation, Zuellig Phrama and the UN World Food Programme.
Today, I serve on the boards of organizations spanning healthcare, education, agriculture and sustainability. Notable global organizations include WWF and the International Baccalaureate. Across PE backed portofolios, I chair Audit and Risk Committees, bringing financial discipline, governance credibility, and a practical operator's perspective to complex leadership environments.
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For me, finance has never been just about measuring performance. It's about stewardship: helping organizations navigate long-term resilience, responsible growth, and meaningful impact. That's what people mean when they say I'm a different kind of CFO. I bring rigour with warmth, and strategy with the humility to implement it.
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"Elaine’s corporate superpower is her ability to demystify numbers for key decision-makers."
The wake-up call that changed everything.
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Behind the career is a story I don't tell enough.
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I grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown, watching my Baba run a porcelain stall, learning bookkeeping, trade finance and negotiation before I learned to drive. He never held me back because I was a girl, and he never let me use it as an excuse. He taught me that barriers are just lenses waiting to be shifted.
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Then came the moment that made financial resilience personal.
I was restructured from my job ahead of my 10th work anniversary, sole breadwinner, with three kids under three. It made for a miserable Christmas. That vulnerable moment became my wake-up call to future proof myself. It's why I'm so passionate about helping others build that resilience before life forces them to.
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I've since watched friends navigate divorce, job loss, caregiving and career transitions, often discovering too late that financial confidence isn't just about wealth. It's what gives you the freedom to make meaningful choices at every stage of life.
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None of this happened alone. My husband stepped into the role of our family's domestic engineer so I could step fully into mine. Beside every purposeful woman is someone who makes space for her.
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Beyond the boardroom, I'm passionate about intergenerational conversations, mentoring future leaders, and challenging traditional assumptions around career paths, leadership and reinvention. I believe the most meaningful chapters of life are often still ahead of us.
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These experiences: the Chinatown stall, the miserable Christmas, the 30 years of navigating unexpected currents, are what led me to 60o60. Not to retire. Not to slow down. But to do more of what matters, on my own terms, and to create space for others to do the same.
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I call it Be Like Water: adapting, flowing, and finding purpose in every act of life.
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