About
Robert J. Horowitz
More than twenty years in finance and operations, most of them inside companies that were growing or changing owners.
Background
I'm chief financial officer of a private-equity-owned enterprise software and AI services company, where I lead finance, legal, and people functions. I also work as an operating partner to its owner, on pricing, planning, vendor consolidation, and the use of AI across the portfolio.
A good part of my career has been in operating roles. For nearly four years I was chief operating officer of an insurance brokerage, through its sale to a publicly traded acquirer. I have worked with large language models since 2022, when I led the investment in a product built on them at a healthcare technology company, early in the current wave of these tools. At the same company I built the goal-setting and people operations for more than four hundred employees. At a consumer products company I helped take the business from a single sales channel to several while revenue grew roughly thirtyfold.
On the deal side, I have worked on more than a dozen acquisitions and divestitures across investment banking, private equity, and operating roles, and led the finance work on the sale of a business line to a much larger buyer. I started in investment banking and spent five years in private equity, where I first worked as an operating partner to portfolio companies.
I hold an MBA in finance and international management from Rutgers University and completed the General Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Read the writingAt a glance
- Experience
- More than twenty years in finance and operations
- Seats held
- Chief financial officer, chief operating officer, operating partner
- Deals
- More than a dozen acquisitions and divestitures
- AI
- Working with large language models since 2022
- Functions led
- Finance, operations, legal, and people
- Sectors
- Enterprise software and AI, financial infrastructure, healthcare technology, consumer products, insurance
- Geography
- United States, Europe, and China
Areas of work
Where most of the writing comes from.
- Finance leadership in sponsor-owned companies
- Operations, goal-setting, and operating rhythm
- Acquisitions, divestitures, and integration
- Planning, forecasting, and cash management
- Pricing and commercial terms
- Financing and capital structure
- AI and automation in finance and operations
- People operations and organizational design
Education
| Year | Program | School |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | General Management Program | Harvard Business School |
| 2013 | MBA, Finance & International Management | Rutgers University |
| 2007 | BS, Finance | Seton Hall University |
Speaking and advisory
For speaking, advisory, and board conversations, LinkedIn is the fastest way to reach me.
Connect on LinkedInSubjects
- The finance function when analysis is cheap
- Practical uses of AI in a finance team
- Designing an operating rhythm for a growing company
- Integrating an acquisition
- Running the finance side of a carve-out or divestiture
- The first ninety days as CFO under a private equity owner
- Pricing and cash as management disciplines
- What operating partners and management teams should expect of each other