#299 What It Takes to Become CFO by 33 Audrey Lagresle CFO, Automobile En Direct

Becoming a CFO by 33 takes far more than technical finance skills; it demands strategic breadth, deep business exposure, and the confidence to operate at board level. In this GrowCFO Show episode, Kevin Appleby talks with Audrey Lagresle, CFO of Automobile On Direct, about how she reached the CFO seat so early in her career and why today’s CFO must be a value creator and change leader, not just a chief accountant.

Audrey shares her journey from growing up in an entrepreneurial family in France, to driving global finance transformation at Bombardier, and then building the FP&A and finance business partnering function from scratch in a fast‑growing Canadian automotive business. She explains how she now leads a 19‑person finance team, focuses on strategy and decision support, shapes the company’s AI agenda, and applies lessons from ERP transformation and a volatile used‑car market. Along the way, she reflects on imposter syndrome, the role of the GrowCFO program, and how non‑traditional routes can successfully lead to the modern CFO role.

About Audrey Lagresle

Audrey Lagresle is the Chief Financial Officer of Automobile en Direct, Quebec’s leading used‑car retailer. At 35, she oversees strategy, governance, and major transformation initiatives for a fast‑growing, 400‑employee organization. Audrey joined the company six years ago to build its FP&A function and was promoted to CFO in 2024.

Born into a family of entrepreneurs in France, she developed an early understanding of how businesses operate and a lasting affinity for small and medium‑sized companies. She immigrated to Montreal at 18 to study at HEC Montréal, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Corporate Finance, a Master’s degree in Strategy, and competing as an elite student‑athlete.

Audrey built a non‑traditional CFO path through eight years at Bombardier, gaining experience in accounting, financial modeling, finance transformation, corporate strategy, and M&A. She later joined Automobile en Direct, where she led FP&A, strategic planning, corporate governance, a multi‑bank loan syndication, a divestment plan, and major innovation projects including ERP replacement and the launch of an internal AI Committee.

Key topics covered:

• Audrey’s journey from growing up in an entrepreneurial family in France to becoming CFO of a leading Canadian used‑car retailer by age 33.
• How global finance transformation work at Bombardier—shared services, FP&A systems, and post‑merger integration—equipped her with change, people, and risk management skills vital for the CFO seat.
• Why she left a multinational for a fast‑growing medium‑sized business and how she built FP&A, budgeting, cash flow planning, and monthly performance reviews from the ground up.
• Audrey’s view of the modern CFO as a value creator and strategic partner to the CEO and COO, rather than a traditional “chief accountant,” and how the GrowCFO program reinforced her readiness for the role.
• Lessons from navigating the post‑COVID used‑car downturn, executing a divestment plan, and still opening new branches while maintaining financial discipline .
• How she is leading the company’s AI and technology agenda—creating an internal AI committee, adding a Director of Technology and Innovation, and using AI to enhance decisions without cutting headcount.

Links

• Audrey Lagresle on LinkedIn
• Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn
• GrowCFO Mentoring

Timestamps: 

• 0:00:01 – Introduction to Audrey Lagrell and Automobile On Direct; overview of the used‑car business model and scale (14,000+ cars per year, #1 used‑car retailer in Canada focused solely on used cars)
• 0:02:04 – Audrey’s early exposure to entrepreneurship in her family’s furniture business and how living “inside the business” shaped her holistic understanding of how companies operate
• 0:04:20 – Bombardier finance transformation: building shared service centers in Costa Rica, Romania, and the Philippines; project management, process mapping, and large‑scale change management in a 60,000‑employee multinational.
• 0:09:18 – Standardizing finance across multiple plants and learning from major divestments and post‑merger integrations, including work with Airbus on carve‑outs and integration activities.
• 0:14:10 – Transition from multinational to a growing medium‑sized automotive business; building FP&A, budgets, cash flow, treasury policies, and monthly financial reviews from scratch.
• 0:16:46 – The GrowCFO program, evolving expectations of the CFO role by 2030, and why Audrey believes the CFO’s primary mission is to create value and help the CEO make better decisions—not just close the books.
• 0:21:01 – Imposter syndrome, stepping into the CFO role at 33, and realizing she was already operating as a strategic influencer before the title formally changed.
• 0:25:25 – Audrey’s finance team structure: strong corporate controller, dedicated FP&A, and treasury support that free her to focus on growth, strategy, and partnerships with the CEO and COO.
• 0:28:40 – How she is leading AI in the business: internal AI committee, evaluating use cases across marketing, finance, and reconditioning, and insisting on clear ROI and risk management.
• 0:33:39 – Lessons from a major ERP replacement to Microsoft Business Central and why the CFO must stay close to tech projects to ensure they genuinely create business value.

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