In this week's episode of the CNBC Changemakers and Power Players podcast, CNBC Senior Media and Tech Reporter Julia Boorstin sits down with Amy Butte, a four-time CFO and Wall Street veteran who has taken three companies public.
Butte talks about building her career in high-pressure moments — from IPOs to major market swings — and why discipline, preparation, and storytelling are central to how she leads. She shares lessons from her time on Wall Street, how AI is changing the game, and how her background as a college athlete still shapes her mindset today. She also gets into mentorship, building strong teams, and leading with authenticity. Plus one simple rule she lives by: "Words are free… say thank you."
Listen to the full episode here. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
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BUTTE ON POWER OF TECHNOLOGY
JULIA BOORSTIN: So was it when you were at the NYSE that you really saw the rise of the power of technology.
AMY BUTTE: Well, I actually saw the power of technology very early in my career. I actually worked for the First Order Management trading system that was being used by the buy side, and that helped me see the industry broadly, rather than just in a vertical. But it changed how people operated. New York Stock Exchange was the same thing. New York was this, like monumental place, but it hadn't changed its technology approach in a while, and it needed to. I actually even used to write about and come on CNBC all the time, talking about day trading and the new technology that was being used. So for me, technology has always been a impact, or it's been a way to move something forward, whether it was in financial services or in another industry. In terms of being able to move from financial services to tech, look, I think there are lessons that you learn in any industry, and they can still apply. Navon was one of these amazing stories. It was not just talking about using AI. It was actually showing the impact of AI and how it operated, right? So, Navon was able to take its gross margins from mid 50s into the mid 70s because it was using AI in its customer support. It was able to make a better user experience because it had machine learning and AI at its core. So it's very rare to be at that early stage of that inflection.
BUTTE ON ATHLETES DOING BETTER IN BUSINESS
BOORSTIN: There's so much research about how athletes tend to do better in business. There's a great correlation, looking at executives and the fact they're more likely to be athletes in high school and college, and especially for women. How did you find your experience in softball all the way through college impacted your ability to navigate these worlds?
BUTTE: Look, you need to have discipline, right? You need to constantly say, let's keep going, right? Get up in the morning. You've got to exercise. You've got to show up at practice. You have to have the mental acumen, especially as a pitcher, right? You need to be there all the time, be in the game. And I think I was able to translate that into business even today, when you ask me, what are my hacks, right? It's keep going. It's be disciplined. Wake up in the morning exercise, tackle the most difficult tasks first. And those are, those are things. I think it also teaches you to be a team player.
BUTTE ON SHOWING GRATITUDE
BOORSTIN: You have led all these different teams. When you look at the way all these men led, especially on Wall Street, are there elements of that that you've brought into your leadership style, or ways you've tried to be in opposition to that?
BUTTE: Great question, as I've gone further in my career, I think I appreciate the difference between what was something that we aspire to be, which was probably tougher, more, you know, in that corner office, right? Somebody who is, you know, you know, you sought to be that person. And I think today, leadership, to me, is much more authentic. It's about being yourself, right? I think that you can be your own self, be a badass in a different way by connecting with people. You know, one of the other hacks that I think about is being able to show grad, express gratitude, say thank you, and not just saying it in words, but also doing it through actions, you know, finding ways to mentor, finding ways to support, finding ways to promote. So I like to think that our leadership has evolved over time.
BUTTE ON EARLY MORNING EMAILS
BOORSTIN: I read that you send your first email of the day at 5:31am. That's very precise.
BUTTE: Well, I definitely have been trained, if you will, to wake up make sure that everything is okay, right? We live in a global world, right? And so usually making sure that you're you're reacting to people. That was probably my Bear Stearns training, too. You know, there was a very tight window you had to return phone calls. Personal boundaries are key. So maybe I sent that note, that first email at 5:31, or 6:01, whatever it might be. But I also very much prioritize my personal life. You know, I'm a single mom to a 16-year-old son. It's important to me to be there to make breakfast, have conversations over breakfast. There were even days that I would come home right when he got back from school, so that we could talk about the day or be there at night, and so personal boundaries are key. I don't think you can do both, respond to emails at 5:31 and ignore the rest of your life. I have a calendar, and I block personal time, I block business time, but I also, at the end of the day, respect the people that I work with, whether it's investors, whether it's customers, whether it's team members, whether it's board members and colleagues. I think I learned on Wall Street how important customer service is client service relationship building. And you know, it makes a difference when somebody responds right away.