Back 
I didn’t plan on falling in love with accounts payable. But somewhere between my early years in business solutions and my move into the CPG world, it happened. AP stopped being just a function and became a vantage point.
I’m deeply passionate about AP because it sits at the forefront of the business—whether people realize it or not. We touch everything. We’re the connective tissue between vendors and internal teams, between AR and finance, between strategy and reality. Every invoice, every expense, every payment tells a story about how a company operates. And when you care about people and data, AP is where those two worlds collide in the most meaningful way.
Finding My Way to the Front Lines
Before Chomps, I spent 15 years in business solutions, supporting AP automation tools and third-party processing. I lived in systems, workflows, and implementations. That experience gave me a strong technical foundation. But more importantly, it showed me just how underutilized AP teams really are.
When I jumped into the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) space and eventually joined Chomps, I saw it clearly: AP isn’t just a back-office necessity. It’s one of the most powerful sources of operational and financial truth in an organization.
I’m very people-oriented by nature. I like understanding how teams work, how vendors operate, and how decisions ripple through a business. In AP, I manage vendor relationships and internal customer relationships. I touch every single department through travel and expenses, vendor onboarding, payments, and corporate cards. I get to see how marketing spends, how sales scales, and how operations grow. That human element matters to me just as much as the data.
And the data? It’s everything.
Life Inside a High-Growth Brand
Chomps is a special place to do this work. The company started in 2012 over a poker game with a $6,500 bootstrapped investment and a big idea: disrupt the snacking industry with simple, high-quality meat snacks. Today, Chomps is America’s fastest-growing snack brand, with over half a billion dollars in sales and fewer than 200 employees.
That scale-to-headcount ratio changes everything.
Our accounting team structure doesn’t look like a traditional AP/AR split. My team handles invoice processing, payments, expenses, and corporate card management, but we also own the month-end close. We see the entire accounting lifecycle from start to finish. That visibility creates accountability, but it also creates opportunity. When you see everything, you start asking better questions. And when you’re growing as fast as Chomps is, questions matter.
Growth Changes the Stakes
When I joined, Chomps had around 80–85 employees. In 2024 alone, we added 67 people. This year, we added around 60 more. That level of growth forces you to look hard at risk, control, and scalability, before problems have a chance to multiply.
Control and compliance became major priorities, not because something had gone wrong, but because leadership could see what was coming. We needed better separation of duties. More oversight. Clearer ownership of expenses. Real-time visibility for expense owners. Not just AP reviewing everything after the fact.
At a certain point, AP volume gets too large. Invoices get bigger. More people are initiating spend across marketing, sales, and operations. You can’t rely on a small AP team to validate everything manually. You need systems that support accountability across the organization.
Why Systems Count (And Why AP Is Often Overlooked)
I was brought into Chomps largely because of my experience with AP automation systems. And honestly, AP automation adoption is a story as old as time. Many companies start small, move into an ERP, then realize they need something more scalable.
What’s interesting is how often AP is left out of system investment conversations. Companies will spend heavily on sales tools, marketing platforms, and operational tech, but hesitate when it comes to accounting and finance.
For me, that hesitation is short-sighted. AP and AR generate the initial data points for everything that drives a business. All reporting, budgeting, forecasting—it all starts with the integrity of that data. If your historical data isn’t accurate, planning for the future becomes guesswork. And small issues snowball quickly: missed invoices, late payments, unfavorable terms, and penalties.
Investing in AP isn’t about reducing headcount or speeding up invoice entry. It’s an investment in data integrity at the source.
Elevating People, Not Replacing Them
One of the biggest fears I hear around automation and AI is job loss. People worry that systems will replace them. I see it differently.
The best technology partners allow finance teams to focus on data validation instead of data entry. And that shift is powerful. Data entry is a waste of talent. Your team is capable of so much more than typing invoice numbers and dates all day.
How many companies regularly audit their vendor master? How many clean it up quarterly instead of scrambling at year-end? How many pre-audit their GL before auditors arrive? How many proactively review tax documentation or renegotiate vendor terms?
Those things always sit on a wishlist because teams are too busy processing transactions. Automation gives you time back. And when you give smart people time, they rise to the occasion. Roles get elevated. Teams get stronger. Careers get more interesting. AP automation shouldn’t scare people. It should empower them.
Building a Culture of Connection
Connection matters to me—a lot. Inside the company and outside of it.
I’m always looking to connect with other CPG finance leaders, manufacturing teams, and people managers. I want to know what others are doing, how they’re using their systems, whether we’re truly best in class or just comfortable. Growth doesn’t happen in isolation.
Sometimes, finance leaders hold things too close to the chest. But you can share experiences without giving away trade secrets. You can learn from each other without compromising strategy.
Chomps believes in that. We invest in our AP and AR teams. We joined IOFM. We pursued certifications—AP manager, AR manager, specialist programs, and master classes. We’re exploring more industry events and peer networks because professional growth isn’t optional in a company that’s scaling this fast.
AP Will Always Matter
I believe accounts payable sits at the heart of every business—whether leadership recognizes it or not. It’s where people, process, and data intersect. It’s where trust is built. It’s where accuracy begins.
AP isn’t just about paying bills. It’s about building a foundation strong enough to support growth, innovation, and ambition. And for me, that’s what makes it so meaningful.
