Stephen Ninesling

Stephen Ninesling is a Managing Director in Perrin & Co.'s Finance Transformation & Technology practice. He leads the firm's work helping organizations modernize their finance functions — combining accounting discipline, operational finance, technology, automation, and artificial intelligence to build finance organizations that are scalable, efficient, data-driven, and capable of supporting executive decision-making.

Stephen brings extensive experience across CFO and Controller leadership, accounting operations, financial systems implementation, and finance transformation, with particular depth in startup, SaaS, and growth-company finance. His career includes senior finance leadership with organizations including FynScale, InfFyn, FinanceWithin, Authorify, NexTravel, Resy, Bluestone Lane, and Benchmarc Restaurants. Across venture-backed technology companies, consumer brands, and multi-location hospitality groups, he has repeatedly built the finance infrastructure businesses need to support growth, complexity, and investment — often stepping in as the first senior finance leader and establishing the reporting, controls, and systems that carried the company forward.

Finance transformation is the center of Stephen's practice. He helps organizations modernize finance departments, strengthen financial reporting, build scalable accounting operations, improve forecasting and KPI reporting, sharpen visibility into profitability, streamline the month-end close, and design executive dashboards that leadership teams actually use. In his view, transformation is not simply a technology implementation — it is the alignment of people, processes, controls, systems, and reporting so that the finance function produces better information and the business makes better decisions.

Artificial intelligence is a distinctive element of his work. Stephen has developed AI-enabled finance capabilities that improve financial reporting, controller functions, accounting workflows, margin analysis, unit economics, and finance process automation. His approach is deliberately practical: AI should enhance the speed, accuracy, and visibility of the finance function while professional judgment remains at the center of every significant decision.

That work is grounded in hands-on systems experience. Stephen has implemented and optimized ERP platforms, financial reporting tools, and accounting software — including NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and QuickBooks — and has designed the automation, workflows, and operational dashboards that connect those systems to the day-to-day running of the business. He serves as a trusted advisor to CEOs, founders, investors, and executive teams on strategic and financial planning, cash flow, KPI development, and organizational scalability. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Seton Hall University, with concentrations in business management, finance, and entrepreneurship.

Stephen's philosophy is straightforward: effective finance organizations are built on disciplined processes, reliable information, sound financial controls, and scalable systems — with technology that enhances, rather than replaces, professional judgment.