Clear Line of Sight: Forward-Looking Finance at Paragon

When revenue surged at Paragon, profitability didn’t follow. In fact, it shrank. For President and CEO Bruce Card, that was the wake-up call: growth alone wasn’t enough. Without visibility into what was driving margins—or where money was going—the company risked scaling into chaos. In this episode, Bruce joins ProCFO Vaughn Henson to unpack how a new approach to finance helped Paragon regain control. They talk candidly about late budgets, unpredictable cash flow, and the moment Bruce realized he was running the business by looking six months into the past. Together, they share how daily forecasting, smarter invoicing, and role-level financial focus changed everything. You’ll hear how trust, transparency, and teamwork turned a fractional CFO into a strategic ally, and why Bruce now says he’s sleeping better, planning farther ahead, and is more confident about hitting the numbers. This is a story about moving from instinct to insight, and from reaction to readiness. Create The Next is delivered to you from ProCFO Partners. Every week, we explore strategies and ideas for financial management and growth to help today’s businesses put their financial picture in context. ProCFO Partners are expert financial officers networked across industries, verticals, specializations and situations. Fulfilling the role of a part-time CFO with all-time commitment, ProCFO Partners utilizes the innovative and exclusive FGC Financial Flywheel as a framework that creates momentum to drive your financial functions for sustainable success. Visit procfopartners.com to explore how we can implement a systematic and scalable financial system to help you achieve your goal.