Beyond the Numbers: Curiosity, Courage, and Corporate Perspective – Jill Cooper

A conversation with Jill Cooper- Interim Corporate Development & Investor Relations - Flora Food Group

Finance sits at the heart of every successful business. For Jill Arney Cooper, it became far more meaningful when she stepped beyond the spreadsheet and into the business itself. Visiting sites, speaking with teams, and understanding operational realities changed how she viewed the numbers. They were no longer just outputs. They became insight into what was really happening beneath the surface.

What began in public accounting as technical training gradually evolved into a broader perspective. Over time, Jill moved from reporting results to shaping the thinking behind them. From SEC reporting at Crocs to senior Corporate FP and A and now Interim Corporate Development and Investor Relations at Flora Food Group, her career reflects a steady shift from hindsight to foresight and from executing tasks to guiding direction.

In this conversation, she reflects on the moments that stretched her most, the leadership habits she had to rethink, and why staying close to the business remains essential for bridging financial models with operational reality.

Early foundation

Early in your career, you spent several years in public accounting before moving

into corporate roles. Looking back now, what skills or ways of thinking from that period still influence how you operate as a senior finance leader today?

In public accounting, I learned to connect the numbers to reality- physically visiting the businesses, speaking to employees, seeing the warehouses, the restaurants- it made the paper trail much more tangible. Connecting with the businesses and understanding that link between operations and financials helped me to learn the right questions to ask and the things to look out for in my work. It also made the whole thing much more exciting- I was no longer populating spreadsheets and matching documents; I saw business come to life through this lens.

I also learned how the technical pieces I worked on came together to create the bigger picture for a business, the value in the work an accounting team does for the businesses above and beyond compliance. I began to understand how technical accounting decisions can impact the way a business operates, how essential not only an audit opinion but also so many other financial metrics are to the ability to gain trust and hence financing, how business operators think about different elements of their P&L and cash flow.

Fresh out of school, that experience transformed my perception of accounting from a pure technical skill to a role that can work in partnership and contribute meaningfully to the business.

The first inflection point

You’ve described your time in SEC Reporting at Crocs as a turning point. Can you take us back to the moment when you first realised finance could be about shaping the story of the business, not just reporting the numbers?

In my first role out of public accounting, I worked for a very large, well-established company with quite a routine process of reporting. The team was strong and tenured, the business was stable, and it was a perfect place for me to develop my SEC skillset, to learn all of the technical rules and skills involved, and to adjust to the corporate side of accounting.

When I landed at Crocs, it was an entirely different environment in every way. A much younger public company, going through rapid growth, constant evolution in the business, a place full of change and full of opportunity. There was much less structure than what I was accustomed to, much of the team was new, and I was able to use the strong process knowledge I had built to add that element. Through the process of getting my bearings in this new world, and building out more formal processes, I plugged into the FP&A and Investor Relations teams and became a part of the wider process of moving beyond reporting numbers and truly being able to tell the story behind the numbers.

I was thrilled to be a part of not only 10-Ks and 10-Qs, but press releases, investor decks, and Q&A prep. I was fascinated and inspired by the in-depth knowledge of the business required and how so many complex details are refined into a cohesive narrative. I saw how my role could connect to an even bigger picture, and I was hungry to learn more and gain that next level of insight.

From hindsight to foresight

Moving from accounting into FP&A meant shifting from hindsight to foresight. What surprised you most about that mental shift once you were inside the role?

Yes, the biggest shift in moving from accounting to FP&A is certainly looking forwards instead of backwards. Suddenly, closed periods are history and it’s all about the latest forecast, the next pivot, the changing environment and how we will adapt and thrive. Instead of researching why a number has moved from prior year or prior quarter, the focus is on how we did compared to expectations, why, and more importantly what levers we can pull to impact the next quarter, the next year.

It is a much more dynamic, much more flexible mindset, and it requires a deep understanding of the dynamics of the business. I think for me, the hardest adjustment was learning that as soon as your work is done- you’ve built the new model, created the next outlook, proposed the next forecast, it is pretty much outdated. Constant evolution is required, and while there is a lot of value to maintaining some consistent metrics, the focus of management is always shifting and so are the measures.

The hardest stretch

You stepped into corporate FP&A at a senior level without a traditional FP&A

background, during a period of intense growth and change. What made that transition particularly challenging, and how did you navigate the uncertainty that came with it?

Yes, I was so lucky to be given that opportunity- Corporate FP&A was a dream role for me at that point in my career and I was thrilled to make the shift. I loved working closely with the CFO, the VP of Finance, the Head of IR, and the senior leadership team and I learned a lot from their mindsets, their approaches to problem solving.

But I had zero background in forecasting- at the start, I didn’t even know what any of the FP&A acronyms meant, I’d never used the software. I really had to rely on my team to help me do the technical things so I could focus on the big picture. Of course, over time I learned the essentials, but it was a big adjustment to go from being a mentor type of manager that could always jump in and do something for or with my team, to being the one learning in the team while managing through it.

It did teach me to trust my team, and I asked a lot of questions and really delved into the processes to help build my own knowledge, and also ensure we delivered useful and accurate information. I was lucky to have some great mentors during that time myself, so a huge period of growth for me.

Leadership redefined

As your teams grew and your roles became more senior, how did your

understanding of what it meant to “add value” as a leader change?

As a person who has always valued hard work and pushed myself to my limits to deliver, I had to learn that doing was no longer the best use of my time in many cases. My role became more about guiding my team, about connecting the right people and resources to move the ball forward.

Of course, asking the right questions, figuring out what metrics we should be tracking, spotting the red flags, and perfecting the messaging is also work, just a different perspective. I learned that staying out of the weeds is the only way to be able to see the whole garden.

What you had to unlearn

You’ve spoken about learning that leadership isn’t about answering every

question or reacting immediately. What behaviours or instincts did you have to consciously unlearn as you stepped into senior leadership?

Yes, part of my nature is a need to deliver to problem solve. Over time, I’ve learned that not every question needs to be answered- by me, immediately, or sometimes even at all. Not every request will make sense - always ask for context and see where you can leverage existing work. Often, you can refer a question to someone more expert than yourself on the topic. Not every question even needs an answer- you have to learn to manage your time and energy as well as your team’s, and that means acting as a filter to keep things efficient. Often, a five-minute phone call can avoid a heavy lift, and it is important to know that.

Broadening impact beyond finance

Many finance professionals are technically strong but struggle to broaden their

impact. In your experience, what do they most underestimate about working effectively outside the finance function?

I think it’s all about really understanding what other teams do inside their functions, where their focus lies, and what their challenges are. The role of finance is to bridge financial and operational plans; to do that effectively you have to move beyond numbers on a page. Understand the variables, the big drivers behind revenue and costs, and the environmental factors that impact results. You can feed that knowledge back into the model, but you will never get the whole story from the numbers alone. It is a balancing act, and the closer you are to the business, the easier it becomes to make adjustments that bring you closer to the goal.

Curiosity as a career lever

Curiosity has clearly played a role in how you’ve moved across functions and

geographies. How has staying curious helped you create opportunities that weren’t obvious at the time?

Curiosity is definitely a signature trait of mine- I am always open to jumping into a new project, partnering with a new team, or taking over a new responsibility. I love to learn and explore, and I do think it is the reason I’ve been so lucky to have opportunities to switch roles, departments, and even continents in my career so far. By asking questions and putting myself into the shoes of others I work with and around, I’ve been able to discover new areas of interest, find connections with projects I’ve worked on in the past, and gain greater business context for my own contributions. This approach has also helped me build rapport with people across functions and geographies, which put me in a better position to be considered for opportunities that come up.

The Precision Perspective

Looking back on your journey, if you could share one Precision Perspective, a

belief, lesson, or way of thinking that has consistently helped you navigate change, what would it be?

Build connections. Get to know the people you work with and adjacent to – it makes your day-to-day life happier and your job easier.

The wider your network, the better you understand others in your organization’s roles and capabilities, the easier it will be to use that network to solve problems, connect the right resources, and move forward. You cannot solve every issue on your own, but with a strong network, your self-built team can move faster, move smarter, and make more progress than any one person ever could on their own.

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