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Want a peak behind the curtain into one of the best places to work in cybersecurity and the minds of the innovators behind the industry’s leading security operations platform? Tune in to The Howler podcast!
Hosted by Chelsea Lowman, People Experience Specialist, and Mary Newville, People Experience Senior Manager, the culture duo connects with pack leaders on leadership insights, mental health and overall wellbeing, and how they lead their teams to advance our mission of ending cyber risk.
Diana Holtsman-Audio
Thu, Jul 16, 2026 5:17PM � 59:11
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Korea trip, public transportation, cleanliness, travel intentions, Philippines earthquake, serendipitous encounters, Diana Holtsman, finance PMO, program management, AI adoption, leadership philosophy, work-life balance, personal budgeting, strategic planning, organizational operations.
SPEAKERS
Speaker 6, Diana Holtsman, Speaker 2, Chelsea Lowman, Speaker 4, Speaker 3, Speaker 5, Mary Newville, Speaker 1
Chelsea Lowman 00:04
Hi, welcome to the Haller podcast. I'm Chelsea,
Mary Newville 00:07
and I'm Mary.
Chelsea Lowman 00:09
Welcome to our July episode. Excited to be back. I've been back from my trip for three days now.
Mary Newville 00:18
Yes, when I joined this call today. It was the first time I've seen Chelsea in literally a month.
Chelsea Lowman 00:26
Okay, three weeks. A
Mary Newville 00:30
month. Okay, but yes, that was my topic for today, listeners. We hope if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, you're enjoying summer and the rest of you winter, but Chelsea just got back from her trip. So before we dive in, I thought it'd be fun to ask Chelsea about her trip because if you listen to our June episode with Tricia Farrow, our SVP of people, we started off the conversation with Chelsea sharing her trip intentions.
Chelsea Lowman 01:01
Yes,
Mary Newville 01:02
so. So, you said, and I'm pulling from memory because I left the notebook. I wrote it in at home, but I think you said you wanted to be in the present moment of joy, like walking in the sights and eats. But I also remember you talking about the just having a loose plan so that you were free for opportunities that arose for meeting different people and those kinds of things. So,
Chelsea Lowman 01:28
give us
Mary Newville 01:28
the highlights, and if you live, if you if your intentions came to fruition.
Chelsea Lowman 01:36
Yes, I would definitely say my intentions came to fruition. I had a really great time. Korea is very clean, very safe, so safe. The public transportation, amazing, everyone. If that's of interest to you,
Mary Newville 01:57
so tell me why amazing. Because you've traveled in Europe, so I know you've taken like your path that like what makes Korea's amazing.
Chelsea Lowman 02:07
Again, the cleanliness is just like I mean, if you've been on a New York City subway, you know it's not a good experience. Like it gets you from A to B, but it's never on time. You're always. It's disgusting, and like Europe is a lot cleaner than like our U.S. cities. But when I tell you, there was never a bus late. Like it was on the dot. And if it was a little bit late, everything is in the app, and there's always signs. You're always being like notified immediately, like oh, it's running one minute late, and then it always tells you like how full the bus is. Like, are you gonna need to stand or will you be able to sit? Like, it just they're just they're behind in some other aspects of society, but they're like so ahead in some of just like the, like the tech and the, yeah the like public infrastructure piece of some of it. And I love public transportation. Like I would not own a car if I didn't need to, and so it was just so nice to walk everywhere, ride the bus, ride the subway, and it was just so reliable and safe and clean. Like I,
Mary Newville 03:28
one of my best friends went to South Korea last year, and she told me that everything is cute.
Chelsea Lowman 03:37
Everything, well, so yes, one of, in my opinion, one of the downsides of the country is their focus on, like, beauty and like outward esthetics, and that. But that, but one pro of that is that that extends to like literally everything, like a cafe, a restaurant, a shopping, like everything is an experience. Everything is like so curated, and just like yeah, looks cute or beautiful or serene or like whatever the vibe is supposed to be. Like they are all about the vibes. So yeah, it was. I would say I was very present. I went to a lot of cafes and just like read my book, journaled. We would just like go to different neighborhoods, walk around. Yes, I was very present. I say originally, if you listen to last month, you'll know I was supposed to go to the Philippines. Unfortunately, I did not go to the Philippines. The day with or the first day, unfortunately, was the day that the Philippines had their big earthquake, which it didn't affect the island that we were going to. But we just weren't quite sure, like you know, yeah, situation. Unfortunately, we didn't go to the Philippines, but. That just means I will go. The universe will send me another time, but so I did have to go with the flow back to my intentions, and but it all worked out. I got to spend more time with my one of my best friends that lives in Korea, so I ended up spending some of those days that I was supposed to be in the Philippines with her. So yeah.
Mary Newville 05:24
I mean, I have to say, on my side, I get this message from Chelsea, and it is literally the entire length of my iPad. Yes, it was. Yes. And I, when I first start reading it, I'm like, oh my gosh! Like, is something wrong? Oh no,
Chelsea Lowman 05:44
I didn't mean to. Oh yeah, it is. It is. If you're looking, viewers, this is the length. Well, because the
Mary Newville 05:51
whole noise,
Chelsea Lowman 05:52
you were more excited than I. Like you were so excited, and I just didn't want you all of a sudden to be like, where are the pictures of the like you know on Instagram? Or I didn't want to wait until I got here, and you'd be like, how was it? And me be like, so I. Is
Mary Newville 06:12
I get this literal length of my phone messages. At first, I was like, oh no, did something bad happen. That's immediately reminder. But then, as I'm reading, and as Charles just explaining the situation, and she doesn't want me to be disappointed, and just giving me a heads up now, and I was like, "Oh my gosh, of course! Like, I'm glad you made the decision. So, I mean, it was so smooth to post it, but I totally get it. I would have done the same. It's just like, and you didn't want to spend your entire trip stressing about
Chelsea Lowman 06:40
no, no, but you had like you had put so much work into the recommendations and all that. I just wanted. I literally texted you before my parents, my boyfriend. No, you were my first text when we canceled the Philippines. I literally turned to Alex, my friend that I was with, and I was like, I have to tell Mary, like,
Diana Holtsman 07:02
yes. Otherwise, the
Chelsea Lowman 07:03
trip was great. I really did. I I really checked out. Probably like the hardest I ever have in my career. Like I did not think about work,
Mary Newville 07:13
which was nice. But really, yeah. Well, what about any serendipitous encounters with strangers?
Chelsea Lowman 07:22
Ooh. nothing's coming to mind. But I got to-I met a lot of cool people through, like Alex, that I went with. She lived in Korea for many years, so she had friends. But then they had friends, so I got to like meet people. Like I met a like a girl from Germany and a girl from Finland and a girl from where was she from? Oh, also Germany. And then I got to reconnect with one of Alex's students that was in the U.S. at the University of Minnesota as a study abroad student. She's back in Korea now, and I had met her. We had taken her to dinner like in the fall, and so then we got like we met her at a cafe. So it was like cool to see her again in her own country. So it was just like fun stuff like that. Nothing wild with strangers, like people are friendly and nice. Yeah, but I didn't have any or nothing that I can think of in this moment.
Mary Newville 08:27
Okay, so it sounds like a wonderful trip. If you're listening, you'll have to Slack tell us if you want more details or if you're planning your own Korea trip. Yeah, I know we're gonna. It's gonna be our icebreaker for our team meeting to later this week. So I'm excited to learn more.
Chelsea Lowman 08:46
Yeah, I better get my pat. I better get my slideshow ready.
Mary Newville 08:49
Yes, please. We'll launch that. Today we get to sit down with Diana Holtzman. She's our vice president of finance PMO at Arctic Wolf. She supports both the CFO and our CEO in driving the company's most critical priorities from from strategic planning and operating cadence to board readiness and cross functional execution, sitting at the intersection of finance and the executive office gives Diana a unique perspective on how the entire organization comes together to achieve its goals. Diana began her career in public accounting, earning her CPA before moving into accounting and FPNA&A roles across the healthcare and telecommunications industries, she later spent more than 17 years in McAfee, serving in leadership roles spanning FPNA&A, finance, PMO, and CFO chief of staff. Since joining Arctic Wolf in 2021, she has brought deep expertise in both financial strategy and organizational operations, outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family, her two dogs Piper and Gracie, and any opportunity to be near the beach. She's also an avid golfer, though she'll be the first to tell you she's still working on her game. Most importantly, she is an 18-year breast cancer. A milestone she carries with tremendous gratitude and perspective.
Chelsea Lowman 10:05
Hi, Diana. Welcome to the podcast. We're so excited to have you. Hey, guys. How you doing?
Mary Newville 10:11
Good.
Chelsea Lowman 10:12
Good. We're excited. I think we're we still need to chat with Dustin, but then we'll have officially chatted with all of the finance and accounting leaders, so if you look at a good word with Dustin, we're still trying to get him to agree.
Diana Holtsman 10:30
I was going to say good, good luck getting Dustin on.
Chelsea Lowman 10:34
We need it, but we feel like if you and Susan and Aaron, like if you could all rally together, you've all been on the podcast now. You know you can feel that it's a good time.
Diana Holtsman 10:46
Yeah, yeah. I'll I'll have some time with him. We'll share that with him. We'll get we'll get him on.
Chelsea Lowman 10:53
Okay, nice, nice. Well, this is our July episode. We're in the heat of the summer.
Diana Holtsman 10:59
Yes,
Chelsea Lowman 11:00
I don't know about you, but it's been so hot in Minnesota this past week. Yeah,
Diana Holtsman 11:07
Texas 9090 something 9394 degrees right now, so a little warm.
Chelsea Lowman 11:14
Yeah, yeah. No, thank you. So I'm curious, like, what do you like to do in the summertime? Do you have a favorite summer activity?
Diana Holtsman 11:22
I stay. stay in the house in the air conditioned. No, seriously, I during the summertime, July, August, I try not to get out unless it's in the morning or evening because it's just miserable during the day. You know, I'll run around on the weekends. My mom and I run around on the weekends and stuff and do some shopping. But I try to stay inside in the AC as much as possible during saluting. Yeah.
Mary Newville 11:50
Are you a native to Texas? Have you lived there? Okay. Born
Diana Holtsman 11:55
and raised. Yeah. Born and raised here.
Mary Newville 11:58
Okay.
Diana Holtsman 11:58
And here my whole my whole my whole life. Okay,
Mary Newville 12:01
very cool. We just got. I was gonna say when I moved to Texas a couple years ago. Now that's what my I moved from Minnesota to San Antonio, and that's what my dad said. He was like, "You're just trading, staying inside in the winters to be warm for trading, being inside in the summers to be cool. But I think the trade-off is better in Texas because you can still go outside and sit in the pool. Oh yeah, I I don't know that I could do Minnesota and do the winters. At least here, you know, you can cool off a little bit, hit the pool or whatever during the winter time up there. You know, yeah, I can't do the cold,
Diana Holtsman 12:42
but you know the the great thing down here too is like November, December, January. Our winters are like spring and fall. They're not even winter around here anymore. So you really don't get much of a winter. You might get one week where you might get ice or snow or something.
Mary Newville 12:59
Yeah, I agree. There, it feels like my first winter here. I was like, "Wow, who needs to go to Mexico? Everybody up north, we try to get to Florida or Mexico in the winter time for like a little vacation. But I was like, every weekend on the patio is is Mexico vibes when you live in Texas.
Diana Holtsman 13:17
Yeah, I just got back from Puerto Ranches. Actually, we went down to the Texas Post and went there for a for a weekend trip, so it was great.
Mary Newville 13:25
Okay, Diana. So, are you passionate about H E B, Bucky's and Shuey's?
Diana Holtsman 13:32
You know, I do like Bucky's, but every time I go into Bucky's, I spend 40 or $50 every single time, it's just yeah. You can't get out of there for less than that.
Mary Newville 13:45
You gotta like grab like some snacks and you know.
Diana Holtsman 13:48
If I do a road trip, I'm usually if there's a Bucky's around, I'm usually finding a way to get there. When I use a
Chelsea Lowman 13:56
Target run to a Minnesotan, it's like can't go to Target without spending way more than,
Diana Holtsman 14:03
well, that's that's true in Texas too. Yeah, Bucky's is a is an experience all on its own, but they have really good barbecue. So they have good barbecue sandwiches if you ever if you ever find
Chelsea Lowman 14:20
one. Okay, it definitely is, I
Mary Newville 14:21
think, a Texas visit rite of passage. Like, if you come to Texas, you just have to do it for. It's a cultural experience. It's the one of the. It's a conversation you have to have.
Diana Holtsman 14:33
It's the funniest thing because you know you've got the World Cup going on right now, and we actually have some of the the games are going on here in the Dallas Arlington area, and they're actually shuttling people from out of country that come in for the games, shuttling them to Bucky's so that they get the experience of seeing a Bucky's.
Mary Newville 14:53
I mean, that's all we have to offer. Just have waterfalls,
Diana Holtsman 14:58
exactly. The stockyards and buckies.
Chelsea Lowman 15:03
Wow. Okay, I've been to Texas quite a few times. One of my best friends used to live in Austin, and then I've been to San Antonio, and I haven't made it to Bucky's, so I guess I haven't really been to Texas.
Diana Holtsman 15:14
You've got to do a Bucky strip. You have to plan one of those.
Chelsea Lowman 15:18
Okay. All right. Well, so Austin, you're Texas, born and raised.
Diana Holtsman 15:24
So
Chelsea Lowman 15:25
going back in time a little bit, when you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up, and kind of take us on a journey from young Diana to now? How did we end up here at Arctic Wolf?
Diana Holtsman 15:40
Yeah, you know it's it's interesting because I think I've always been interested in money and numbers. I can remember as a kid when I was when I was younger, I would go over to my aunt and uncle's house, and my uncle would bring out a tin can of change, and we just sit on the floor and play with the money and sort it and count it, and so I've always been a numbers person for some reason. I don't know why. I I think what I wanted to be, I had this vision of like a VP of a bank or something like that was always kind of the view, but it was always it always had to do with numbers of some sort. Okay, so
Mary Newville 16:22
like, what was your first numbers type role? Were you like the accountant for the local lemonade stand, or how did this making become more real?
Diana Holtsman 16:36
Yeah, my first job in accounting actually was for a very small CPA firm. So, again, I grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas, and just west of there is a town called Weatherford, little small town. And I worked for a CPA firm there for about a year and a half, and did taxes and accounting and audit and a little bit of everything. It taught me what I wanted to do, and it taught me what I didn't want to do. Very quickly, I figured out I didn't want to do auditing, and I didn't really want to be a you know a typical tax CPA kind of person either. So, it led me more towards the accounting direction.
Mary Newville 17:16
Tell us for people that aren't as familiar with those roles, what was it about audit and the other things that you mentioned that you were like, this is not for me, and that set you on the path that you're on today?
Diana Holtsman 17:30
I think for tax, it was just kind of the same thing over and over. It was you know, tax returns are pretty much a tax return is a tax return is a tax return with not a lot of variegations in it. So you just kind of got tired of the same thing. From an audit perspective, I think it was just too detailed and too too tedious. Where like the role I have today is much more. I've always been driven more towards seeing the whole picture, seeing what everything looks like, the whole landscape of the company, and and seeing the big picture of things, and and audit tends to get you very detailed into certain spots and areas. Yeah.
Chelsea Lowman 18:13
So along those same vein, could you maybe describe a little bit about your role for those who may not really understand exactly
Diana Holtsman 18:22
what. Yeah, yeah. So my my title is VP of Finance PMO or Program Management Office. So I originally came in working under Dustin under the CFO, and the idea was more around running projects, prioritizations, working with the accounting and the finance organization when processes are they working? You know, are the processes that need to be improved? And then from a project perspective, liaisoning with IT and prioritizing what we needed IT to work on. And then probably about two two and a half years into it, Dustin Dustin kind of loaned me out to to Nick, the CEO, and said, "Hey, she can help you with managing a lot of what you're doing with board and executive offsites and TVRs and all that kind of stuff. So now it's kind of supporting both of them, which again is kind of what what I like because I like the big picture, and I like seeing everything that's going on and the overall strategy of the company. So it kind of fed in fed in perfectly.
Mary Newville 19:28
Yeah, I was thinking about when you were talking about you've always enjoyed having the bigger picture being more at the macro level than in the details. When did you? So you said as a child you always liked playing with money and counting money. You always been a numbers person. When do you? When did that? I I don't know. Maybe you've always had it, but when did the like the strategy and influence kind of make its appearance and how to how has that grown throughout your career?
Diana Holtsman 19:58
Yeah. So when I left the. The CPA firm that I was working for, I went to work for Cook's Children Medical Center in Fort Worth in their accounting department, and it was actually an accounting role. And but one time a year we did a budget, and so it got me involved into the FDNA side of things. And then I left the hospital and went to work for a telephone company working strictly FP&A, and that that did it for me because then it opened up my eyes to it's not just debits and credits. It's you're working with the business partners and trying to figure out what they can do, how they can manage to do all the the different activities that they want to take place, but within a certain envelope of money, and then I left there, went to McAfee for 17 and a half years, started out in FP&A, but about halfway through Intel bought McAfee, and at that point in time, I decided to switch my role and went into program management and supporting the chief accounting officer and the CFO, and it grew into a chief of staff role for the CFO, and so on and so forth. So,
Mary Newville 21:11
and then what eventually led you to Arctic Wolf? Because you've been here, I think, longer than I have.
Diana Holtsman 21:16
Nearly five years. I'll be here five years in September. Actually, some past some past colleagues from McAfee work here, and so they called and said, "Hey, we've got an opportunity. You want to come over? And I was like, "Sounds perfect. So yeah, so I I at that point in time I was ready for a change when 17 and a half years with one company is a lot of a lot of up and down and different things, and so it was it was good to have a change.
Mary Newville 21:48
Well, and you went from 17 years at an established firm to Arctic Wolf in hyper growth mode. If you yeah five months ago or five years ago, I mean you're still here, so you liked it,
Speaker 1 22:02
or I did. Yeah, like that's
Mary Newville 22:03
a huge change.
Diana Holtsman 22:05
It is. It is a huge change, but it's it's been very interesting. With I never worked for kind of a startup company prior to that. All of my other jobs were already you know established companies, and so it was a change to learn Arctic Wolf and how fast they were growing and what I needed to change in the way I did things to accommodate that. But then to see where we were just five years ago to where we're at now, I'm like, it's you know it's amazing how much we've how much we've grown from an employee base perspective, from a top line perspective, and you know, I'm excited to see what it is that we can do over the next, you know, another three to five years at least. Go from there.
Mary Newville 22:49
Okay, this question is a little tangential to the topic, but I'm curious as you talk about program management, what does, how does budgeting for a specific budgeting in a company like with IT, like we're trying to do all these things, we only have this much in our envelope. How does that look maybe different from personal budgeting, and how does it look the same in that, like, as someone who does this for a living, what tips do do you have like a go to strategy for kind of doing more with less, or making it happen when it within the allotment that you have.
Diana Holtsman 23:24
You know, funny enough, I don't actually really do personal budgeting because I do it for work so much that I don't even deal with my personal budget.
Chelsea Lowman 23:36
It's just bending left and right, not trying anything.
Diana Holtsman 23:39
I look at it every so often. I'm like, gonna make my payment. That's all I need to know. But no, it's you know, it's it's interesting having a PMO role, having an FP&A role. They're very much the same from the aspect of being organized and you know and and knowing what all you need to look at within your budgets or within projects or whatever it is, from a personal aspect to a budget view of or you know from a business perspective, like I said, personally I don't look at stuff, but from a business perspective, you know what I try to tell people is look at it from the same lens as is it as if it is your right as you're spending money for the company, act as if it is your wallet it's coming out of. It's not you know money doesn't grow on a tree for us both personally and from a business perspective and so you kind of have to try to have that mindset when you're looking at things, and looking at it from a, what does it cost me? But what value do I get out of it? Do I get more value than what I'm spending?
Mary Newville 24:49
I was hoping there'd be like some magic trick, like, but it turns out it's just those hard decisions. Unfortunately, yeah.
Diana Holtsman 25:01
No, no magic tricks that I can think of, unfortunately.
Chelsea Lowman 25:06
Wink, wink. She's actually going to tell us off air after this.
Speaker 2 25:08
Yeah, the magic
Chelsea Lowman 25:10
tricks. Okay,
Mary Newville 25:12
we're on to know Diana. As a finance person, you don't like really budget, but are you a frugal person? And that's why is it easier when you say like you're you leave work and just the finance hat comes totally off?
Diana Holtsman 25:25
I am for the most part. There are some things where I will where I will splurge, but for the most part, I am I'm pretty frugal on you know I know what my utilities are, I know what my you know house payment is or whatever, and you know, and those things are covered. But when it comes to you know vacations or a few things, there's places where I'll splurge a little bit more, and you know, you can't take it with you, so might as well spend it while you have it.
Mary Newville 25:54
Wise words from spend it while you
Diana Holtsman 25:57
have it, but make sure you have enough to last through your retirement and everything
Chelsea Lowman 26:02
else, for sure. Yeah. Going back just a little bit to when you joined Arctic Wolf, and you joined this like startup hyper growth. Was there any? Was there one big thing that really surprised you joining this environment? You know, maybe different than your previous experiences.
Diana Holtsman 26:24
I will say there was. I was a little bit surprised with, like when I worked for McAfee. You know, they were headquartered in California. I think the telecom companies that I worked for prior to that were also headquartered for the most important in California and stuff, and coming to Arctic Wolf, being a Midwestern company, different culture, a different culture. When I walked in the door, you know, and it it took a little while to go. Oh, I don't have to work the weekends as much, or you know, it was a little bit more laid back in laid back culture that kind of surprised me in that first year or so of trying to get used to it. It was it was nice though. It was a nice it was a nice surprise. Yeah,
Mary Newville 27:10
surprises.
Speaker 3 27:12
Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
Chelsea Lowman 27:13
I've never thought about how having our headquarters kind of in the Midwest, like a Canadian presence, how that affects just the overall culture and feeling of,
Diana Holtsman 27:26
yeah, you know, California-based companies, or at least you know, when I worked with with McAfee, you have, especially if they've been a public company before, they just have kind of a different perception around, you know, how you spend your money and what you do, and but also the hours you work, and you know if I get asked for something, I need you to turn it around, just like that kind of thing. With the startup, it's still the same thing, but it's not quite the same, the same urgency to it, and there's still the the feeling of of culture, a family of you know. Yep, I'll get you what I need to do, but I'm also going to recognize that I have a life outside of it as
Speaker 4 28:09
well.
Mary Newville 28:09
Yeah, your whole person.
Diana Holtsman 28:11
Yeah, exactly. I'm
Mary Newville 28:16
gonna I'm kind of related on the topic of owning the outcome. Like I'll get it, you know. It'll it'll be done when it needs to get done. We, I think, do a good job at Arctic Weapon. I mean, obviously, there's different teams have different styles and everything, but respecting boundaries and people having work life blend and harmony. But with our culture tenet of own outcome, what does that look like for you in your role or on your team?
Diana Holtsman 28:46
Yeah, so I view on the outcome as as looking at things from a complete end to end perspective, and so that is also one thing that I'll say is a little bit different coming from McAfee, that was a more established company, had been around longer. Everything was end to end there, from where did it start all the way to when did the cash go out the door? Here, it's it was a little bit more siloed at first, and now we're getting to more of the end to end, and really focusing on from taking it from the customer all the way to recognizing the revenue, to collecting the captions, so on and so forth. But for me, I view it as a complete end-to-end view. So we'll take as an example board preparing presentations for the board meeting and that type of thing. That goes from sending out the working with Nick to come up with an agenda of what we want to take to the board to consolidating. consolidating all of that information from all of the various you know CEO council leaders that have to present at the board, to reviewing it, to getting it distributed to the board, and making sure that each one of those steps is covered off all the way from end to end. Even though I may not own different steps. Within there, I view that I own the entire process of ensuring that it works from start to finish. So that's kind of the own the outcome for me, making sure that you you start it and you finish it, and that you've got it, you know, that it follows the policies and the rules and things that you want
Speaker 2 30:15
it to.
Mary Newville 30:17
That feels on brand and like true to your core. From like you said in the beginning, you've always had a lens for the big picture.
Diana Holtsman 30:24
Yeah, yeah. I at one point in time, I had a role that was much more. It was an FP&A role, and it was supporting the GNA functions and working like with with IT and you know working with them on a day to day basis and their budgets and all that kind of stuff. And it just was not for me. I I did it for you know I did it for a couple of years and then I decided that just wasn't the role for me and consolidations and you know seeing the bigger picture and projects seeing something different that was that was more what what led me in that direction.
Chelsea Lowman 30:58
Sorry, I can't remember if you shared what your degree is in. Is it just in accounting?
Diana Holtsman 31:04
It's actually in accounting, and I have a CPA. So I did actually when I was working for the public accounting firm, I actually did get my CPA license, and I I keep it up to date, but they just don't utilize it for public accounting purposes. But yeah, my background was in accounting.
Chelsea Lowman 31:21
Yeah, so I'm just curious with your role being so heavily focused on like program management, project management. I think there are kind of skills needed within those type of roles that maybe you wouldn't use as much in a traditional like accounting role. Are those things that you have just like picked up with time and with you know your experience, or are there ways for people who maybe are interested in doing what you do, like how could they maybe work on some of those skills, cultivate those skills, and kind of follow the path that you're
Speaker 1 32:00
on? Yeah. Yeah,
Diana Holtsman 32:01
so I actually did a couple different pieces of it. So when I switched over to the program management side of things, part of it was I just learned while being in the role and working from other colleagues and stuff that had been doing it for a while. But then as I went along, I started actually going with my CPA license. I have to take 40 hours of CPE credits every year, and I started putting some of those CPE hours towards program management types of classes. Still keeping some towards accounting and keeping that lens as well of what's going on in the finance world, but I started doing a lot more training classes and different things of program management. I'd go out on the internet and find, I think there was a institute for program management or something like that, and they had all kinds of different training classes you could take and white papers on different subjects, and I just started learning from those, and then you just kind of you pick it up from there. But you know, the the other thing I will say, like like I mentioned,
Speaker 2 33:10
is
Diana Holtsman 33:12
doing FPNA and program management is not hugely different. One's associated with numbers, but they're both very much focused around the drivers that drive the business, and are very much around. So FPNA, you're trying to figure out what are the different drivers that drive the numbers. With program management, you're using the same drivers, but now you're dealing more with the process. And how do those drivers influence the process that you're doing within the business?
Mary Newville 33:39
Are there certain drivers that are universal to any project that you work on, or is it project?
Diana Holtsman 33:51
They're different from project to project. It you know depends if your projects are related to revenue, or if your project is related to you know. expenses or something, but like use an example. If I if I work in FP&A and I understand how the business runs, then it's not hard to take that. And one of the things that I do in my role is I drive for the finance workstream. I do M and A, so for all of our acquisitions that we do, I'm the finance lead that then goes and works with FP&A and accounting and everyone on what all the things that we need to do for due diligence and integration and and so on and so forth. So, if you know how the business works from the financial perspective, it's not hard to take that and translate that over to the integration side of things and. was
Chelsea Lowman 34:51
going to say it just seems like you are working with so many different stakeholders and have so many balls in the air, but that is program management, so it makes people.
Diana Holtsman 35:02
Yep, I believe they call it herding cats, and I do that on a daily basis. There, I work with a lot of different people depending on what the project is, or you know, depending on what the result is that we're trying to get. There's a lot of different people in the company that I have to work with.
Mary Newville 35:19
I was gonna say, like, obviously, don't name names, but by character type, like, what are your favorite types of people, employees, leaders to work with?
Diana Holtsman 35:31
Well, I think the ones that are open to change recognize that change is going to happen and how they can easily deal with it, and that just have kind of a a laid back attitude towards things. Right, you you can't let work stress you out on everything. You have to kind of you have to have a thick skin at times, and you have to just kind of go. That's work. Once work is done, I turn it off. I'm over here, and you know, I'll deal with it tomorrow and the next day when I come back. Yeah, but but yeah, I think people that really have the the strategic view of things and that that ability to just recognize that things are going to change, and we have to figure out how to move quickly.
Chelsea Lowman 36:26
I'm curious for you personally. Do you feel like you easily accept change because this is like such a big part of your role as walking through this process with others, or when it happens to you, do you also sometimes have that hesitation, or
Diana Holtsman 36:42
I still have hesitation at times. It will it will depend on what it is. I try to accept change as much as possible, but there are times when you know I'm human, just like anybody else. Then you have to remind yourself that you know this isn't a bad thing. This is something you know, it could bring on something good, and you have to be open to it and listen to it. I've tried more and more as I, you know, through the years to try to listen more, try to pay attention more to what people are saying versus just jumping to a conclusion on something. And so, but yeah, there are times
Chelsea Lowman 37:23
when you're like working on a project or walking people through change management. Are there any specific tactics that you have really good success rate with, or like one-liners that just get people on your side that you can?
Diana Holtsman 37:39
I I try to tell people. So, if they're trying to, if they're trying to to persuade someone of a change that they're wanting to make, I try to tell them to put themselves into that person's shoes, into an in in how would you want it explained to you, and you know how would you, what would be the best way that you would receive that information, for me, I think that's the easiest way is to set at times and just say, "Okay, if I'm in your shoes, what am I thinking about this? versus just looking at it from my lens.
Chelsea Lowman 38:15
Well, switching gears a little bit, we always like to talk about leadership with our guests on the podcast. So, just curious if you could share with us how you define leadership, and then if there's any specific leadership philosophies that you've either learned from influential leaders in your career that have really stuck with you.
Diana Holtsman 38:36
Yeah, you know, I used to think that leadership meant title, and that now I know that's that's not the case, right? For me, it's it's not about the title. It's about people again willing to listen, willing to provide you guidance when you need it. You know, again, 17 and a half years with with McAfee. I had some some good leaders while I worked there. Some of the CFOs that I worked for, you know, I learned a lot of a lot of different things from each one of them. But you know, the other part is learning to grow as an individual, as you're you know as well. You know, when I was younger, there were I was much more. Well, I'll say I'm still probably brass at times with people and a little abrasive. But you know, I've learned as I've also gone along to try to to tone that down, and that's what I want from leadership as well. Is someone that'll listen to what you're doing but guide you where needed, right, and to provide you with whatever assistance that you might need, or you know whether it's career development, whether it's training, whatever they're willing to to provide you with what you need to do that and to continue to grow, or to have the hard conversations, right? And to be able to sit down with you. Go hey, this isn't working. You might want to think about this, right? So yeah, I will say my my my growth has changed significantly, and you know one of the things is is you have to constantly set and say how do people perceive you, and how do you know? How do you try to change yourself, and how do you try to lead in a way that you're perceived the way you want to be perceived, and that you're guiding people the way that you need to?
Mary Newville 40:34
Yeah, it is. I mean, I was thinking about how you define leadership, which I honestly don't feel like it's a nice fresh take. I don't feel like we've heard anyone else define it that way, but it reminds me a lot of how I love Bren� Brown. I don't know if you've read any of her work, but she defines leadership as some something along the lines of like the willingness or the courage to see potential in something, whether it's a person or a project or initiative, and have the courage to develop that potential. So, just hearing you talk about like the willingness to help people grow and to grow yourself, because that's an interesting thing too. At each level, usually, what you did to get there isn't enough.
Speaker 1 41:18
Yep. To
Mary Newville 41:20
perform well, and it's like, oh, I thought I arrived, and now we're we're starting over again. In term, and I saw that continuous learning.
Diana Holtsman 41:29
Yeah, we'll take you know take the the move that I made from FP and A to program management. You know, if you if if I hadn't have had someone that was willing to take that bet on me to try it, knowing that I didn't necessarily have that background and that experience, I wouldn't be where I'm at right now today. I mean, I'd probably still be over in FP&A, working for a different company, but you know, I'd be doing FP&A or something. So just that that willingness and that openness and that to to see something that it's not just always based on the experience that you have, but you can grow into things, right? And one of the things with with finance and with accounting is I feel like it opens up a lot of doors for people. If you can understand the financials and how the business works, that can translate easily into other positions into other functions as as well, right? And so, just having leaders that are open to that, and then the ability to be transparent. I, you know, I'll say I'll say this with being transparent and and telling you how things are, but recognizing as well where I'm at now, they can't always tell you everything, right? There are just times where you're not going to know everything that you want to know. But having a leader that will tell you what they can, and you know, and be transparent with you as much as they possibly can on things is, you know, I think a huge, a huge thing.
Mary Newville 43:00
Yeah, for sure. I know. I really appreciate that as well. Well, speaking of navigating change, we're all currently journeying through the AI revolution and Antarctic Wolf ourselves. But how do you see AI and automation changing specifically your field and the work that you do.
Diana Holtsman 43:24
Yeah, so you know, I from like the role that I'm in with with the PMO office and and the things that myself and and Mary who who reports up to me that we do, I see that AI can can help us out with a lot of kind of the day-to-day things that we do, whether it's action trackers or you know checklists, different things. Our jobs aren't necessarily tasks that can necessarily be automated because we're dealing with you know how do I prioritize this? How do I you know working with the business on specific things? I do see it though, like within FPNA&A and within accounting and tax and those type of areas, where you know it could actually solve or reduce some of the tasks that take place, and AI helping with that, allowing people to actually work more on the analytics and the why something happened versus spending the time trying to create a spreadsheet to be able to get to and look at the analytics, right? So the whole idea with it is really trying to get to a point where AI will take the the day-to-day stuff out and really allow people to focus on the true value-added related activities.
Mary Newville 44:38
Yeah, I think that's the dream for like,
Chelsea Lowman 44:42
yeah. Yes,
Diana Holtsman 44:46
I I know you know a lot of people are eager to get their hands on AI and really be able to play with it and see what it can do. I you know I will say I think everyone's everyone wants to get their hands on it. They want to play with it, but at the same time. I think we all have to be cognizant of we don't know how much it's going to cost to play around with it too, and so there's going to have to be that play with it, see what value you get out of it, and then determine where you really get the value and where you don't.
Chelsea Lowman 45:15
Where do you feel like you fall in terms of like AI adoption right now? Are you fully on board? Are you exploring? Are you working your way, baby stepping it?
Diana Holtsman 45:28
Oh no, I I'd say I'm fully on board right now. We so we have some AI tools that we've brought in for kind of POC purposes that we're using and playing around with, and I use it on a daily basis, multiple times a day. And you know, there there were times I'll say it frustrates me, and there are times when I'll say it saves me a lot of time. But there's what I've learned thus far is do not trust the first answer you get out of AI. Always, always ask it to go back and reaudit its work because it's not, you know, it's not foolproof. And that's the piece that people have got to get comfortable with: is getting it to a point where you've reviewed it enough times, you've looked at it, you've had it relook at it itself that you feel comfortable with the results, but yeah, I'm I'm on board with
Chelsea Lowman 46:26
it. That's awesome, amazing.
Mary Newville 46:30
We always like to ask people about well being and what does that look like for you personally? How do you define
Diana Holtsman 46:41
it? Um, yeah, so. for me, and I probably have a different perspective than a lot of other people do. I am 18-year breast cancer survivor, and so for me, 18 years ago, things dramatically changed my perception of what's important and what isn't important. Completely, you know, flipped upside down. Now, you know, I work. I will work. I will get my things done. But I also make for sure that I have time for myself and for my family, and and I try to keep those as clear as I possibly can. I recognize, you know, there's times when you're going to have to work a weekend or you have to work some late nights. But I also recognize there's some clear lines that I draw, like when I'm on vacation. I don't, I don't pick up the phone. I don't pick up an email. I send out a note that says I'll get back to you in a week. So that's where I draw the line.
Mary Newville 47:46
Yeah, sounds like good boundaries sound like a big part of your well-being practices.
Diana Holtsman 47:52
You have to. You have to. Unfortunately, as much as I did not like going through the process, it was a good process because it does make you put your life back into perspective of what's really important and what's not, and sometimes we lose sight of that. We just get into the day-to-day grind of things and we forget, right, what's important and what's not, and you have to kind of rebalance that sometimes. Absolutely,
Chelsea Lowman 48:18
and I'm sure you being able to bring that perspective into your work when you're working on projects and time-sensitive deadlines, all those things, I'm sure your stakeholders and collaborators appreciate you being able to bring that perspective as well.
Diana Holtsman 48:37
Yeah,
Chelsea Lowman 48:38
heightened maybe.
Diana Holtsman 48:39
Yeah, like I said, there are times when I will also forget that role and have to remind myself. But, but yeah, I mean, yeah, we we all have deadlines, but at the end of the day, it's all going to still be there tomorrow, right? And so, it's trying to figure out. For me, it's you have a certain amount of time in your day to be able to get things done, and it's prioritizing those things and trying to figure out what are the things that I need to get done in work today versus that item probably is something that can wait for a few days. And it's more of that reshuffling of of prioritizations and relooking at everything that's on your list and saying, yeah, these are the ones I absolutely have to get done, and I'll get them done. These I can, you know, give a day or two.
Chelsea Lowman 49:27
Yeah. So, are you a list writer every day? Do you do like one to three priorities a day? Do you have some sort of structure strategy aroundization?
Diana Holtsman 49:40
I have a checklist. I don't necessarily write it anymore. I use the computer much more to keep track of it. But I'm a checklist person. I've got a checklist of things that have to be done, and as new things come on my plate, I add them onto the list and put due dates for myself as to when I want to try to get them done. You know, a week from now they'll pop up and they'll go. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I need to get to work on it. So, so yeah, I use a checklist to to keep up with everything and work on. So anyway, otherwise I'd be sitting here going, what am I supposed to be doing today?
Mary Newville 50:16
Well, I was gonna say it sounds like travel. You said earlier that travel is something like the splurge on, and you also just use travel an example of like something that when you're on when you're on PTO and traveling, you don't pick up the phone metaphorically. What are some of your favorite travel memories?
Diana Holtsman 50:37
Oh gosh, so there's a couple of them that are work related. There's a couple of them that are personal. So you know, from a work perspective, I've been able to go to some places that I never thought I'd actually, you know, go to growing up. I went to Ireland for when I worked at McAfee a couple of times. I went to India for a trip. Never thought I'd end up in India, but from a personal perspective, probably my 50th birthday. I took my family to Destin, Florida, and we just had an amazing week of just hanging out at the house and the beach, and you know we had a we had a great time. We had shopping, food, you name it. It was it was a lot.
Mary Newville 51:25
That sounds so special. Yeah,
Diana Holtsman 51:28
we we we have our family vacations that we do at least once a year. We're there's uh it's my dad side of the family that we always get together and and go places. And there's usually about 12 to 14 of us that go skiing, go to the beach, whatever. But we have some we have some good trips. Good many.
Chelsea Lowman 51:49
Yeah, I love that. I feel like that's the perfect segue into our rapid fire questions. All right, so these are just first thing that comes to your head.
Mary Newville 52:00
Okay,
Chelsea Lowman 52:01
best concert of your life.
Diana Holtsman 52:03
Oh well, sadly, I've only ever been to one, and that was a yes. I, I'm just not much of a. I've never been much of a concert person. I love music. I've just never really done concerts that much. But sadly, I've only been to one, and that was a Debbie Gibson concert when I was in high school.
Chelsea Lowman 52:24
Are you? Is it? Well, I mean, do you enjoy live music? Like if you're out at a restaurant or something,
Speaker 5 52:33
I do
Chelsea Lowman 52:34
live. Yeah, happening.
Diana Holtsman 52:36
I do. Yeah, I like the live music and stuff. It's just never.
Chelsea Lowman 52:41
You just don't think my
Diana Holtsman 52:43
my family was just never much for doing like concerts and stuff, and a lot of my friends, you know, like I said when I was growing up, it was much more work, work, work, work, and now you know, of course, my mentality's changed. But yeah, unfortunately, I've only been to one what I would call a true concert. I've been to places like Billy Bob's or different places where they'll have some bands coming.
Mary Newville 53:07
Yeah. Well, I mean, it's only unfortunate if you would like to go to more. But if it's not, yeah, then yeah, yeah. If
Speaker 6 53:16
you
Chelsea Lowman 53:17
were to see an artist in concert, is there one that you would be like, I lay down some right now?
Diana Holtsman 53:26
I would like to go to a pink concert. Yeah,
Speaker 3 53:32
yeah. Did
Chelsea Lowman 53:33
you watch her host the Tony Awards? I don't know if you're in Broadway, but
Diana Holtsman 53:37
I didn't. I didn't. But I've seen some of the clips from some of her concerts and stuff, and I'm like, okay, that would actually be a pretty cool concert to go to. Yeah,
Chelsea Lowman 53:47
it's like half circus concert. Yeah,
Diana Holtsman 53:50
yeah, exactly. And I think that's probably more for me. I like the I like the music and everything, but I also like, you know, the the entertainment that goes along with it as well,
Chelsea Lowman 54:01
we have fun. All right, everyone, we're getting Diana to a pink concert. We're gonna man. All right, your favorite word?
Diana Holtsman 54:14
Super califragilistic expiation. I just love the way it's just. I don't know why. It's been
Mary Newville 54:22
a long time since I've heard so much. Mary,
Diana Holtsman 54:25
Mary Poppins. I used to love that as a kid.
Chelsea Lowman 54:29
Classic. Yeah. Um, a place on your bucket list.
Diana Holtsman 54:34
Hawaii. I've never been to Hawaii, so that is that is on my list of places to go to.
Chelsea Lowman 54:41
What's something that people often get wrong about you?
Diana Holtsman 54:45
Oh, you know I don't know because I don't know what people think about me anyway. But probably they think from they probably think that I'm you know being accountants very rigid and that kind of stuff. Actually, you know, from a personal perspective, I like to have fun and you know, cut up and and play around. So,
Speaker 1 55:08
yeah,
Diana Holtsman 55:08
I've known for pranks every so often. Okay,
Chelsea Lowman 55:12
do you have a safe for work prank story that you like? A one you love to tell?
Diana Holtsman 55:19
No.
Chelsea Lowman 55:22
Looking to move it. Okay, last one. Give us a snapshot of an ordinary moment in your life that has brought you joy.
Diana Holtsman 55:32
Oh, spending time with my cousin's little kids, just getting in the floor and playing with them. They're like one's four and one's not quite one yet, and just getting the floor and wrestle around with the little four-year-old, and you know, I just love that spending time with family.
Mary Newville 55:51
Yeah, such a fun age too.
Diana Holtsman 55:54
Yeah, it's just the it's the fun stuff. Like my aunt and uncle only live just a couple miles away, and so when we have holidays and stuff, we're always out there on their farm, and it's just you know hanging around with family, having fun, just the little things. Last one was I put my little cousin in one of the swings for for the infants, and I sit in there pushing him, and then not two minutes, and he's asleep, just head topped off to the side. I was like, "It's perfect, right there.
Chelsea Lowman 56:25
So sweet.
Mary Newville 56:27
No, was I doing this was so much fun. Get I learned so much. I
Diana Holtsman 56:33
appreciate the calling. I appreciate it. This wasn't this wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.
Chelsea Lowman 56:39
Yay! Yep,
Diana Holtsman 56:42
not as bad as I thought. So I'll be sure to tell Dustin that when I have the conversation.
Chelsea Lowman 56:48
Good, good. We're trying to. I did put a little bug in his ear when I saw him in May that we would love to have him on our three-year anniversary episode. We think, like you know, everyone. If they're, if you're an avid listener, they know how hard we've been working to get Dustin on the podcast. I feel like it would just be the big final like hoorah, you know?
Diana Holtsman 57:14
Yeah, I, I just don't know what kind of stories you would get for him based on some of the company.
Chelsea Lowman 57:22
That's why we want him. He's like, what would I talk about? We're like, Dustin, you. I'm sure you think of something. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Diana Holtsman 57:31
We we have the same conversation with him on all of our all hands and different things as well. Come on,
Mary Newville 57:38
love to be a friend.
Diana Holtsman 57:39
People want to hear your stories?
Chelsea Lowman 57:42
Amazing. Well, yes. Like Mary said, this was so great to get to know you better. Yeah. Um. And excited for the pack to get to listen to the episode. So thanks again for joining us, and hope you're very
Diana Holtsman 57:56
appreciated. You too. I appreciate it. Thank you, guys. Have a good
Chelsea Lowman 58:01
one. Okay, another great episode. So glad Diana joined us. It took a couple months with scheduling to to figure it all out, but I'm glad she agreed to be on the episode. It felt so easy to talk with her.
Mary Newville 58:15
Well, it's July here at Art Dick Wolf, and everybody's enjoying summer in the North American European continent, but we are real. We're anticipating a global rollout of a new AI tool internally, and so if you're part of the pack, we're hosting a Power Possible with AI Summit. So watch for that invite, we'll have different pack members sharing what they've built and the impact that it's had to get you excited and curious about what you could build once we roll out our new tool. And if you're not part of the pack, we'd love to have you join us. Arcticwolf.com/careers. You can find all of our open positions there. We will see you in August. Yes. Bye, everyone. Bye.
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