Senior Vice President, Principal Accounting Officer & Chief Financial Officer, Dynavax
Search every verified Kelly Macdonald interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Kelly Macdonald, Senior Vice President, Principal Accounting Officer, and Chief Financial Officer at Dynavax Technologies, discussed her role and the company’s evolution in a September 2024 podcast. Macdonald said she has been working to position the finance organization as a “strategic asset” to the company, aligning capital allocation with Dynavax’s strategic initiatives and long-term growth. She noted that she joined Dynavax in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, describing the decision to work for a vaccine company and relocate from Boston to the Bay Area as a chance to align with a mission she believed in. Macdonald stated that she inherited a “very streamlined and even skeletal” team after a restructuring and acknowledged that the team was initially uncertain about a new leader from outside the region. Macdonald also shared perspectives on the evolving role of CFOs, describing them as expected to be strategic thinkers and subject matter experts across corporate finance and operations. She emphasized the importance of work-life balance, stating that 80-hour work weeks are not sustainable throughout a career and that being intentional about priorities is key. Macdonald added that she practices mentoring both formally and informally, and she described the Dynavax team as one that empowers each other and solves problems beyond finance.
“Finance and Accounting were viewed as a strategic asset for the company as opposed to you know maybe a cost center or overhead or something like that. One of the biggest challenges is to sit with that constituency and learn about the biology and the clinical and Regulatory and Technical risk that's with any given clini...”
“The CFO is expected to cover a lot of ground and be able to think not only technically from a very competent perspective but also strategically. Today's CFOs are expected to be very professionally competent in subject matter experts not only in accounting but across all Corporate Finance Concepts as well as operations....”
“Going to work for a vaccine company during the middle of a global pandemic was not for the faint of heart. It was a big decision and for me and my family it was also a cross country move. Ultimately, just a chance to work with this group of people in this company that had a mission that I really aligned with and really...”
“The finance organization is truly a strategic asset to the company when built properly and when leveraged strategically. For Dynavax, having a view on capital allocation that matches up with the company's strategic initiatives and priorities and long-term growth is critical for success at driving value.”
“Having a CEO who actually understands some of the vocabulary of finance is really helpful. Not every CEO has a finance background, but our CEO has a very strong financial acumen and financial background, which helps in exploring unique financing opportunities and complex financial structures.”
“The team at Dynavax is a group of people who empower each other and want each other to do well all the time in their personal lives and their professional lives. It's an incredible group that solves problems outside of Finance because we are a strategic asset to the company and very embedded in the organization.”
“Employee retention has been impressive at Dynavax. We've added some critical capabilities as the company has grown, including technical expertise, corporate strategic finance, investor relations, and internal communications, especially as we've fully leaned into being a remote organization.”
“Mentoring is both formal and informal for me. I don't see myself as a mentor, but I look for opportunities to be available for employees and others I've worked with. Many of my mentors were not formal but people I trusted and could get real advice from, even when I didn't know I was seeking it.”
“Work-life balance is very individual and flows depending on where you are personally in life. There are chapters where I'm very career focused and others where I focus more on personal aspirations. The 80-hour work weeks are not sustainable throughout a career, so being intentional about priorities is key.”
“The perception of CFOs as boring accountants is absolutely not true. It's such a strategic position and critical role. My go-to joke is: Where does a snowman keep its money? In a snowbank.”
“I was very fortunate to inherit an extremely strong team at Dynavax.”
“When I joined the company they had just completed a large restructuring and the team was sort of working off of what I would consider a very streamlined and even skeletal type organizational structure.”
“The company had been through a lot of change and was a very dynamic time.”
“I think the team was probably a little uncertain about what to make of a new CFO, a new leader, somebody from Boston — not only am I a transplant with kind of a funny accent sometimes.”
“You're always uncertain when you get a new leader exactly what they're going to try to solve for in the next 90 days, year, two years or what their vision is.”
A massive part of CFO success is being in a company whose values and mission you deeply resonate with. That is the case with ...
A massive part of CFO success is being in a company whose values and mission you deeply resonate with. That is the case with ...
A massive part of CFO success is being in a company whose values and mission you deeply resonate with. That is the case with ...
A massive part of CFO success is being in a company whose values and mission you deeply resonate with. That is the case with ...
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