FP&A Today Building a lean, mean, FP&A team from scratch – Preston Naegle
Dec 11, 2025
In this enlightening discussion, Preston Naegle, Director of Strategic Finance at Midway Mechanical Services, shares his journey from private equity to operational finance. He reveals how he built FP&A functions amid rapid acquisitions in the HVAC industry. The challenges of introducing budgeting to founder-led firms and leveraging data for decision-making are key topics. Preston emphasizes the importance of people in financial integration and explores the transformative potential of AI in finance, while also sharing a few personal quirks.
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One-Person FP&A Building From Scratch
- Preston is the lone FP&A lead working with a strong accounting team while building finance from scratch across acquisitions.
- Many acquired businesses had never done budgeting or forecasting and ran on founder instincts, creating cultural and data challenges.
PE As A Fast-Track Business School
- Private equity acted as a crash course exposing Preston to many business models and value drivers quickly.
- That exposure shaped his ability to analyze diverse industries and apply best-practice frameworks in operations.
Frame Problems With Hypotheses
- Break unfamiliar problems into critical hypotheses and validate each quickly with data to move decisions forward.
- Use clear frameworks to communicate conclusions so stakeholders can act fast.
