K2 Integrity CFO Jennifer Law on her unusual career path, tariffs and AI
Imagine you’re a finance executive who has had a 20-year career in asset management and then decided to start and run your own marketing and advertising firm.
Then imagine your next stop was a chief operating officer post at a consultancy whose specialties were areas in which you’d had fairly limited experience.
Such an unusual career path is the real-life story of Jennifer Law, currently the chief operating officer and, since September 2022, CFO at global consulting firm K2 Integrity. Its practice largely consists of advising companies on how to steer clear of financial crimes and maintain regulatory compliance. The 400-employee firm, which has many banking and other financial services clients, says its mission is to “safeguard our clients’ operations, reputations, and economic security.”
Being both a CFO and COO simultaneously is not, though, a new experience for Law, who held both posts for several years at Feirstein Capital Management, where she worked from 2000 to 2013. After that, she took a flyer and founded Buzzup Digital, helping small and mid-market companies with their digital marketing efforts. Following almost seven years there, she sold the business and joined K2 as COO in March 2022, adding the finance chief role six months later.
“I’ve been very lucky in my career to have various, very positive experiences, and I’ve also been able to take risks and try different things when I wanted to,” says Law, who started her professional life as an accountant at Ernst & Young in the 1990s.
CFO.com recently sat down with Law to discuss her interesting career and also get her take on some current major concerns facing CFOs.
Optional Caption
Permission granted by Jennifer Law
Jennifer Law
CFO and COO, K2 Integrity
Notable previous employers:
- Feirstein Capital Management
- Ramius
- Ernst & Young
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
DAVID McCANN: After so many years in the investment world, how did you come to start a marketing firm?
JENNIFER LAW: My last stint in asset management was about a 14-year experience as CFO and COO of a hedge fund, which wound down because the founder retired. So I had an opportunity at that point and thankfully was able to be flexible enough to do something different.
I could have gone right back into asset management with a different firm. But I always had an interest in media and marketing, and this was at a time when marketing was starting to become very digitized, and social media marketing was also on the rise. I was fascinated by the changes that were taking place.
So, I studied digital marketing for a year, and then, along with a partner, we built a company helping businesses with their digital marketing efforts and growing and running campaigns.
What were some of the major differences compared to your asset management background?
At Buzzup I had to manage very dynamic teams, everything from part-time staff to gig workers, creative types, and analytical and digital folks. But [the employees] had to be flexible, because our budgets weren’t huge, and we wanted to run a profitable business. And we did.
Why did you sell that business? You must have liked not having to report to anybody.
Yes, I did enjoy that aspect. I have a lot of ideas and use my creativity every day, and it’s nice to have that autonomy. But just like anything else, there were positives and negatives. You have to sell and be growing, and [at the same time] you’re responsible for people and their paychecks — you have to make sure everybody is taken care of. I took that responsibility very seriously.
Also, I did miss asset management and working in a more corporate environment with larger budgets and more ability to grow.
How and why did you go to a firm that consults on financial crimes and compliance?
That landed right in my lap through a colleague who knew me from my EY days. They called me and said they needed a chief operating officer. I’d never been COO at a professional services firm, but I was willing to try.
Now I wear dual hats here, and it is a very different business from asset management, where teams run very lean — the model is very scalable but without a lot of people. In professional services, our product is our people.
What about the subject matter of K2 Integrity? Was there a steep learning curve?
I did have exposure in the asset management world to AML/KYC [i.e., anti-money laundering and know your customer] as investors came in. I understood generally what that was about, but not in the deep way we do at K2, and not from the banking standpoint.
Yes, there has been a learning curve, but we have some of the top experts in our field, and I’ve been fortunate to learn a lot.
How do you organize your workload between your CFO and COO responsibilities?
I think being a good CFO helps me be a great COO. My CFO skill sets are in math, logic and analytical thinking. That carries through no matter what type of business you’re working for. You have financial statements, you look at the numbers, and it’s always about understanding what drives those numbers and how you can grow revenue and increase profitability.
I’m very fortunate to have a very solid finance team that supports a lot of my CFO work so I can focus on more strategy and operational needs, and that’s how I spend most of my days. It’s about adding value.
Can you offer a recent example of value creation?
I’ve looked at our staffing models, which are extremely important here — they make the difference between profitability or a lack of it. One thing I’ve done at K2 is build a hub in Poland, where we now have 60 staff who serve some of our largest engagements. That initiative, which was completed in 2024, has created significant cost savings for the firm.
We’re also [considering] other staffing models, whether it’s contractors, temps or looking in other geographical regions for fit-for-purpose skill sets that are also cost-effective.
Let’s talk about some current topical issues, starting with AI. What’s your take on that complicated subject?
We are using and continuing to roll out various AI tools to make our jobs more efficient, to save time, and to reduce errors [that can happen] when we take in a lot of data. We handle a lot of confidential information for clients, so security and safety are at the forefront of everything we do. But while we are rolling out AI, we’re doing it judiciously.
Another big issue today is the hiring and firing environment, with some companies reducing staff and others dealing with talent shortages, especially in finance.
Yes, we’re reading a lot of headlines about reductions at [professional services] firms like ours. I don’t want to say it’s business as usual right now, but we’re very diverse in our offerings and our global footprint. So that’s a protection we have.
We are always focused on corporate culture at K2. We have company events and monthly fun things for teams. We create a culture of being open and honest. This is a very empowering kind of place to be.
Of course we have a lot to do all the time. Our plates are full, but even just stopping to check in with people, asking about their weekend — that still should go on. We’re not robots. Everybody’s an individual and bringing themselves to work every day, and it’s important that people feel comfortable.
How do you look at the situation with higher tariffs imposed on foreign countries?
On a historical basis, tariffs have been shown to potentially raise prices and lead to retaliatory efforts. But we’ll have to see how this round plays out, as it’s still happening in real time.
For K2 specifically, tariffs don’t affect us because we’re not selling any products. However, our clients are being impacted. I just don’t think anybody can predict what the impact of tariffs is going to be six months from now, because it’s constantly evolving and will continue to change. I think being reactive [in the short term] is probably one of the worst things a company could do about tariffs.
What are your thoughts about M&A, given the current theme that this was expected to be a year with a more robust deal environment, which has not panned out?
We’re still seeing deals get done in the smaller and mid-tier markets, but the structures and the valuations potentially need to be updated, because those are based on models that are also being updated based on all the economic change that’s happening.
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