Below are key highlights from our Private Equity CFO Roundtable in NYC, June 2026.
We had great discussions on AI, fundraising challenges, data infrastructure, service providers, and more. The core takeaway is that firms with organized data and decisive leadership are moving the fastest. It’s clear that CFOs and their teams have become essential in driving tech strategy and managing vendors across the firm.
LP Reporting, Fundraising & Core Operations: What PE CFOs are Facing
- LP Reporting & Fundraising Pressure: LPs are asking harder, more detailed questions about historical performance – gross-to-net spread, DPI, and cash flow history – and the reporting expectations keep growing. The consensus: without clean, centralized data and repeatable systems, keeping up is a grind.
- Manual Processes & Excel Dependency: Industry-wide, more firms than you’d expect are still running critical workflows out of Excel, such as carry allocations, investor reporting, and cash flow tracking. Efforts are ongoing to move to centralized systems.
- Portfolio Management Systems: Several firms are in the middle of implementing or upgrading portfolio management platforms, largely to get off spreadsheets and have one reliable (central source of truth) place to pull data from.
- File Management & Cloud Migration: Many firms are in the middle of moving off on-prem servers and older document platforms toward SharePoint, mostly for Microsoft integration and to set themselves up better for AI tools down the road.
AI Adoption in Private Equity: What’s Actually Working
- Data Lakes & Clean Data as a Foundation for AI: This came up in almost every AI conversation; you can’t get much out of these tools if the underlying data is a mess. At least one firm is well into building out a proper data lake and connecting it to their fund admin’s environment.
- AI Tools for Finance Operations: Lots of practical use cases shared: carry modeling, waterfall forecasting, LPA summarization, LP questionnaire prep, variance analysis. Claude and ChatGPT came up most often, with people finding real leverage when they invest time in developing/iterating on prompts and training the system to improve output.
- AI Governance, Auditability & Data Security: People want to use AI but need outputs they can stand behind, especially for anything audit-adjacent. PII policies, enterprise licensing, and LP concerns about where data goes were all part of the conversation.
- Top-Down AI Adoption Culture: The firms getting the most traction have leadership that’s visibly pushing it, not just saying AI matters, but actively participating and holding people accountable; where that’s missing, adoption stalls.
- AI at the Portfolio Company Level: The point was made that the clearest ROI from AI right now isn’t in the finance function; it’s at the portfolio company level, in areas such as customer acquisition, client service, and front-office efficiency.
- AI in Investment Decision-Making: Some firms are beginning to incorporate AI directly into their investment decision-making process, using it as a quantitative data point alongside the committee rather than as a replacement for human judgment. Interestingly, LPs have been more curious than concerned when it comes up.
Service Providers & Liquidity Solutions: Fund Admins, MSPs, and Secondaries
- Fund Administrator Quality & Pushing for More: Frustration here was pretty universal. Technology exists at most of the big administrators, but they don’t roll it out unless you push. The firms getting the most out of these relationships are the ones treating them like ongoing projects: staying close, pushing for more, and holding regular check-ins to make sure things actually get done.
- MSP Experiences: Hard to find anyone who’s truly happy with their MSP. The recurring advice: treat them like an internal team member, stay on top of them, and don’t assume anything gets done without follow-up.
- Liquidity Solutions & GP-Led Secondaries: Toward the end, we discussed creative liquidity structures, including continuation vehicles, GP-directed deals, and preferred equity arrangements. There was a good discussion on how the secondary market has evolved and where firms are finding flexibility.
PE Technology Stack: Tools and Platforms Referenced
One notable aspect of the conversation was the natural mention of a range of platforms and tools, including those currently in use, under evaluation, or being considered for migration. This working list captures what came up during the session rather than serving as a comprehensive review, and many have already sparked side discussions worth exploring further.
- AI / LLMs: Claude (Anthropic), ChatGPT (OpenAI), Microsoft Copilot, Rogo AI, Blueflame AI
- Modeling & FP&A: Anaplan
- Data & Infrastructure: Databricks, Snowflake, SharePoint, Box, NetDocs/Ignite
- Portfolio Management: iLevel, Chronograph, Carter Fund Services
- Fund Administration: Gen Two, SS&C, Investran, Alter Domus, Standish, SEI, Hanover Park, Entrilia, LemonEdge
- Treasury Management: Hazeltree
- Expense Management: Concur, Brex
- HR / PEO / Payroll: TriNet, ADP, Workday, TMF, One Digital
- Meeting Transcription: Zoom AI Companion, Granola
- MSPs: Atlas Technica, Netrio, Thought Focus, Thrive (formerly Edge), Abacus
Overall, the technology is there, and the tools are accessible; what’s making the difference right now is how intentionally firms are putting it all together – and that’s exactly what makes these conversations worth having.