Twilio CFO Aidan Viggiano Applies GE Experience to AI Strategy

Twilio CFO Aidan Viggiano is applying nearly two decades of experience at General Electric to her role at the communications software company as it expands further into artificial intelligence. Viggiano joined Twilio in 2019 and became chief financial officer in 2023.

The company provides tools that let businesses integrate voice, video, text and email channels into their products. It is now positioning itself as infrastructure for agentic AI systems. In that environment, large language models supply intelligence and data platforms supply context while Twilio handles the interactions between businesses and customers, Viggiano said.

She described the company as the “connective tissue” or “nervous system” for AI agents. Most people interact with Twilio every day without realizing it. “Every time your Uber driver calls or texts you, that’s all through Twilio’s platform,” Viggiano said.

The company entered the current quarter with momentum. First-quarter revenue rose 20 percent to $1.41 billion, organic growth accelerated to 16 percent, and Twilio raised its full-year outlook while generating record non-GAAP operating income. The company is valued at roughly $30 billion.

Viggiano spent nearly 20 years at General Electric before joining Twilio, moving through finance roles that included chief of staff to the CFO and financial planning and analysis leader for GE Energy. She graduated from GE’s Financial Management Program and Corporate Audit Staff program.

The experience shaped her view of the CFO role. After completing GE’s Corporate Audit Staff program she managed teams of about 100 people while still under 30. That breadth of responsibility reinforced the idea that a CFO must understand operations across the business.

“I’d say I’m an operator at the end of the day,” Viggiano said. ” She said modern CFOs continue to handle governance and financial oversight but also act as strategists, capital allocators, storytellers and, at times, the internal contrarian. “We’re often the challenger,” Viggiano said.

Her team is leading a multiyear effort to redesign the company’s order-to-cash process, including billing and customer metering. “There’s very few people in the company that have that kind of well-rounded view,” she said. “Obviously the CEO does, but beyond that, there’s no one that’s dealing with all those constituents and is making decisions that are company wide.

” Viggiano describes her leadership style as direct, data-driven and detail-oriented. “People tell me I’m direct, whether that’s an asset or a character flaw, I don’t know,” she said. ” She expects teams to bring facts rather than opinions. Data, she said, “takes the ego out of the room” and grounds decisions in reality.

She also treats team development as a core responsibility even in a period when the company is not rapidly increasing headcount. Viggiano is one of four girls born within a year and has described herself as having been on a team since birth. She said the culture and people at Twilio were a major reason she joined the company.

>"I grew up in GE, and GE has an amazing finance development program.