The person who finds the gap is the person who stays to fix it.
Illuminate Financial is a founder-led finance systems practice built around one premise: software recommendations are more useful when they come from someone who has actually run the workflows and tools being evaluated.
Reese Ehlinger
Founder, Illuminate Financial
I’ve worked inside the finance workflows these systems are supposed to improve: AP, card administration, close support, travel operations, and finance-software implementation. I’ve also worked inside an AP automation company, which gave me a view of both sides of the gap: how platforms are sold and how they behave in the exception queue, the close calendar, and day-to-day support.
Illuminate Financial brings those perspectives into one engagement: assess the operating controls, decide what actually needs to change, implement the right fix, and stay involved after go-live. No account-manager handoff and no junior bench learning on your project.
One person, four reasons it matters
Certifications & Partnerships
Navan Partner
Joined Navan’s partner organization for hands-on implementation work.
Claude Certified Architect: Foundations
Issued by Anthropic. Supports the AI-assisted process redesign capability. Verify credential →
Hands-on across the finance systems stack
Experience spans core accounting/ERP environments, AP automation, T&E, corporate cards, contract management, and SaaS spend. Recommendations are based on the client’s operating requirements and control gaps, not a fixed product roster.