Who we are

Columbus Bay Solutions is a CFO and business transformation advisory built for founder-led and service-based businesses navigating growth, complexity and change.

Our work sits at the intersection of finance, commercial strategy, operations and technology. We help leadership teams improve the economics of the business while building the infrastructure required to scale—from pricing, forecasting and workforce strategy to operating models, systems, automation and organizational design.

We believe financial performance is the output of how a business operates. Better results come from improving the decisions, processes and systems that create them.

And we don't build dependency. We embed where needed, transform what isn't working, build the capability to sustain it, and ultimately transition ownership back into the organization.

Embed. Transform. Build. Transition.

ERIN FERRIE-NORTON

Erin Ferrie Norton

Founder & CEO, Columbus Bay Solutions

Erin Ferrie-Norton is a CFO and transformation leader with 20+ years of experience spanning financial strategy, commercial finance, operations and organizational transformation.

Throughout her career, Erin has worked alongside CEOs, founders and executive teams to improve profitability, unlock growth and build more scalable businesses. Her approach extends beyond traditional finance: she looks upstream at the pricing, people, processes, systems and commercial decisions creating the financial result—and works with leadership to change them.

Erin has led finance functions and complex global commercial relationships, advised businesses through periods of significant change, and designed operating models that connect financial discipline with how the business actually works. Most recently, her work has expanded deeply into business modernization—integrating systems, automation and AI agents into operating architecture to reduce manual work, improve decision-making and rethink how organizations deploy talent.

Her philosophy is simple: transformation shouldn't create dependence on an advisor. Columbus Bay embeds deeply enough to understand and transform the business, builds the processes, systems and internal capability required to sustain that change, and then transitions ownership into the organization.

Erin brings an entrepreneurial, creative and human-centered perspective to finance, balancing analytical rigor with an understanding that sustainable transformation ultimately depends on people.

A Fordham University alum, and former ex-pat, Erin now lives with her family in NYC. She is active in professional networks and regularly shares perspectives on commercial leadership, organizational alignment, and industry trends.

Founder Led

Simple ideas, real impact.

Better businesses aren’t built by adding complexity. We simplify what isn’t working, connect what should work together, and build smarter ways of operating that create meaningful, measurable impact—and the capacity to scale.

  • We operate like internal executives, not external consultants.

    We bring hands-on leadership across finance, commercial strategy, operations and transformation. We don’t stop at analyzing what happened or recommending what should change. We help design it, build it, and embed it into how the business operates.

    Our engagements often include:

    • Financial strategy, forecasting and decision support

    • Pricing, profitability and commercial model design

    • Workforce economics and organizational design

    • Contract and commercial risk strategy

    • Operating model and process transformation

    • Systems, automation and AI integration

    • Financial and commercial leadership development

    Every engagement is senior-led, highly collaborative and grounded in the realities of the business. The goal isn’t to make Columbus Bay indispensable—it’s to build an organization that is stronger and more capable because we were there.

  • Commercial-first, not FP&A-first
    We connect finance to the business—looking beyond what happened to the commercial, operational and organizational decisions driving what happens next.

    Operators, not observers
    We work alongside leadership to make decisions, navigate tradeoffs and turn strategy into action.

    Systems over slides
    We build operating models, tools and infrastructure designed to live inside the business—not presentations that sit outside it.

    Modernization with purpose
    We use systems, automation and AI where they make the business simpler, smarter and more scalable—not simply because the technology exists.

    Risk-aware by design
    Pricing, contracts, IP and commercial risk are considered alongside growth and profitability—not after decisions are made.

    Built to leave you stronger
    We embed deeply, build capability and transition ownership back into the organization. Success isn’t long-term dependency—it’s a business better equipped to operate without us.

  • From emerging businesses to established organizations, we partner with leaders who are ready to build differently—not simply manage what already exists.

    We partner with:

    • Founders, CEOs and ownership teams

    • CFOs, COOs and commercial leaders

    • Founder-led and service-based businesses navigating growth

    • Organizations preparing to scale, restructure or modernize

    • Leadership teams rethinking how people, systems and technology work together

    We’re most effective at moments of change—when leadership is ready to challenge assumptions, make structural decisions and build for what comes next.

Contact us

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