With more than 30 years of experience in finance and investment leadership, Brian Hirschfeld Chief Financial Officer at DMS, brings a measured, returns-driven lens honed over 18 years at Bain Capital Credit, most recently as Partner and co-head of Industry Research. Brian is responsible for safeguarding the financial integrity of DMS while enabling long-term value creation and scalability across the business.
In this Q&A, Brian shares how his investor background shapes his approach to the CFO role, where he sees the biggest opportunities for DMS heading into 2027 and the lesson from his Bain days that still guides his decision-making today.
Q: You've sat on the investor side of the table before. What does that perspective change about how you function as CFO from inside DMS?
As an investor for most of my career, I was focused on two things: the resilience of a company’s business model and the allocation of capital to the areas of greatest potential growth. I try to bring that perspective to my role at DMS, measuring and reporting on the financial and operational indicators (KPIs) that most directly impact the durability of the business; and outlining business cases with concrete financial return expectations to justify allocation of resources.
Q: What's the biggest opportunity you see for DMS for the remainder of the year and into 2027?
Over the past year, DMS has upgraded our technology platform. We have incorporated AI into our systems for traffic acquisition, matching consumers to providers, and pricing leads. We’re seeing concrete results of those improvements: attracting higher quality leads that convert into bound policies. As we refine the models and roll out the AI tools across our business units, we expect to see continued improvement in quality and profitability.
Q: What’s an area within the DMS business growing faster than expected?
With the upgrade of talent in our agent sales and success teams, we’re seeing strong growth in the highest tiers of our insurance agent customers. Agents are getting better returns from their spend with DMS, so are spending more and moving up in our tiers.
Q: What's a lesson you learned at Bain that shapes your decision making at DMS?
One of the most important lessons I learned as an investor at Bain Capital is how critical the quality of the team is to a company’s success. Business model, industry selection, growth strategy are all important, but to deliver on those you need the right team. The quality of the DMS team was a key part in drawing me to this opportunity, and developing talent is a key area of focus as we proceed.
Q: What's the last thing you enjoyed reading or watching that had nothing to do with business?
I just finished reading the third installment of the Charlie Thorne series, Charlie Thorne and the Curse of Cleopatra, with my twin 13-year olds. The plot twists and resolution are entirely predictable, but we love her ability to outsmart the bad guys and it’s great quality time with my youngest kids at the end of the day.
Want more insights from Brian and the rest of the DMS leadership team? Subscribe to our monthly LinkedIn newsletter, The DMS Download.