Amy Race from Citizens Bank Dives into the Concept of Making FinOps Fun
Can enforcing a simple tagging strategy transform your entire FinOps program?
In this episode of FinOps in Action, I sit down with Amy Race, Head of Infrastructure, Cost Management, and Cloud FinOps at Citizens Bank, to dive into how her company moved 99% to the cloud.
Amy shared how her team went from inconsistent tagging and cloud chaos to a structured, scalable FinOps practice. She explains how clear ownership, executive buy-in, and automation helped enforce a 100% tagging policy.
We also covered how making FinOps fun by introducing leaderboards, badges, and recognition turns FinOps into a company-wide movement.
Here’s what we talked about:
The one mistake most FinOps teams make when launching a tagging strategy
How Citizens Bank went from “advisory” tagging to 100% enforcement
Why executive buy-in is the make-or-break factor in FinOps success
The creative ways Amy’s team made FinOps fun, with leaderboards, badges, and friendly competition
How top-down accountability turned optimization into a company-wide habit
If you’re looking to integrate a full-fledged tagging strategy, this episode unpacks powerful anecdotes and takeaways for you.
Quote of the Show:
“Going back and doing something is much harder than doing it right from the beginning.” - Amy Race
Connect with Amy:
In this episode of FinOps in Action, Amy Race, Head of Infrastructure, Cost Management, and Cloud FinOps at Citizens Bank, shares how her team transformed a messy tagging process into a mature, measurable FinOps practice. She explains how Citizens went from “advisory” tagging to 100% enforcement, built executive buy-in from the top down, and even made FinOps fun to turn cost optimization into a company-wide movement.