An interview with Ashley Fina, CEO & Co-Founder of Oxygen
Today we’re fortunate to interview Ashley Fina, CEO & Co‑Founder of Oxygen, a leading management training academy helping fast-growing companies turn high-performing employees into effective, confident managers.
Ashley brings deep leadership experience to this work. Before founding Oxygen, she served as CEO & President of Michael C. Fina Recognition, where she led a multi-year business transformation and oversaw the company’s successful exit. She is also an active board member, executive coach, and advisor to startups, family businesses, and Fortune 500 companies.
Oxygen’s cohort-based Management Essentials program has quickly become a go-to resource for companies scaling fast. Its unique blend of live coaching, practical tools, and peer learning helps managers master the day-to-day skills that drive team performance and retention, which is one of the most critical levers for sustainable growth.
We sat down with Ashley to explore why manager development is now a strategic priority for companies investing in talent, and how organizations can better equip their managers to lead in today’s dynamic environment.
Q&A with Ashley Fina
Ashley, what inspired you to launch Oxygen? What key gap does it address?
We saw a widespread challenge across fast-growing companies. Organizations were hiring fantastic talent, but promoting high performers into management roles without giving them the skills or structure to lead teams effectively.
Being a great individual contributor is not the same as being a great manager. Without formal manager training, new managers often struggle with core skills like running one-on-ones, giving feedback, coaching performance, and setting priorities. That directly impacts employee experience and retention.
Oxygen fills this gap by delivering cohort-based management training programs that are practical, actionable, and results-driven. We help managers build confidence, consistency, and the real-world skills they need to lead high-performing teams.
Why should organizations building talent pipelines prioritize manager training?
Because hiring is just the first step. Without great managers, you risk losing the very talent you worked so hard to acquire.
Manager effectiveness is the number one driver of employee engagement and retention. If you want new hires to stay and contribute fully, they need managers who know how to support, develop, and motivate them.
Too many companies invest in recruitment without investing in manager development programs. That creates a leaky bucket: you hire top talent, but without skilled leadership, engagement and retention suffer. Investing in manager training ensures that your hiring investment translates into long-term team success.
Can you share a real-world example where manager training made a measurable impact?
One great example is WorkBetterNow (WBN), a remote talent provider that scaled rapidly — growing to over 500 remote team members across Latin America.
As they promoted high performers into management roles, they noticed challenges: uneven team performance and rising attrition. Their CEO recognized that promoting top talent without a structured manager training program was holding the company back.
WBN implemented Oxygen’s Management Essentials program, giving managers practical tools in communication, delegation, feedback, performance management, and prioritization. The program also provided a peer cohort learning environment, where managers supported each other and solved real-world leadership challenges together.
The results were powerful: managers became more confident and effective leaders, team performance improved, and attrition rates dropped significantly. Their CEO said it clearly: “We’ve tried other tools. Oxygen stands out. It builds real management muscle — and my team actually likes it.”
That’s the power of combining manager development with talent acquisition; it turns hiring success into lasting business impact.
Many organizations now hire across regions and distributed teams. How can companies ensure consistent management quality at scale?
That’s one of the biggest challenges for growing organizations. If you’re hiring across geographies, functions, and experience levels, manager quality can vary dramatically — which creates inconsistent employee experiences.
Cohort-based manager training programs help solve this. They create a shared leadership language and set clear expectations for what good management looks like regardless of region or team. Managers learn foundational skills together, exchange best practices, and build networks that reinforce consistency across the organization.
Especially in distributed or remote-first companies, consistent manager training is critical for driving engagement, alignment, and retention at scale.
What advice would you give to leaders scaling teams through rapid hiring?
Build manager development into your growth strategy from day one. It’s tempting to focus all your resources on recruitment especially in high-growth environments. But if you don’t support your managers, you’ll lose the very talent you just hired.
Investing in manager training programs is one of the highest-leverage moves you can make. Strong managers drive engagement, boost performance, and reduce attrition- multiplying the value of your hiring investment.
My advice: establish a structured manager training curriculum, create peer learning cohorts, and measure outcomes like retention, engagement, and new-hire ramp time. If you invest in your managers at the same pace as your talent acquisition, you’ll build not just a bigger company, but a better one.
Final Thoughts
In an era where hiring speed often dominates the talent conversation, Ashley Fina’s message is clear: manager quality is mission-critical. Without strong managers, even the best hiring strategies fall short.
By delivering practical, cohort-based manager training, Oxygen is leading the market by helping companies turn hiring success into sustainable team performance. As organizations grapple with scaling, AI-driven sourcing, and distributed workforces, manager development is emerging as one of the most strategic levers for business success.
Companies that prioritize both talent acquisition and manager effectiveness will be best positioned to attract, retain, and grow top talent – turning today’s hiring wins into tomorrow’s leadership strength.
