M&A, inflation, onboarding—and what else mattered to CFOs this week

Here’s what happened this week:

During a pandemic, there’s an extra layer of complexity to the already tricky acquisition process. Tech company Diligent has completed three acquisitions this year, president and COO Lisa Edwards said at a Fortune Most Powerful Women virtual panel discussion on September 30. Leading with empathy and the use of technology is important to get everyone on the same page during an acquisition, Edwards said. “We did a complete rethinking of our employee onboarding, she said.” The company, which produces software for board metrics, now has a five-day onboarding process for all new employees globally. “We acquired four companies this year,” added Mala Singh, chief people officer at Electronic Arts, a video game company. Employee resource groups and a “keys to the cupboard strategy,” has been useful for integrating new companies, Singh said. “We open up the cupboard and say, whatever you want that will help you in your company be more effective and realize the potential of your products, you can have it,” she said.

The third quarter of 2021 saw a huge spike in M&A. The volume of deals in the last three months is the second-highest recorded for a third quarter, with 264 deals over $100 million completed in Q3 2021, according to Willis Towers Watson’s Quarterly Deal Performance Monitor. This is more than double the number of M&A deals in the same period of 2020. And in the last nine months, almost a third of the 748 deals completed have been valued at over $1 billion, according to the firm. The uptick in M&A this year is most likely an extension of pre-pandemic demand, said Jana Mercereau, head of corporate M&A consulting, Great Britain at Willis Towers Watson. Buyers in North America are responsible for more than half of all deals in Q3, the report found. Mercereau explained the basis for this momentum and what to expect in Q4.

“The benefit of being a CFO is that you understand what drives business value,” Kelly Schmitt, CEO of Benevity, said. “And that’s important when you’re trying to push for change in your organization.” During a Fortune Most Powerful Women virtual panel session on Tuesday, executives discussed leading with purpose and pushing for change internally and externally. Schmitt began her role in February at the helm of Benevity, a company that provides charitable donation and grant-management platforms. She was previously the company’s president and CFO.  “I couldn’t agree with Kelly more,” said Peggy Alford, EVP of global sales at PayPal. Alford previously served as VP and CFO for the Americas region at the company. “What we’ve realized through the data is that [DEI] actually helps you achieve your business objectives, which makes it a much stronger business case,” she said. The leaders discussed the importance of measuring the impact of ESG and DEI. 

A cross-industry survey released by Gartner on Thursday found that 61% of CFOs have responded to higher prices by passing costs on to customers. Survey respondents are from North America (68%), the U.K. (15%), and Asia (17%). Gartner’s report points to specific types of input price inflation, such as labor and raw materials. About 60% of the 111 finance chiefs surveyed said their companies experienced wage inflation in the second quarter of 2021. That is almost double the amount compared to the previous quarter, according to the global research and advisory firm. Although CFOs pointed to wages as the top form input price inflation, raw materials and commodities came in a close second at 59%. 

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I appreciate your readership. Have a great weekend.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Big deal

Cisco released its first Hybrid Work Index (HWI) on October 7. The index will be updated quarterly and analyzes how the habits and technology interactions of individuals has reshaped work amid the pandemic. The insight is based on "millions of records" of aggregated and anonymous customer data points, according to the tech company. Hybrid workers want greater flexibility as businesses struggle with meeting technology demands, the HWI found. About 64% of respondents said the ability to work remotely directly affects whether they'll remain at a job. But just 47% believe that over the next 6-12 months their employer will allow employees to work from anywhere vs. in-office work. 

Going deeper

Here are a few Fortune reads for the weekend:

Leaderboard

Some notable moves from this past week:

Dan Durn was named EVP and CFO at Adobe, effective October 18. Durn will assume the CFO role from John Murphy, who is retiring. Durn joins Adobe from Applied Materials, where he has been CFO since 2017. Durn was previously EVP and CFO at NXP Semiconductors N.V. following its merger with Freescale Semiconductor. He was previously CFO and EVP of finance and administration at GlobalFoundries, and served as managing director, head of M&A and strategy at Mubadala Technology Fund. Durn also served as VP of M&A in the technology practice at Goldman Sachs & Company.

Kevin W. Helbing and Randy L. Patten were named Interim Co-CFOs at United Fire Group, Inc., a property and casualty insurer. Dawn M. Jaffray, EVP and CFO, has resigned from UFG. Jaffray has accepted an opportunity to serve as CFO at another company. Both Helbing and Patten previously served as controllers of UFG. Helbing joined the company in 2008, and Patten joined in 2012. The organization will conduct a search for a new CFO

Fran Jandjel was named EVP and CFO at COMSovereign Holding Corp., a developer of 4G LTE and 5G communication systems, effective immediately. Jandjel, who previously served as the company’s financial controller, replaces Martin R. Wade III, who stepped down from the position. She has over 25 years’ experience in accounting and financial leadership, including serving as CFO. Prior to joining COMSovereign as its controller, Jandjel was a financial consultant. Earlier, she served as VP of finance and accounting at the Cathexis Group, and the corporate controller at TAS Energy.

Blake Jorgensen, COO and CFO at Electronic Arts (EA), will depart the company next summer, EA announced on September 30. The internal and external search for a new CFO will begin immediately, and Blake will assist with onboarding when a new CFO is appointed. Laura Miele will become the COO.

Susan Kane was named CFO at HST Pathways, a software provider for the ambulatory surgery industry. Kane has more than 30 years of healthcare technology experience, including previously serving as the CFO for Censis Technologies and Lakeland Healthcare Group. Along with finance, her areas of expertise include SaaS and physician practice management.

.Judith Ottensoser was appointed COO and CFO at Rock Mountain Capital, a private equity firm, effective October 4. Previously, Ottensoser was the COO/CFO for GMF Capital, a real estate-focused private equity firm. She was a managing director, COO/CFO of the Distressed Debt Strategies Group at Napier Park Capital Partners. Ottensoser was also a managing member of Epic Asset Management, and an investment banking associate and analyst at Goldman Sachs & Co.

Neil Watanabe was named CFO at Loop Media, Inc., a multichannel streaming platform. Watanabe was most recently principal of Watanabe Associates, where he provided senior financial and accounting leadership to various companies. He was previously CFO at CarParts.com, Inc., and CFO at PetSmart Inc. Watanabe also worked in financial and operational leadership roles at National Stores, Inc., Anna’s Linens, and Shoe Pavilion.

Overheard

"All the stories that people were just going to buy sweatpants and just sit around watching Netflix for the next 10 years, and they're not going to buy suits, it is just not true."

—Fokke de Jong, founder and CEO of Suitsupply, a men’s fashion brand, on rebounding from the pandemic, as told to Fortune.