Good morning.
“I was learning accounting about the same time I was still learning how to speak English,” Wetteny Joseph, EVP and CFO of Zoetis Inc., a global animal health company, tells me. Although Joseph originally thought he’d become a business lawyer, accounting and finance classes in high school changed his mind. “I felt like it was a strong foundation to really understand a business.”
Joseph’s road to becoming a CPA and a Fortune 500 CFO started in Haiti. During his youth, his parents struggled to make ends meet and feed their children, he says. “My father was a carpenter,” Joseph explains. “He was extremely focused. By the crack of dawn, he was already back from a two-hour trip buying materials to make something. My mom was extremely hardworking as well. She was always calm and poised. So, no matter what the circumstance, I’m usually the calmest person in the room.”
Joseph came to the U.S. at age 12. “I have nine siblings,” he says. “I left seven of them behind, six of them older than me. And I think maybe those initial years accelerated some level of maturity for me.”
Joseph joined Zoetis (the former animal health business of Pfizer Inc.) as CFO in June 2021. The company, led by CEO Kristin C. Peck, landed at No. 463 on this year’s Fortune 500 list, bringing in $8 billion in revenue in 2022, up 4% from a year ago. Zoetis has a portfolio of vaccines and medicines and other technologies used to keep farm animals and pets healthy. The company develops, manufactures, and distributes veterinary products in over 100 countries.
‘It’s almost like I’m seeing myself on stage’
Before joining Zoetis, Joseph was SVP and CFO of Catalent for three years, having spent a total of 13 years in executive positions at the pharmaceutical, biologics, and consumer health products provider. Before that, he was CFO of the plumbing and HVAC business unit of HD Supply. He also served as corporate controller for Hughes Supply, which was acquired by Home Depot and became part of HD Supply.
Executive search firm Crist Kolder and Associates found that there were just 18 companies out of 679 Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies with Black CFOs in 2022, a slight decrease from 20 in 2021. The low representation of Black leaders at big corporations is “not just in finance,” Joseph says. “You can look at those stats in a number of different industries. That’s unfortunate. I think in any field, where a group is underrepresented, it’s going to have one challenge—you don’t look up in the organization and see people who look like you.”
“I still get a real positive impact from being in the audience and seeing a Ken Chenault [former CEO and chairman of American Express], or Dick Parsons [former chairman of Citigroup and the former chairman and CEO of Time Warner], or any other former Black CEO or senior executive,” Joseph says. “And it’s almost like I’m seeing myself on stage.” Joseph is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, an organization for Black C-suite leaders and other senior executives, with the goal of building a global business leadership pipeline of Black talent.
‘You’ve got to take the role’
In Joseph’s career, sponsors—”The people who would be pounding the table when I wasn’t in the room, saying, ‘Give him a shot at this’”—were critical, he says. One such sponsor was the late David Bearman, a former CFO of Hughes Supply, Cardinal Health, and NCR Corporation. “I wouldn’t be a CFO here today if it wasn’t for him,” Joseph says. About 20 years ago, Bearman promoted Joseph to controller, which was his first time in the role.
“I pretty much tried to talk him out of it,” he quips. “David said to me, ‘Look, I’m a great judge of talent, and I’ve actually never been wrong, so you’ve got to take the role.’”
As Joseph’s career progressed, what prepared him for his first CFO role? He made a deliberate move from controller to being the VP of finance for a business unit, he says. “I made it known to the CFO I was working for that this was something I wanted.”
With his finance team at Zoetis, Joseph emphasizes learning the business and its customers, he says.
“I speak to my team about really understanding ‘the outside-in,’ meaning—what is the state of the customer?” Joseph explains. “What are the things that they’re still wrestling with? Then we can have a more fruitful and impactful conversation on how that information feeds into the shaping of our strategy. Then, we’re stewards of the execution of that strategy to bring it to reality.”
And Joseph works with a calm determination to make it happen.
The next CFO Daily will be in your inbox on Tuesday as Fortune offices are closed on Monday for the Juneteenth holiday. See you next week.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Big deal
The 2023 Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) Liquidity Survey of treasury professionals finds that cash and short-term allocation to bank deposits is down 8 percentage points from 2022 to 47%—the lowest rate in four years.
“The global banking system has been fraught with concern in the wake of recent bank failures, and treasury professionals have responded accordingly with their organizations’ cash and short-term allocation,” Jim Kaitz, president and CEO of AFP, said in a statement.
When choosing where to maintain deposits, 83% of respondents said the overall relationship with their banks is a primary determinant. That's down from 93% in 2022, this figure suggests treasury professionals are choosing to be more cautious as a result of recent bank failures, according to AFP. This year, 73% of respondents said the credit quality of the bank is also a determinant, a slight uptick from 72% last year.
Another key finding is the three primary investment objectives reported by treasury professionals remain consistent with those of 2022: safety (cited by 63%), liquidity (33%), and yield (4%), according to the report. In addition, 38% will continue to increase their cash allocations to government/treasury money market funds. The data is based on a survey of 222 treasury professionals from organizations of varying sizes representing a broad range of industries.
"The latest AFP data supports the notion that many leaders are turning to money market funds as a cash management tool because they are relatively easy to use,” said Michael Dombrowski, corporate treasury lead at Rho. “On the other hand, we're seeing seasoned CFOs who experienced what happened in ‘08 prioritize security first and foremost, electing to own U.S. Treasury bills directly in their company name and skipping fund structures altogether."
Going deeper
Here are a few Fortune weekend reads:
"Cava’s blockbuster IPO has an unlikely winner: The former CEO of Panera whose stake is now worth about $535 million" by Lucy Brewster
"There won’t be a true recession anytime soon—but a ‘growth recession’ is still on the menu next year, BofA warns" by Will Daniel
"The unauthorized profile of Charlie Javice, the millennial founder accused of fooling JPMorgan to the tune of $175 million" by Luisa Beltran
"Spotify CEO Daniel Ek uses this ‘life hack’ to build stronger relationships. Science backs it up" by Erin Prater
Leaderboard
Some notable moves this week:
Christine M. McCarthy, senior executive vice president and CFO at The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) will be stepping down from her role and taking a family medical leave of absence, and veteran Disney executive Kevin Lansberry, EVP and CFO of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, will serve as the company’s interim CFO, effective July 1. McCarthy will continue as a strategic advisor to the company during her leave and will assist with the process of identifying and onboarding a long-term successor. “Although I am leaving the CFO role, I look forward to helping with the transition and will always be rooting for the success of my extended Disney family,” McCarthy said in the statement. McCarthy, 67, joined Disney in 2000 and was elevated to CFO in 2015. McCarthy's "impact on The Walt Disney Company during 23 years of dedicated service cannot be overstated,” Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, said in a statement.
Philip P. Boudreau was promoted to SVP of finance and CFO at Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), effective Sept. 1, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Boudreau will continue to report to Robert Funck, who served as EVP of finance and CFO since March 2020. With Boudreau as CFO, Funck will continue to serve as EVP of finance. Boudreau has served as Abbott’s VP and controller since 2020. He previously served as divisional VP and controller of medical devices and as divisional VP and controller and commercial support for point-of-care diagnostics.
Christopher Jones was named CFO at BurgerFi International Inc. (Nasdaq: BFI, BFIIW), owner of the fast-casual brand BurgerFi and the casual dining pizza brand Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings, effective July 10. Jones is replacing the current CFO, Mike Rabinovitch, who is transitioning to Lionheart Capital as a senior advisor. Jones currently serves as CFO of Odyssey Marine Exploration.
Ellen Snow was named SVP, CFO, and treasurer at Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKBA), a biopharmaceutical company, effective July 17. Snow will join Akebia from Pear Therapeutics, Inc., where she has served as chief accounting officer since 2021. She will succeed David A. Spellman, who served in the role since 2020. Before joining Pear Therapeutics, Inc., Snow served as the chief accounting officer of AlerisLife Inc.
David M. Oliver was promoted to EVP, CFO, and chief accounting officer at Chico's FAS, Inc. (NYSE: CHS), effective June 24. Oliver is currently the company's SVP of finance, controller, and chief accounting officer. He joined the company in 2012 serving in various financial leadership roles, including interim CFO and SVP and controller from February 2020 until September 2021. Before joining the company, Oliver held various finance roles with Supervalu Inc.
Overheard
"You don’t have to start from scratch. Most companies have established data governance to ensure compliance with data privacy regulations, such as the EU’s GDPR. Now, data governance must become data and A.I. governance."
—Kenneth I. Chenault and Samuel J. Palmisano, founders and cochairs of the nonprofit Data & Trust Alliance, wrote in a Fortune opinion piece on how CEOs can approach A.I. Chenault is the chairman and managing director of General Catalyst and the former chairman and CEO of American Express. Palmisano is the former chairman and CEO of IBM.
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