Good morning.
Meet the 63 women currently in CFO roles at prominent companies around the globe.
Fortune’s Global 500 list released this month ranks the 500 largest companies in the world by revenue. The smallest company on the Global 500 has revenues of $30.9 billion (in comparison to the $7.2 billion in revenues it took to make this year’s Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. companies).
The finance chiefs at companies on the list represent a range of industries like utilities, with Min Zhu, CFO of State Grid, (no. 3), the oil and gas sector, with Kathryn Mikells, the CFO of ExxonMobil (no. 7), and technology, such as Amy Hood, CFO of Microsoft (no. 30), to name a few. (GE’s Carolina Dybeck Happe and Alphabet’s Ruth Porat will be transitioning from their CFO roles in September. Porat will become president and chief investment officer, but will continue as finance chief until a successor is named.)
There are also rising stars on the list. Among the 63 CFOs, there are two finance chiefs under the age of 40. Susan Li, 37, is the CFO at Meta, which landed at No. 81 on the Global 500 with annual revenue of $116.6 billion. Li leads the finance and facilities teams. Before becoming finance chief in November 2022, Li served as the VP of finance. She joined the company, then called Facebook, in 2008. Previously, Li was an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley.
A few weeks before starting her first CFO role, Li participated in a panel session during the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in October 2022. “Traditionally, people have thought of CFOs as a steward” and that includes “running a tight finance ship,” Li said. But today, CFOs wear so many more hats, like “the efficient operator hat,” she said. “The CFO is really a partner in steering the business direction and product vision for the company,” Li said.
Jessica Fischer, 37, is the CFO of Charter Communications, based in Stamford, Conn., which landed at no. 261 on the Global 500 with annual revenue of $54 billion. Fischer was named CFO in October 2021. Before that, she served as EVP of finance and joined Charter as corporate treasurer in 2017. Fischer previously was a partner in the National Tax Department at EY.
Take a look at the complete list of the 63 women who are currently CFOs at Fortune Global 500 companies below:
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Big deal
Just a single U.S. retailer, CPI Luxury Group, filed for bankruptcy protection from mid-July through Aug. 14, while default risk ticked slightly lower, S&P Global Market Intelligence research found. So far this year, through Aug. 14, there have been 19 retailers announce bankruptcies, including Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc., David's Bridal, and Rockport Co., according to the report. At the same time last year, there were five retailers who did the same. A total of 14 retailers announced bankruptcies for 2022.
Going deeper
"The world’s biggest single investor in the stock market returned $143 billion in the first half of the year thanks to A.I. and tech," according to a Fortune report that delves into how Norway’s $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund saw a huge boost from the A.I.-driven tech surge.
Leaderboard
Antonio Martino, CFO at Silvergate Capital Corporation, will leave his role on Sept. 30, according to a regulatory filing. The president and CEO Alan J. Lane and chief legal officer John M. Bonino will also depart from their positions. “Lane, Bonino and Martino will not be entitled to any further compensation under each of their respective employment agreements, but each will receive certain severance benefits provided to bank employees being discharged in the course of the bank liquidation," the filing states. The central lender for businesses in fintech and cryptocurrency announced in March it was winding down operations and voluntarily liquidating Silvergate Bank.
Leo Basola was named CFO at Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR), a provider of space-based data, analytics, and space services. Basola is replacing Thomas Krywe. Basola joins Spire after serving as senior finance officer of Equifax International for more than four years. Before that, he was CFO at ChemTreat, a Danaher Operating Company, for five years. Basola also spent 16 years at General Electric and Genworth Financial (GE’s Insurance spinoff). He held CFO and acting CFO titles at GE Intelligent Platforms, GE Consumer and Industrial in EMEA, and Genworth’s Retirement and Protection Long Term Care and Mortgage Insurance Europe divisions.
Overheard
"Ambition is defined by tangible outcomes that could be accomplished in the short-to-medium term such as title, job level, or salary. Aspirations are about who you see yourself becoming and how it allows you to have a gratifying career over a long period of time."
—Linda Jingfang Cai, the VP of talent development at LinkedIn, writes in a Fortune opinion piece about how the job market is cooling down—and so is employees' desire to move companies. "LinkedIn’s own data shows the rate of people staying in roles for less than a year has sharply declined, down nearly 30% compared to last year as of this spring," Jingfang Cai writes. "And our latest hiring numbers in the U.S. show roughly one job opening for every two applicants."
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