Good morning.
As I continue to explore the evolving role of the CFO, the latest announcement of a finance chief moving from one Fortune 500 tech company to another provides some insight.
Marie Myers will join Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HPE (No. 143 on the Fortune 500) as EVP and CFO, effective Jan. 15, the company announced Dec. 15. Since 2021, Myers has served as CFO of the PC maker HP Inc. (No. 63). She has spent more than 20 years at HP in roles including global controller and the Americas CFO of HP’s Personal Systems business unit. Before HP, Myers held leadership roles at Compaq Computer Corporation. Jeremy Cox, who has served as interim CFO at HPE since August, will return full-time to his position as senior VP, corporate controller, and chief tax officer.
“It feels like a full circle, returning to where my journey began over 25 years ago in Houston with the Compaq Server and Storage team,” Myers wrote in a LinkedIn post. “I’m excited to drive HPE’s next growth chapter and collaborate with the outstanding team there, including working closely with Antonio Neri.” Adding, “It’s been an incredible ride” at HP, “particularly with my finance colleagues, who have been a constant source of inspiration and growth.”
Myers was actually HP’s finance lead for the separation of Hewlett-Packard Company in 2015, which resulted in the creation of HPE, a multinational IT company with a technology portfolio spanning the cloud to the data center. Antonio Neri, HPE president and CEO, has been chief executive since 2018. But before the launch of HPE, Neri had a long career at HP.
He gave his assessment of Myers’ skill sets and characteristics:
“Marie is a strategic and visionary CFO known for making financial decisions that fuel innovation and performance,” he said in a statement. “She has an impressive track record in driving both operational and financial results, and she embraces the opportunity to help teams excel. I look forward to partnering with her as we bring bold, new experiences to our customers and deliver greater returns to our shareholders.”
A modern CFO
Neri’s assessment of Myers coincides with attributes of “a modern CFO,” Clem Johnson, president of Crist Kolder Associates, an executive search firm, told me.
“Our large public clients continue to prioritize ‘range,’ someone who can alternate between granular operational issues and big-picture strategic ones, as an essential attribute in our CFO searches,” Johnson said.
He offered a possible scenario such as Myers working to expand strategic collaboration between HPE and NVIDIA on computing solutions for generative AI, and also provide guidance to supply chain leaders on spreading procurement to multiple vendors around the world to diffuse risk. And Myers could potentially lead a financing syndication to close a large M&A deal, while also crafting a message to analysts and investors around expected accretion and synergies, Johnson said. Earlier this year, HPE announced the acquisition of the startup Pachyderm to expand its AI-at-scale offerings. Johnson added that in addition to range, “a core strand of DNA we seek in our CFOs is the classic ‘trusted advisor’ attribute.”
In a May interview, I asked Myers advice for CFOs when forging a relationship with the board. “I think it’s important to establish a direct and collaborative relationship with board members,” Myers told me. She added, “Today’s CFOs need to be knowledgeable about all aspects of the business, have a broad and informed view of the company, and share their unique insights with the board, not just financials.”
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Leaderboard
Theodora "Doretta" Mistras was named CFO at Viatris Inc. (Nasdaq: VTRS), a global health care company, effective March 1. Current Viatris CFO Sanjeev Narula will work closely with Mistras to support a transition. Mistras was most recently managing director of health care investment banking at Citigroup Global Markets, and before that was managing director of health care investment banking at Goldman Sachs.
Abbey Omokhodion was named CFO at Sila, a battery materials company. Omokhodion joins Sila after more than six years at Intel Corporation, and her last role was the CFO for The Programmable Solutions group. Before that, she was at GE for nearly 10 years, where her last role was CFO for Strategic Accounts in GE Lighting.
Big deal
Fidelity Investments' 2024 New Year’s Financial Resolutions study provides some insight into consumer spending and savings. The research found that 45% of respondents, overall, and 51% of young respondents who experienced financial setbacks, said they had to dip into their emergency fund.
Forty percent of respondents said inflation is their top financial concern for 2024. More Americans, overall, look to prioritize long-term savings goals next year. Three in four Americans worry about cost-of-living increases having an impact on their budget. Most respondents (81%) say they plan to build up their emergency savings in 2024. However, about a quarter of respondents also worry they will not be able to save enough in an emergency fund.
Going deeper
AI training enhances strategic skills. But research finds it isn’t a perfect substitute for human training partners, according to a report in Wharton's business journal, "How Much Can AI Improve Human Performance?"
Overheard
"As a result of this legislation, more than half of high school students in the U.S.—53%—will have guaranteed access to a standalone personal finance course. We applaud Pennsylvania policymakers."
—Yanely Espinal, director of educational outreach at Next Gen Personal Finance, a nonprofit that provides personal finance curriculum, said in a statement. With the passage of Senate Bill 843 on Dec. 13, Pennsylvania became the 25th state to guarantee a standalone personal finance course for high school students.
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