Good morning. Both the CEO and CFO of Accenture are women, and that leadership dynamic isn’t going to change with the appointment of a new finance chief. But it remains incredibly rare.
The global professional services company led by Julie Sweet announced on Tuesday that CFO KC McClure would be retiring after 36 years at the firm. McClure will step down, both as finance chief and as a member of the Global Management Committee, on Nov. 30 and officially retire March 31.
Angie Park, effective Dec. 1, will assume CFO duties at the Fortune Global 500 firm. Park, who’s spent nearly three decades at Accenture, currently leads its business and commercial finance division and is the former head of investor relations. Previously, Park was CFO for Accenture Technology Services and led investor relations for six years, playing a key role in financial strategy and communications.
Sweet became CEO in 2019, the same year McClure was promoted to CFO. At the time, very few large companies had women performing the two top roles. And five years later, not much has changed: An analysis provided by Russell Reynolds Associates found that among S&P 500 companies only 2.2% have both a female CEO and female CFO. (By comparison, about 74% of S&P 500 firms have men in both roles.)
During a Fortune CFO Collaborative event in 2021, in partnership with Workday, Sweet and McClure discussed their partnership. “We are in this together, always,” Sweet said of her CFO. “As my partner, it’s really critical that KC is a business leader first, just like I look to my general counsel as a business leader first—with legal expertise—but also a leader that epitomizes our values.”
“You need to have mutual respect for each other,” McClure added. “That enables you to have very candid conversations. Julie feels very comfortable with me, as I do with her.”
As Accenture’s next CFO, Park will help the firm use AI to help clients improve operations, achieve growth, and become more resilient. At Fortune’s Future of Finance event last month in New York City, McClure discussed being in the “unique position” to assist clients in implementing technology while also using it internally.
When it comes to clients who are CFOs, McClure added that “there’s no question” AI and GenAI are “transformative.” It’s not a question of if they’re deployed, but when. “It’s figuring out ‘How do I get started, and where do I go?’”
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Leaderboard
Sarah Oughtred was named CFO at FIGS, Inc. (NYSE: FIGS), a medical apparel brand. Oughtred will join FIGS on July 29, becomg CFO on August 9. She spent almost 17 years at lululemon, serving in roles including SVP of financial planning and analysis since 2021. In that role, Oughtred led a global team of over 100 finance team members, served as a partner to the senior executive team, and drove the financial component of strategic and operational planning. Before lululemon, Oughtred spent three years at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the audit and assurance practice.
Dan Nisser was named CFO at Milk Specialties Global (MSG), a nutritional ingredients manufacturer, effective immediately. Nisser succeeds Tim Preuninger following his decision to retire. Preuninger will remain with MSG until September for a transition period. Nisser brings more than 30 years of experience to MSG. Most recently, he served as group VP, CFO, Ag Services and Processing, at Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM). Nisser also held various finance and accounting positions at Cargill.
Big Deal
Gallup’s 2024 State of the Global Workplace report is based on survey data from more than 125,000 individuals based in more than 160 countries.
The research finds that 23% of employees globally are engaged at work, 62% are not engaged, and 15% are actively disengaged. Gallup notes that employee engagement reflects the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in the workplace. And engaged business teams drive positive outcomes. However, Gallup estimates that low engagement costs the global economy US$8.9 trillion, or 9% of global GDP.
Going deeper
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday that inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), was flat month over month and rose just 3.3% from a year ago in May. That’s compared with economists’ consensus forecast for an 0.1% monthly increase, and a 3.4% annual jump.
“Investors celebrate as an ‘unequivocally good’ inflation report opens the door for Powell to cut rates this fall,” is a new report by Fortune’s Will Daniel. He writes: “Wall Street was quick to celebrate the cooler-than-expected inflation report, particularly its implication for Federal Reserve policy. Both the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq soared more than 1% by 10 a.m. ET Wednesday, while the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.6%. The 10-year Treasury yield also fell 0.1% to around 2.3%, hinting that fixed-income investors are expecting rates to fall.”
Overheard
“If I’ve learned anything in my 20 years at Google and 30 years in the advertising industry, it’s that we shape technology by using it. And this process isn’t linear.”
—Lorraine Twohill, chief marketing officer at Google, writes in a new Fortune opinion piece why she disagrees with the perception that AI is going to threaten the very nature of creativity.
