Good morning. Target’s new CFO is the latest example of a top executive who has spent decades building a career at one company—and then leaping to a new one to go higher.
The CFO in question is Jim Lee, who will join the retailer and Fortune 50 company on Sept. 22 after a more than 25-year career at the multinational food and beverage company PepsiCo, where he most recently served as deputy CFO. He succeeds Michael Fiddelke, CFO and chief operations officer, who will take off his finance hat, and remain as COO. Fiddelke has been with Target for more than 20 years.
Lee has decades of experience “leading core finance functions and nurturing growth,” Brian Cornell, chair and CEO of Target, said in a statement on Thursday.
To get a better sense of what the new CFO hire means for Target, I spoke with Diane Rulke, a professor of organizational behavior at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. As finance chief, Lee, an external hire, could bring in new ideas and new approaches, Rulke said. “From a strategic point of view, it seems to make sense, and I understand why the board wanted that,” she said.
For the CFO role at Target, Lee will receive an annual base salary of $850,000 and a cash sign-on bonus of $2.2 million, according to an SEC filing. Not only is Lee coming from PepsiCo, another Fortune 50 company, his international experience was most likely also appealing to the board, Rulke said.
During his time at PepsiCo, Lee led global teams in business development and finance functions across North America, Europe, and Asia, including serving as CFO for several of PepsiCo’s international regions.
“Going global is something Target hasn’t done successfully, so maybe Jim Lee would add some expertise there,” she said.
In 2015, Target closed its more than 100 stores in Canada, the company’s first attempt at international expansion. But in May, Target announced plans to expand its Cat & Jack children’s clothing line to Canada’s Hudson’s Bay Co., which has 85 department stores.
Lee mentioned in a Target Q&A that he’s ready for a new industry after working in consumer products at PepsiCo for more than two decades, and excited for the “pace and complexity of retail.” But it also seems he had to change companies to become the top CFO.
Longtime PepsiCo CFO Hugh Johnston left the company in November taking on the role of finance chief at The Walt Disney Company. James Caulfield was promoted to CFO at PepsiCo, and Lee became deputy CFO.
Lee’s chance of becoming CFO at PepsiCo was not very likely in the near future, Rulke said. So joining Target is “a very good career move for Jim Lee,” she said.
Rulke added that, in general, it’s become more common for executives to move after they’ve spent decades at one company. It seems to be a trend that execs prove themselves in one role for a prolonged period of time to gain expertise, and then they move on to the next role or next job with different challenges, she said.
Last week, I had a call with Tony Greene, president of the executive benefits division of NFP, and we talked about how high-performing executives are getting poached. I asked Rulke about that trend.
“I don’t have research on this because it’s such a new phenomenon, but in recent years, it is absolutely true that this is happening with top executives,” she said. And Rulke said Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol getting poached by Starbucks for the top spot is a good example.
Have a good weekend.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Leaderboard
Some notable moves this week:
Keith Walsh was named EVP and CFO of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG), effective Oct. 21. Walsh succeeds Sabra Purtill, who has served as CFO since January 2023. With more than 25 years of finance leadership experience, Walsh joins AIG from Marsh McLennan, where he served as CFO of Marsh. Before that, he was VP and head of investor relations for Marsh McLennan Companies. Previously, Walsh spent 14 years as an equity research analyst at Citi.
Xavier Heiss will retire as CFO of Xerox (Nasdaq: XRX) after over 30 years with the office equipment giant, effective Feb. 1. Heiss has served as CFO since 2021. He will be succeeded by Mirlanda Gecaj, who joined the company in 2022 and currently serves as vice president and chief accounting officer. Her previous stops include stints at PwC and chemical company Element Solutions, respectively.
Christopher Caridi was promoted to CFO of Wiley (NYSE: WLY), an academic publishing company, effective immediately. He will succeed Christina Van Tassell, who is leaving the company on Oct. 1. Caridi has served as corporate controller and chief accounting officer since joining the company in 2017. Prior to Wiley, he held several executive roles at Thomson Reuters, including controller and global head of accounting operations.
Jennifer Martin was named CFO and general partner at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS), a private equity firm focused on technology and healthcare. Martin joins WCAS from Providence Equity Partners, where she was most recently CFO. During her 15-year tenure, she also supported the finance director. Before that, Martin served as a finance manager at Bain Capital.
Brian Van Wagener was promoted to CFO of Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV), which provides cloud software for the life sciences industry, effective Monday. He will succeed Tim Cabral, who is resigning from his position as interim CFO and will remain on the company’s board of directors. Van Wagener left Veeva after almost six years in February 2023 but rejoined the company in July, serving as executive vice president of finance.
Jeremy Whitaker has resigned from his position as CFO of Lantronix (Nasdaq: LTRX), an internet-of-things products and services provider, effective Monday. Whitaker has accepted the CFO role at a private company, Lantronix said. He will be succeeded by Brent Stringham, the company’s controller, who was appointed interim CFO.
Hamza Choudhry will be appointed CFO of Global Petroleum Limited (AIM: GBP), an oil and gas exploration company. Choudhry began his career at Grant Thornton before eventually serving in a lead accounting and governance at Siemens across several multibillion-dollar business segments, including Siemens Energy and Siemens Financial Services. He has also been a professional equities investor for the last six years with a focus on small-cap opportunities in the commodity sector.
Big Deal
A new report by S&P Global Market Intelligence finds that during the summer months, short sellers pulled back their bets against consumer staples stocks on U.S. exchanges. Short interest in the consumer staples sector (companies that make and sell products viewed as consumer essentials) dropped to 3.9% at the end of August from 4.16% at the end of May. And, consumer staples was the only one of the 11 stock sectors to see a decline in short interest during that three-month stretch, according to the report.
Going deeper
Here are a few Fortune weekend reads:
“Goldman Sachs’ break up with Apple could cost $500 million to $4 billion, says analyst” by Luisa Beltran
“What the Fed rate cut means for investors” by Alicia Adamczyk
“Lazard CEO says young bankers want important work if the trade-off is longer hours” by Christiaan Hetzner
“Top market strategist sees ‘nirvana’ after Fed rate cut, new economic data” by Will Daniel
Overheard
“Everybody gets angry. But don’t stay angry. Anger is counter-productive. Instead, be motivated by a desire to help others and...love, family, country, compassion, and mastery.”
—Michael Dell, founder, chair, and CEO of Dell Technologies, wrote in a LinkedIn post on Thursday.
