Good morning. A finance chief making the leap from the automotive industry to the health care industry may seem unusual. But the career experience of Thierry Piéton, who will wrap up his CFO tenure at French automaker Renault Group on Feb. 28, shows how it’s possible.
Piéton will join medical device maker Medtronic, No. 125 in the Fortune 500 Europe, on March 3 as EVP and CFO. He will be based in Minneapolis with an annual base salary of $850,000 and is set to receive a $3 million cash bonus, according to an SEC filing.
He succeeds Karen Parkhill, the CFO since 2016 who officially ended her tenure on Aug. 2 to join the tech giant HP as finance chief. Gary Corona will continue as interim CFO until Piéton joins Medtronic.
Since 2022, Piéton has served as CFO of Renault, No. 60 in the Fortune 500 Europe, one of the oldest and most prominent car manufacturers globally. He joined the company as SVP and group controller in June 2016.
Piéton’s almost nine years at Renault have been “among the most stimulating and rewarding of my career,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday. He’s “deeply impressed” by the breadth of Medtronic’s portfolio, along with its “incredible technology and the talent and diversity of its teams,” according to the post.
‘Intentional development’
Before joining Renault, Piéton worked at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. as SVP and CFO of Nissan Europe. He’s also held several divisional CFO roles at General Electric and GE Healthcare.
This diversified experience was appealing to Medtronic. “His career path to CFO demonstrates intentional development through accretive experiences across several industries, geographies, companies, and all facets of a global finance function,” the company said of Piéton in its announcement on Tuesday. Under his leadership, Renault achieved its highest-ever operating margins and improved free cash flow, according to Medtronic.
For some further insight, I had a conversation with Scott W. Simmons, co-managing partner of the executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates. There are commonalities between the auto and health care industries, Simmons said. Success in both industries depends on a healthy relationship among research and development, operations, and sales and marketing, he explained.
“In addition, both industries operate under significant regulatory scrutiny; it is critical to have a CFO who understands this complete picture,” Simmons said.
Also, what companies foremost look for in a CFO is someone with financial acumen and leadership capabilities honed through experience.
“Thierry is a strategic, creative, operationally focused, experienced CFO with a proven track record of delivering innovation-driven growth, margin improvement, and earnings power,” Geoff Martha, Medtronic chair and CEO said in a statement.
After a comprehensive internal and external search, Medtronic, an S&P 500 company, chose Piéton, an external hire. That coincides with a trend revealed in Crist Kolder’s annual report that found external hiring of finance chiefs at S&P 500 and Fortune 500 companies hit a 10-year high in 2024.
In considering Piéton’s background, it would suggest Medtronic wanted a CFO with deep international experience, Simmons said. “Given that half of the company’s revenue is generated outside the U.S., this is not a surprise,” he said.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
The following sections of CFO Daily were curated by Greg McKenna.
Leaderboard
Adarsh Parekh was appointed CFO of Sidus Space (Nasdaq: SIDU), a company specializing in space mission enablement, effective Jan. 27. Most recently, Parekh served as CFO of Terran Orbital Corporation. He’s also served as CFO of Alio, Inc. and Woodspur Farms, LLC.
James White was appointed CFO of ScanTech AI Systems (Nasdaq: STAI), which develops CT screening technology for security checkpoints at places like aiports, as the company expands its management team. White is a former senior manager in the assurance practice at Ernst & Young.
Big Deal
Investors have remained bullish to start the year, according to Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s quarterly pulse survey. Nearly two out of three of all 900-plus respondents believe the market will rise by the end of the quarter. Forty-five percent identified inflation as their biggest worry, while concerns about the new administration dropped 13 percentage points since last quarter.
When it came to looking for opportunities, information technology remained the top choice as 52% of respondents said it was one of their top three sectors. Interest in energy rose by three points to 46% as oil and gas prices rose while health care dropped four percentage points to 32%.
“As with any new administration coming in, potential policy changes can cause uncertainty in the markets,” said Chris Larkin, head of trading and investing at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley. “That said, investors remain optimistic and resilient amid a soft start to 2025.”
Going deeper
“‘A sense of panic’: Immigrant AI talent worry Trump could make an already broken visa system worse,” is a new Fortune report from Sharon Goldman. Immigrants have an outsized role in creating tech startups, the most successful of which play a major role in the nation’s economy. However, outdated visa policies, massive backlogs of visa applications, and political uncertainty have heightened fears among many of the workers fueling the U.S. AI boom.
Overheard
“In 2025, America’s core principles and our corporate values will need all the strength we can muster and safeguard all the trust we have earned.”
— Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck Communications, wrote in a Fortune opinion piece about how former American Airlines CEO Robert “Bob” Crandall successfully managed pressure from critics of the company’s LGBTQ outreach.
