Good morning. The modern CFO role continues to expand, making them desired candidates for broader positions. And companies around the world are tapping into their talents.
Russell Reynolds Associates, a leadership advisory firm, shared with CFO Daily some of the latest findings of its Global CFO Turnover Index, representing indexes such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100, and Euronext 100. Of the outgoing CFOs taking on new roles in 2024, 34% moved to a president or CEO role, up from 20% in 2023.
About 15% of CFOs moved into a divisional CEO role, up from 11% in 2023. Meanwhile, 6% of finance chiefs moved into a COO role, up from 5% in 2023. And 15% of CFOs were hired for another C-suite position, including corporate strategy and risk, down 1% year over year.
I frequently talk with CFOs about how their roles continue to evolve. For example, Amrita Ahuja, CFO of Block since 2019, took on the additional role of COO in 2023. We recently discussed why the two roles complement each other. Edmund Reese, CFO of Aon, and Brett Seybold, CFO of USAA, also shared their perspectives. Here’s what they had to say.
Amrita Ahuja, COO and CFO of Block, a fintech company (No. 186 on the Fortune 500)
“In my COO role, the work I do is focused on helping the company move effectively in pursuit of our goals. That means making sure that across our finance, people, comms, policy, and legal teams, we’re strategically serving the business and speaking a common language—both to advance our product roadmaps and to appropriately be a check and balance within the organization. This coordination helps ensure that we’re doing right by the enterprise and our stakeholders, whether they’re investors, policymakers or the communities and customers we serve.”
“This work also complements my CFO role and our goal to be a Rule of 40 organization. When we work in alignment in our operational teams, we’re able to better support the company, help it move more efficiently, and rally around the major things we’re building for our customers in 2025 and beyond.”
Edmund Reese, CFO of Aon, an $80 billion market cap global professional services firm
“The CFO role has moved beyond bookkeeping and accounting. I’ve used the term strategic growth partner. That means you’re not just closing the books. You are engaged in technology. You’re engaged in marketing and understanding what will resonate with clients and drive growth.”
“My chief responsibility has been to be the champion of shareholder value creation. But I am equally as engaged in all of our strategic initiatives across the functional areas.”
Brett Seybold, CFO of USAA, a financial services and insurance provider for the military community and their families (No. 103 in the Fortune 500)
“CFOs have always had to look out into the horizon, but now we have to look even further. We have to be even more attuned to what’s going on in the world, decipher all of that, and figure out what it means for our companies and what adjustments we need to make. And that means understanding all aspects of the business.”
“We’re in the insurance business and we’re seeing catastrophic events around the world accelerate. As CFO, it requires me to be always on the lookout, not just for the risk, but also opportunities.”
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Leaderboard
Alex Andre was appointed CFO and general counsel at Algorhythm Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: RIME), a technology and consumer electronics holding company. Andre most recently served as the CFO of Lemnature AquaFarms Corporation, a plant-based ingredients manufacturer. Before that, he served as the CFO and general counsel of M.H. Enterprises. He also previously served as the CFO and general counsel of ARC Group, Inc.
Sabrina Simmons was appointed CFO of Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: WOOF), effective February 17. Simmons has more than 20 years of executive-level financial experience and has served as a member of Petco's board of directors and audit chair since 2021. She previously served as EVP and CFO of Gap, Inc. where she supported a multi-year operational transformation. In conjunction with taking on the role of CFO, Simmons has voluntarily resigned from her role on Petco's board.
Big Deal
BDO, an international network of accounting, tax, and advisory firms, has released its 2025 CFO Outlook Survey Report, which explores CFOs’ top growth, innovation, dealmaking, and workforce priorities for 2025. Growth strategies for this year include product and service strategy adjustments (48%), pricing strategy changes (46%), increases in tech (62%), and AI spending (60%).
According to BDO, the data shows three critical factors CFOs must keep in mind: customer data will provide the edge in growth; use near-term ROI to justify long-term transformation; and preparedness for and responsiveness to policy shifts will be key.
The data is based on a survey of 500 CFOs across life sciences, health care, manufacturing, retail, and technology companies.
Going deeper
This morning, McKinsey released its M&A Annual Report: Is the wave finally arriving? Although some headwinds are sure to play out in the global M&A landscape, complicating dealmaker decisions, “a variety of compelling factors make it reasonable to construct an optimistic—perhaps even bullish—case for 2025,” according to the report. Many of the dynamics that stymied dealmaking for the past three years, including some that limited 2024 global deal value and volume to roughly the average of the past 20 years, are receding, McKinsey finds.
Overheard
“The broader picture here at ‘Don’t Die’ is we are at war with death. We are trying to eliminate death from our environment.”
—Tech millionaire turned biohacker Bryan Johnson said on Saturday during his “Don’t Die Summit” in New York City, Fortune reported. Johnson is the star of the recent Netflix documentary, Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever. He has reportedly spent $2 million a year to reverse age and live longer and has a protocol of strict diet requirements, sleeping times, and daily testing.
