Good morning. Today is the fourth anniversary of Fortune’s CFO Daily newsletter. Since March 28, 2021, I’ve spoken with hundreds of CFOs and industry experts. Covering the realm of corporate finance continues to be fascinating as the role of the CFO becomes even more dynamic. I’m grateful for this opportunity and for your readership over the years. And I hope you can take a moment to share this newsletter with someone else who might find it valuable; they can sign up here.
I’m excited to continue CFO Daily’s journey by sharing my conversation with Elena Gomez, president and CFO at Toast. Let’s dive in.
“I’m really proud and I definitely called my mom when I found out.”
That’s what Elena Gomez, the finance chief of Toast, told me of her reaction when the tech company recently appointed her as president, in addition to wearing her CFO hat. Gomez first joined Toast, a $20.5 billion market cap tech company that provides a restaurant and retail point of sale and digital payment platform, in 2021. Over the course of a broad 30-year career, she has also been the CFO of Zendesk and held finance leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies, including Salesforce, Visa, and Charles Schwab.
But it was Gomez’s family, who immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador, that established her foundation in finance and accounting. Gomez’s father was a truck driver, and her mother a bookkeeper, who both worked hard and very long hours. So, her grandfather, an accountant, took care of her while her parents worked.
“As a very young kid, I spent all this time with him, and he would have me count his money when I was five years old,” Gomez said. “I will never forget that.” His continual teachings about debits and credits would help direct her path. “I realized very quickly that I loved how businesses worked,” said the University of California at Berkeley grad. “The exciting part was, how does a business make money? How do you grow a business?”
And now Gomez’s current career trajectory as a modern CFO shows how that role continues to evolve, making finance chiefs desirable candidates for broader positions.
“Being a president alongside my CFO role, I think is a testament to the fact that I’m not just the CFO but really a broader business thinker and a partner to our CEO to help build what we believe is a generational company,” Gomez said. “In many ways, it was a recognition of what we’ve done together as a team over the last four years and what we need to do as a business over the next decade.”
Companies are tapping into the talents of finance chiefs, with CFOs increasingly becoming presidents, according to research by Russell Reynolds Associates. Financial stewardship remains under a finance chief’s purview. However, modern CFOs are deeply involved in shaping corporate strategy.
Positioning the company for growth
Gomez and Aman Narang, CEO and cofounder at Toast, are working together toward continual growth of the company that went public in 2021. When you make a purchase at a restaurant, there’s a good chance you’re using Toast technology.
In 2024, the company added a record 28,000 new restaurant locations using its services, ending the year with approximately 134,000 locations. In Q4 2024, the three months that ended Dec. 31, Toast’s annualized recurring run-rate increased 34% year over year to over $1.6 billion. In 2024, Toast achieved its first year of GAAP profitability. And in Q4, revenue grew 29% to $1.34 billion.
Asked to explain Toast’s impressive growth, Gomez cited “a maniacal focus we have in the company on executing every day.” She added that having a thoughtful, long-range plan for growth in a very disciplined and balanced way also helped, and that the company has also been leaning into AI. “And then you layer on some of our newer opportunities in international retail, and that gives us a lot of confidence that this business has plenty of growth levers over the long term.”
Understanding the customer
Another sign of a modern CFO is the exec doesn’t just sit behind a computer in an office. Finance chiefs traditionally didn’t communicate with customers.
“I’m passionate about making sure I’m very close to the customer,” said. For example, a few weeks ago, Gomez accompanied a sales rep to meet with customers in San Francisco, she explained. Earlier this month she just hosted the “Toast on Tour” event there as well.
The event that takes place in several cities is designed to bring local restaurant communities together to talk with their peers and Toast, Gomez explained. “For us, it’s really great because we’re right in the center of the conversation,” she said. “We have this opportunity to not only get this feedback from them but also showcase some of our new innovation.”
She added, “In fact, I want to spend more of my time with customers because it will make me a better CFO.”
That’s reflective of Gomez’s intellectual curiosity, which started with lessons from her grandfather, and ultimately led to the C-suite.
Have a good weekend.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Leaderboard
Here are some notable moves this week:
Raja Akram was named the next CFO at Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB). After eight years as CFO, James von Moltke will not be seeking another term when his contract expires in June 2026. Von Moltke will continue to lead the delivery of 2025 financial targets before handing over his CFO responsibilities. Akram joins Deutsche Bank from Morgan Stanley where he has been deputy CFO since 2020. He previously worked for Citigroup, holding leadership positions in finance, and also served as the chief accounting officer and global controller.
Laura Anderson was appointed CFO and SVP of administration for the National Football League’s Chicago Bears. Anderson joins the Bears after most recently serving as the CFO and treasurer for the Big Ten Conference. Before that, Anderson supported ESI Consultants as a senior financial consultant.
Mark Ortiz, CFO of dLocal (Nasdaq: DLO), a cross-border payments platform, will step down from his role due to an unforeseen health issue. The board of directors has appointed Jeffrey Brown, who currently serves as VP of finance, to act as interim CFO while it conducts a search for a permanent successor.
Intekhab Nazeer was named CFO of Lineaje, a software supply chain security company. Before joining Lineaje, he served as CFO at Weka.IO, a data platform for AI workloads. Nazeer also previously was responsible for operational efficiency and finance automation at Unifi Software, Platfora, Appcelerator, Greenplum, and HCL Group.
Chris Donahue was promoted from CFO to CEO at Argo Group International Holdings, Inc., an underwriter of specialty insurance products. Donahue succeeds Jessica Buss, who has served as Argo’s CEO since November 2023, the same month he joined as CFO. David Chan was appointed CFO, having served as Argo’s chief accounting officer since 2022. Chan previously held senior roles at AmTrust Financial Services, Inc., Moody’s Investor Services, and PwC.
William Robert (Rob) Steele Jr. was appointed CFO of USA Rare Earth (Nasdaq: USAR), a magnet technology company, effective March 24. Steele has over 30 years of experience in finance and investment banking. Before joining the company, Steele was global CFO at Mujin Corp., a physical AI industrial robotics software company. Prior to that, he was a managing director at Bank of America Securities.
Alison Engel was appointed CFO of Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR), a global provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, effective April 1. Engel has nearly two decades of experience as CFO. Most recently, she served as the CFO of LeaseAccelerator, Inc., a software-as-a-service company. Before that, Engel was the CFO and treasurer of the media company Gannett.
Big Deal
The CFA Institute Research and Policy Center has released a new report, “Investor Perspectives: Intangible Assets.” The recognition of, and accounting for intangible assets is one of the longest-standing, and increasingly important, debates in financial reporting, according to the organization.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board and International Accounting Standards Board are broadly reexamining accounting for intangible assets, such as patents, brands, and software. “While accounting rules largely ignore intangibles—expensing them rather than recognizing them on the balance sheet—intangibles have become the most important driver of value in the modern economy,” according to the report.
“Many of the stakeholders—mostly investors—who try to solve this conundrum want broader capitalization of intangibles to properly reflect companies’ sources of value on balance sheets and to treat intangibles more consistently with tangible assets,” Matthew P. Winters, CFA, senior director of global advocacy at the CFA Institute, said in a statement.
Going deeper
Here are four Fortune weekend reads:
“Robinhood pushes into banking with 4% APY savings account, launches wealth management” by John Jeff Roberts
“Olympus Partners Fund VIII raises $3.5 billion, CEO warns of trade war storm” by Luisa Beltran
“The world is changing fast—but there is reason for optimism” by Alex Wood Morton
“America’s healthiest city: 256 sunny days a year, over 50 parks, and abundant access to healthy eating” by Ani Freedman
Overheard
“We’re not just going to run another dating app. I’m overhauling this whole thing.”
—Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of the dating app Bumble, has returned to her position as CEO. Wolfe Herd talked with Fortune’s Emma Hinchliffe about how she plans to redefine Bumble beyond a dating app. “My vision is that Bumble can be agnostic to just using it for this friend or that love,” she said.
