Many CFOs back AI for business—but not for their own finance teams

A recent Gartner survey found that many organizations still struggle to turn investments in both traditional and generative AI into material improvements in worker productivity. Meanwhile, a survey by Emburse of CFOs and other finance professionals in the U.S. (1,000) and U.K. (500), released this week, finds that two-thirds have invested in AI. However, AI adoption isn’t the biggest priority for most finance teams. Only 16% of respondents cited AI innovation as their department’s top focus, compared to 39% who prioritized cost-cutting and efficiency measures, and 24% focused on compliance and risk management.

Still, some finance leaders remain hesitant. The top concerns about AI are data security and privacy risks, the potential for AI to make mistakes or introduce errors, and the effect on the finance role.

Another finding of the survey is that, over the next five years, respondents expect AI to transform planning and forecasting the most. I think this shows an understanding of the prevalence of AI, but leaders want to ensure they’re mitigating risk in its implementation. It seems that, for finance leaders to have that security, they’ll need to be fully involved in the AI strategy and practice cross-departmental collaboration.

I recently had a conversation with Zachary Wasserman, CFO of Huntington Bancshares Inc., about this topic. “I’m really thrilled to work with some great people to drive all of our data and analytics, with AI being a big focus of that,” Wasserman told me. “I lead all of the finance functions, but I also lead all the strategy functions.” He made a poignant point—AI is part of the broader organizational strategy, which is why the data and analytics function resides within the CFO’s office.

If your company is implementing AI in any area, it should be part of a broader strategy that connects to every department, including finance. Zane Rowe, CFO of Workday, is steering AI strategy both company-wide and within the finance team. “We see a lot of opportunity for people to be working alongside AI agents,” Rowe told me. For example, in the purchasing group of the finance organization, an AI agent can scour thousands of contracts to assess whether, when a particular vendor comes up for renewal, discounts come into play, he said.

It’s certainly important to mitigate risk when incorporating generative AI into the finance function. Experts advise identifying appropriate use cases and caution against implementing AI for its own sake. Proper hardware and software infrastructure are also necessary. But finance teams must be prepared for the future. “Generative AI and other digital technologies are transforming the way work is done, and finance roles are no exception,” according to McKinsey.

Have a good weekend.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

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Leaderboard

Fortune 500 Power Moves

Karen Brennan, CFO of JLL (No. 193) for the past five years, has been appointed as CEO of JLL’s Leasing Advisory business globally. Kelly Howe, currently CFO of JLL’s Leasing Advisory business, will succeed Brennan as CFO. Howe joined JLL in January 2024 with more than 23 years of experience in professional services at Boston Consulting Group, most recently as its North America CFO.

Every Friday morning, the weekly Fortune 500 Power Moves column tracks Fortune 500 company C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition. 

More notable moves this week:

Shannon Damen was appointed CFO of REI Co-op, an outdoor retailer, effective June 16. Damen succeeds Kelley Hall, who will retire on August 1, following a transition period. Damen joins the co-op from Gap, Inc., where she was most recently global head of real estate and held roles as CFO and chief commerce and experience officer at Athleta. Before that, she held finance leadership roles at Victoria’s Secret and Vera Bradley, Inc.

Paul Ruh was appointed CFO of Mattel, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAT), effective May 19. Ruh succeeds Mattel’s current CFO Anthony DiSilvestro, who announced his retirement in January. Ruh currently serves as CFO of consumer health company Kenvue Inc., where he led the separation from Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. Before that, he was CFO of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health. Ruh previously spent 13 years at PepsiCo, Inc. in various finance leadership roles. 

Céline Dufétel was appointed CFO of Bridgewater Associates, effective May 5. Dufétel succeeds Gerry Pasciucco, as part of his planned retirement at the end of this year. She came to Bridgewater after serving as president and COO of Checkout.com. She joined the company as CFO in 2021. Dufétel also previously served as COO and CFO of T. Rowe Price for four years. 

John Ederer was appointed CFO of Teradata (NYSE: TDC), effective May 12. Before Teradata, Ederer served as CFO of Model N, a provider of cloud revenue management solutions. Previously, Ederer was CFO at K2 Software, Inc. Earlier in his career, he held financial leadership roles at enterprise software and other companies including TIBCO Software, SAP, Business Objects, and Ariba.

Luka Mucic will step down as CFO and as executive director of the board of Vodafone Group Plc (Vodafone), no later than early 2026 to pursue an external opportunity as the CEO of Vonovia SE, a DAX 40 company. Vodafone, a telecoms company, is conducting a search for his successor.

Rodrigo Brumana was appointed CFO of Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE: JOBY), a company developing electric air taxis, effective May 29. Brumana is a seasoned Silicon Valley CFO, with experience scaling complex global finance operations at HP, Amazon, eBay and, most recently, Poshmark. 

Max Ochoa was appointed CFO of Electra.aero, Inc. (Electra), an aerospace company. Most recently, Ochoa served as CFO and general counsel at Satelles where he helped drive the acquisition by Iridium Satellite Communications. Before that, Ochoa held executive leadership roles at Alation, Turn, Adify, and TiVo.

Big Deal

Deloitte’s Future of Cyber Survey reveals a shift in how organizations structure and fund cybersecurity. This signals a new era of cross-functional leadership, where chief information security officers are stepping into broader operational and financial roles, according to Deloitte. More than half (58%) of U.S. respondents anticipate increasing their cybersecurity budgets over the next 12–24 months. Additionally, 55% say that spending will no longer be siloed—it will be integrated with digital transformation, IT programs, and cloud investments.

Going deeper

Here are four Fortune weekend reads:

“Molson Coors had its biggest earnings miss in 4 years because consumers are too worried by tariffs to drink” by Massimo Marioni

“A group of anonymous traders scored a $100 million payday by buying Melania Trump’s memecoin just before it launched publicly” by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

“The Gates Foundation will end in 2045. What will the world look like without it?” by Alexa Mikhail

“Startups are famously stressful. Here’s how one wellness company is vowing to do things differently” by Sara Braun

Overheard

“That’s a low number.”

—President Donald Trump said of the negotiated 10% tariff rate for the U.K., adding that other countries would face higher tariff rates in their deals because the U.S. runs trade deficits with them and, “in many cases, they didn’t treat us right.” On Thursday, in a trade deal, Trump agreed to cut tariffs on U.K. autos, steel, and aluminum. Under the agreement, the U.K. is to buy more American beef and ethanol and streamline its customs process for goods from the U.S.