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Tag: chief financial officer

  • How leaders like Jamie Dimon and Microsoft president Brad Smith are trying to ease employee anxiety about AI | Fortune

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    Good morning. As artificial intelligence reshapes how people work, some business leaders are betting less on replacing employees—and more on helping them adapt to the technology.

    Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the U.S.’s largest bank, has emerged as one of the most vocal executives urging caution about AI’s impact on jobs. Dimon expects to employ fewer workers in the next five years, but he warned that rushing into AI-driven layoffs without safeguards could backfire, potentially triggering “civil unrest,” he said recently while speaking at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Fortune reported.

    Dimon said he would even welcome government bans on replacing large numbers of workers with AI if that were necessary to “save society.” He also insisted that companies must plan for the human consequences of automation. “I have a plan to retrain people, relocate people, income-assist people,” Dimon said of the 300,000-plus employees on his payroll.

    Regarding the AI boom set to take hold in enterprises, there is significant computing power needed to underpin it all. For more on that topic, I recommend a Fortune feature by my colleague Sharon Goldman, “At the edges of the AI data center boom, rural America is up against Silicon Valley billions.”

    Building a future where AI uplifts human talent

    Dimon is not alone in calling for AI strategies that put people at the center. Also in Davos, Microsoft President Brad Smith took on what he described as a defining question for leaders during a Harvard Business Review executive panel session: “Can technology be a platform that enables people to get better?” He framed the future of work as a race between humans and machines. “If we’re just going to say today, ‘the best we are today is the best we’re ever going to be,’ then computers will outpace us,” he said.

    Smith argued that the outcome changes if each advance in AI is used to upgrade human capability rather than replace it. If workers can use smarter machines to get better at their jobs, he suggested, then in many areas “machines will never catch up.” “You talk about leadership,” he added. “Are we not going to use, as employers and as leaders, technology as tools to help our employees get better themselves?”

    Those questions are becoming more urgent as AI moves from experimentation to everyday use. This year, AI is shifting from the pilot and testing phase to enterprise-wide scaling as worker access to AI tools expands, according to Deloitte’s State of AI in the Enterprise 2026 report. Surveyed companies have broadened worker access to AI by around 50% in just one year. While only about one-quarter of respondents said their organizations have moved 40% or more of their AI experiments into production so far, more than half expect to reach that level in the next three to six months.

    Yet the report also highlights a gap that connects directly to the concerns raised in Davos. Insufficient worker skills are cited as the biggest barrier to integrating AI into the business, even as fewer than half of companies are making significant changes to their talent strategies. For leaders like Dimon and Smith, the message is clear: the real test of AI leadership may be less about how quickly companies adopt new tools and more about how effectively they help their people keep up.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

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    Bénédicte de Bonnechose was appointed CFO of the Michelin Group, effective June 1. She will succeed Yves Chapot. A member of the Michelin Executive Committee since Jan. 1, 2021, Bonnechose currently supervises the Urban and Long-Distance Transportation Business lines, as well as the European region. She joined the Michelin Group in April 2019 as deputy group CFO. 

    Dan Karpel was appointed interim CFO of Caleres (NYSE: CAL), a portfolio of consumer-driven footwear brands, effective immediately. Karpel also serves as the company’s SVP and chief accounting officer. He succeeds Jack Calandra, who is leaving Caleres at the end of the month to pursue other opportunities. His departure is not related to any disagreement with the company. The company started an external search for a permanent successor.

    Big Deal

    Organizational AI adoption has not changed meaningfully from the previous quarter, according to a new Gallup report. In Q4 2025, 38% of U.S. employees said their organization has integrated AI technology to improve productivity, efficiency and quality, while 41% said their organization has not implemented AI tools and 21% said they don’t know. These results are similar to Q3 figures. 

    Gallup reports that employees in technology, finance and higher education show the highest levels of AI use, especially compared with employees in retail, manufacturing and health care.

    However, the report also finds that employees who already use AI at work did so slightly more often in the fourth quarter of 2025 than in the prior quarter, continuing a gradual increase since 2023. The share of employees who use AI daily has grown from 10% to 12%, and frequent use—defined as engaging with AI at work at least a few times a week—has edged up three points to 26%.

    Courtesy of Gallup

    Going deeper

    “Minnesota-based CEOs, including Fortune 500 bosses, call for ‘immediate de-escalation of tensions’ after fatal shooting” is a Fortune article by Jason Ma.

    In an open letter Sunday from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, more than 60 CEOs said the business community has been working behind the scenes with officials for several weeks. 

    “With yesterday’s tragic news, we are calling for an immediate de-escalation of tensions and for state, local and federal officials to work together to find real solutions,” CEOs state in the letter. 

    Overheard

    “Retailers did not ask to be put into the middle of America’s political and legal fight over immigration. But they are being drafted nonetheless, and need to scream these facts loudly from the mountaintops to de-escalate a worsening situation.”

    —Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, professor and founder of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, and Steven Tian, a research director at the institute, and a former analyst for Rockefeller Capital Management, write in a Fortune opinion piece.

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  • Why Jollibee is turning to a U.S. IPO to fuel global growth | Fortune

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    Good morning. Chickenjoy—its crispy, juicy fried chicken—and Jolly Spaghetti are signature menu items at Jollibee, a Filipino fast-food chain that is building a growing fan base in the U.S. Now, the company is setting its sights on Wall Street. 

    The Philippines-based Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC), the restaurant’s parent company, disclosed earlier this month that it plans to spin off its international operations and pursue a U.S. initial public offering for that business. The contemplated spin-off and listing are targeted for late 2027, leaving “quite a bit of time ahead of us for the work to be done,” Jollibee Global CFO Richard Shin said during a Jan. 14 media roundtable.

    JFC, which includes restaurant brands such as Smashburger and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, is currently traded as a single group on the Philippine Stock Exchange and operates in 33 countries. Over the past 15 quarters, JFC’s international network has posted a 26.7% compound annual growth rate, outpacing the group’s overall 15.1% rate of expansion. The separation reflects increasingly distinct strategic profiles for the domestic and international businesses, Shin said.

    In March 2025, Jollibee launched its first U.S. franchising program. After opening its first North American location in 1998 in Daly City, California, the brand has since expanded to more than 100 locations across the U.S. and Canada as of early 2026.

    Why go the route of a U.S. IPO? “I think there’s a fact that we can all agree on: the U.S. capital markets have deep investor-based experience in valuing global consumer and restaurant growth companies,” Shin said on the call.

    Many such companies are still growing into their potential yet are often rewarded with higher multiples and valuations, he said. While that outcome is not guaranteed for JFC, a U.S. listing offers greater capital depth, liquidity, and broader analyst coverage, with any final decision subject to valuation and required approvals, he added.

    The IPO market in the U.S. is heating up again, Fortune’s Jeff John Roberts writes in a new feature article. “While 2026 will almost certainly not match the banner year of 1999, which saw 476 companies go public, investors should have far more choices than they did four years ago, when just 38 firms held an IPO,” he writes.

    Shin also framed the separation of JFC in terms of simplifying how investors assess the corporation, noting the group includes businesses at different stages of their life cycles, with varying returns and opportunities. Distinct domestic and international entities, he suggested, could offer investors clearer, more targeted investment options as the strategic profiles of the two segments continue to diverge.

    Reasons for pursuing the separation include improved transparency, discipline in capital allocation, execution against the growth strategy, and the ability to attract an investor base aligned with the risk–return profile of each business rather than being judged solely on short-term financial metrics, he said.

    “The transaction is aligned with the Jollibee Group’s long-term value creation strategy,” Shin said.

    With its eyes on Wall Street, Jollibee is betting that global taste and investor appetite will be on its side.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

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    Helen Cai was appointed senior executive vice president and CFO of Barrick Mining Corporation (NYSE: B), effective March 1, following the departure of long-serving finance chief Graham Shuttleworth, who will be leaving the company after its year-end results. Cai has served on Barrick’s board since November 2021 and brings more than 20 years of experience in equity research, corporate finance, capital markets, and M&A at firms across the mining, industrial, and technology sectors, primarily with Goldman Sachs and China International Capital Corporation.

    Meredith Peck was named CFO of Zekelman Industries, the largest independent steel pipe and tube manufacturer in North America. Peck succeeds Mike Graham, who will retire on May 15 following a planned transition period. She brings more than 20 years of financial leadership experience to Zekelman Industries and most recently served as CFO for COTSWORKS, Inc., after earlier roles as the company’s controller and then vice president of finance and administration. Earlier in her career, Peck held senior leadership roles at KeyBank and began her career in public accounting at PwC, and she is also a former U.S. Coast Guard officer.

    Big Deal

    In a blog post on Sunday, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar provided an update on the tech giant, including its revenue. In 2023, revenue reached $2 billion in annual recurring revenue; it rose to $6 billion in 2024 and jumped to more than $20 billion in 2025.​

    This revenue growth closely tracked an expansion in computing capacity. OpenAI’s computing capacity rose from 0.2 gigawatts (GW) in 2023 to 0.6 GW in 2024 and about 1.9 GW in 2025.​

    Friar writes: “Compute is the scarcest resource in AI. Three years ago, we relied on a single compute provider. Today, we are working with providers across a diversified ecosystem. That shift gives us resilience and, critically, compute certainty.”​

    In an accompanying LinkedIn post, Friar said that from a finance perspective, demand is real and growing at rates never seen by any company previously, and that customers are paying in proportion to the value delivered. She added that capital is being deployed deliberately into the constraints that actually matter, especially compute. 

    Going deeper

    ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) have published a Global Economic Conditions Survey, based on the results of their Q4 2025 poll. Members from around the world share their views on the macroeconomic environment. 

    Confidence among CFOs improved somewhat, but remained below its historic average, and the key indicators point to caution at their firms, according to the findings. Accountants flagged economic pressure, cyber disruption, and geopolitical uncertainty as the top risk priorities, underscoring that risks are increasingly complex and interlinked. 

    “Accountants remain cautious entering 2026, amid a highly uncertain global backdrop,” Jonathan Ashworth, chief economist of ACCA, said in a statement. “The global economy performed better than expected in 2025 and looks set to remain resilient in 2026 amid recent monetary easing by central banks, stock market gains, supportive fiscal policies in key countries, and the ongoing global AI boom.” However, there remains significant uncertainty, amid a wide range of risks, “not least on the geopolitical front, which are more heavily skewed to the downside,” he said.

    Overheard

    “We are entering an IPO ‘mega‑cycle’ that we expect will be defined by unprecedented deal volume and IPO sizes.” 

    —Goldman Sachs’ global co-head of investment banking, Kim Posnett, recently told Fortune. Posnett discussed how she sees the current business environment and the most significant developments in 2026 in terms of AI, the IPO market, and M&A activity. Posnett, named among the leaders on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list, is one of the bank’s top dealmakers and also serves as vice chair of the Firmwide Client Franchise Committee and as a member of the Management Committee.

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  • How AI is redefining finance leadership: ‘There has never been a more exciting time to be a CFO’ | Fortune

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    Good morning. This year has shown that AI isn’t just a buzzword anymore—it’s redefining finance. 

    In covering AI, I’ve spoken with CFOs across industries who are focused on value creation and developing real-world use cases for AI to reshape everything from forecasting and financial planning to strategic decision-making. As data moves faster than ever, finance leaders are asking a new question: not what AI could do, but how it can truly transform the enterprise. I’ve also talked with industry experts and researchers about topics ranging from the ROI of AI to “prompt-a-thons” and debates over whether AI will turn CFOs into chief capital officers.

    Finance chiefs are signaling the next big evolution—2026 will be the year of enterprise-scale AI. Pilot programs and proofs of concept are giving way to avenues for full-scale deployment as CFOs expect AI to deliver measurable value: faster decisions, leaner operations, and predictive insights that can provide a competitive edge. However, that level of transformation comes with new demands—governance, data integrity, and human oversight matter more than ever.

    I recently asked finance chiefs from leading companies how they expect AI to redefine what it means to lead in finance. For instance, Zane Rowe, CFO at Workday, told me: “There has never been a more exciting time to be a CFO with AI unlocking new opportunities for value creation through unprecedented data and insights. Most of the focus has been on experimentation and discovering the art of the possible, but this year, leaders will shift from ‘What can AI do?’ to ‘How do we build the foundation for scale?’ They will manage a more nuanced AI portfolio that balances launching pilots with rolling out proven solutions, and they will prioritize the unglamorous but critical work of data governance, process redesign, and maintenance of new technologies. Success in 2026 will be defined by how we mature our AI strategy to ensure it is both agile, durable, and enterprise-grade.”

    Shifting from the perspective of a major tech company to a beauty and cosmetics leader, Mandy Fields, CFO at e.l.f. Beauty offered this prediction: “From where a CFO sits, AI simultaneously helps broaden our view to get a better macro picture and can help put a sharper focus on very specific points of interest. e.l.f. Beauty is growing globally, and AI has visibility across it all. Going into next year, we’ll continue to explore how we best leverage AI in finance to lean into its strengths. It’s a pretty similar approach to our high-performance teamwork culture in which we encourage the team to pursue and thrive in the areas where they have expertise, learn continuously and move at e.l.f. speed.”

    You can read more insights from over a dozen CFOs on how AI will shape finance in 2026 in my complete article here.

    This is the final CFO Daily of 2025. The next issue will land in your inbox on Jan. 5. Thank you for your readership—and wishing you a wonderful holiday season. See you in 2026!

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

    This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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  • AI is reshaping banking—but not causing a jobs wipeout | Fortune

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    Good morning. An AI-fueled takeover of finance jobs doesn’t appear imminent, experts say.

    My Fortune colleague Emma Burleigh takes a deep dive into this topic in her new report, “Is AI really killing finance and banking jobs? Experts say Wall Street’s layoffs may be more hype than takeover—for now.” For example, despite Wall Street’s headline-grabbing layoffs this year, overall headcount across banking and finance has remained relatively stable.

    “I think the general [headcount] trend in the banking industry over the last decade is stable to slightly declining,” Pim Hilbers, a managing director working with banking and talent at BCG, told Burleigh. “I don’t see that changing anytime soon. That doesn’t mean that everybody just stays in their job for life. I think we see a lot more mobility than we saw in the past.”

    Burleigh writes about the banking sector: “So far, America’s largest financial institutions haven’t been making deep workforce cuts. Bank of America employed just four fewer workers at the end of the third quarter this year, compared to 2024. In that same time period, JPMorgan saw its headcount climb by 2,000 employees, and more than a third of the new staffers were brought onto corporate operations. Even Goldman Sachs, which implemented multiple rounds of layoffs this year, employed 48,300 this September—around 1,800 staffers higher than the year before.

    “Banks aren’t ready to shed staffers just yet; experts tell Fortune they’re pulling back on headcount growth for as long as possible, leaning on AI efficiency gains until they’re forced to add more humans to payroll. They predict this sluggish period of hiring could last for years.” Although AI isn’t replacing bankers just yet, there could be trouble on the horizon for marketers and accountants. You can read the complete report here. 

    Regarding banking, AI is also reshaping competitive advantage, a recent BCG report finds. Predictive, generative, and agentic AI are redefining the foundations of scale, efficiency, and customer experience. Banks must anchor AI strategy in business strategy. And “winning institutions” focus on where AI will deliver real returns, not just on deploying more technology, according to BCG.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

    This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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  • Florida CFO announces legislative proposal to oversee local government spending

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    Florida CFO announces legislative proposal to oversee local government spending

    Updated: 11:30 AM EST Dec 18, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Blaise Ingoglia, announced a new legislative proposal on Thursday to make local government more accountable and transparent. According to Ingoglia, 11 local governments are projected to have spent $1.6 billion wastefully over the last year. Some of these include $190 million in Orange County, $112 million in Manatee County, $301 million in Miami, $344 million in Palm Beach County and $22 million in Orlando.Ingoglia said local governments are doing this to make excuses to raise property taxes. To protect taxpayers from excessive local government spending, Ingoglia proposed to formally establish the Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight (FAFO) in state law.The CFO’s legislative proposal: Codifies the “Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight” in Florida statute to increase accountability and transparency in local government and make this effort a long-term, permanent initiative. Requires both state and local government employees to complete FAFO training on how to report waste, fraud, and abuse. Requires each local government to submit an annual Financial Efficiency Report. Grants government employees, contractors, subcontractors, and taxpayers whistleblower protection if they contact DFS to report waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. Allows DFS to pursue financial penalties from local governments if they don’t respond to inquiries promptly, including by withholding any state funds until they do. Obligates local governments to upload all government contracts into the state’s FACTS system or something similar that is searchable and indexed. Codifies the ability of Florida’s CFO to recommend the removal of any elected official who is found to have committed financial abuse, malfeasance or misfeasance. Requires DFS to audit local governments if they propose to raise taxes via referendum.”My legislative proposal will codify much-needed reforms that will positively impact future generations. Government grows when people stop watching, and bureaucrats stop caring. Through my proposal, we will ensure that someone is always watching how your hard-earned tax dollars are spent,” Ingoglia said in a new press release.

    WINTER PARK, Fla. —

    Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Blaise Ingoglia, announced a new legislative proposal on Thursday to make local government more accountable and transparent.

    According to Ingoglia, 11 local governments are projected to have spent $1.6 billion wastefully over the last year.

    Some of these include $190 million in Orange County, $112 million in Manatee County, $301 million in Miami, $344 million in Palm Beach County and $22 million in Orlando.

    Ingoglia said local governments are doing this to make excuses to raise property taxes.

    To protect taxpayers from excessive local government spending, Ingoglia proposed to formally establish the Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight (FAFO) in state law.

    The CFO’s legislative proposal:

    • Codifies the “Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight” in Florida statute to increase accountability and transparency in local government and make this effort a long-term, permanent initiative.
    • Requires both state and local government employees to complete FAFO training on how to report waste, fraud, and abuse.
    • Requires each local government to submit an annual Financial Efficiency Report.
    • Grants government employees, contractors, subcontractors, and taxpayers whistleblower protection if they contact DFS to report waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
    • Allows DFS to pursue financial penalties from local governments if they don’t respond to inquiries promptly, including by withholding any state funds until they do.
    • Obligates local governments to upload all government contracts into the state’s FACTS system or something similar that is searchable and indexed.
    • Codifies the ability of Florida’s CFO to recommend the removal of any elected official who is found to have committed financial abuse, malfeasance or misfeasance.
    • Requires DFS to audit local governments if they propose to raise taxes via referendum.

    “My legislative proposal will codify much-needed reforms that will positively impact future generations. Government grows when people stop watching, and bureaucrats stop caring. Through my proposal, we will ensure that someone is always watching how your hard-earned tax dollars are spent,” Ingoglia said in a new press release.

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  • Exclusive: $1 billion canned water brand Liquid Death names new CFO as it gears up for expansion | Fortune

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    Good morning. Liquid Death has tapped Ricky Khetarpaul, a PepsiCo alum, as finance chief of the popular L.A.-based water startup that’s expanded into other beverages.

    “It’s a truly healthy beverage platform with a proven track record as an innovator across categories,” Khetarpaul told me. “I’ve been a big fan of Liquid Death.”

    Founded in 2017 by CEO Mike Cessario, Liquid Death is valued at approximately $1.4 billion and is known for its edgy, skeleton-stamped tallboy cans filled with water, sparkling water, or iced tea with fruit juice—not alcohol.

    In 2024, the company’s scanned sales were north of $300 million, and it has achieved a 380% CAGR since its 2019 launch. This month, Liquid Death announced a new distribution deal with Big Geyser in New York.

    Khetarpaul succeeds Karim Sadik-Khan, who joined Liquid Death as finance chief in June 2024. Sadik-Khan is currently the CFO at Spindrift, according to his LinkedIn profile.

    Before joining Liquid Death, Khetarpaul was the CFO of Health-Ade, a kombucha and gut-health soda brand. He previously served as North America CFO for Lavazza, spent over eight years in finance at PepsiCo, leading reporting, forecasting, and planning for a $5 billion beverage portfolio, and held leadership roles at Sabra Dipping Co. and Walgreens Boots Alliance.

    He noted that the biggest challenge for CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands is building strong consumer loyalty. “Even bigger brands I’ve worked with have struggled,” he said. “But in just a few years, Liquid Death has built one of the biggest fan bases in the beverage industry.”

    Strategic marketing

    According to a recent NCSolutions survey, half of Gen Zers said they are alcohol-free by choice, and 43% believe Gen Z is driving the “sober curious” movement. Gen Z and millennials account for over 70% of Liquid Death’s customers.

    Cessario, a former marketing executive, credits the company’s entertainment-first, social media-centric marketing for its strong appeal among young consumers. Liquid Death has 14.5 million followers across TikTok and Instagram.

    Khetarpaul sees marketing as a growth center, drawing on his own experience in sales and marketing at PepsiCo before moving into finance. “I view the CFO role as a growth driver, not just a traditional controller,” he said. “Liquid Death’s marketing converts brand awareness into sales; the company is very metrics-driven. We measure marketing investments both strategically and in terms of ROI, which is music to any CFO’s ears.”

    The brand has also run campaigns with celebrities and partners. For example, it recently launched a limited-edition Fruity Pebbles sparkling water called Cereal Criminal on Amazon. Liquid Death plans to enter the $23 billion energy drink market in 2026 with Liquid Death Sparkling Energy, which is naturally caffeinated from coffee beans rather than synthetic sources, Khetarpaul said.

    However, the segment is highly competitive, dominated by brands such as Red Bull and Monster. As CFO, Khetarpaul is set to play a key leadership role in helping Liquid Death become the “next true multi-category beverage brand,” Cessario said in a statement.

    Backed by a loyal fan base and an ambitious CFO, Liquid Death is ready to disrupt the beverage aisle—again.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

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    Lydia Brown has been appointed CFO of Citrin Cooperman, a professional services provider for private, middle market businesses and high net-worth individuals, effective Oct. 13. Brown succeeds Larry Diamond, who will retire after three years of dedicated service as the firm’s CFO. Brown brings more than 30 years of experience in the professional services industry, including senior financial leadership roles across both private-equity-backed and publicly traded companies. Most recently, she served as CFO for HKA, a global consultancy.

    Craig Chamberlin was appointed EVP and CFO of Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE: VRT), a digital infrastructure company, effective Nov. 10. Chamberlin succeeds David Fallon, who previously announced his intention to retire from Vertiv and serve as a consultant to the company through Dec. 31. Chamberlin joins Vertiv from Wabtec Corporation, where he most recently served as group VP and CFO of the company’s transit segment.

    Big Deal

    The 2025 Fortune Most Powerful Women (MPW) Summit began on Monday in Washington, D.C., and continues through Wednesday. You can join us at MPW via livestream for the main stage sessions. View the agenda here.

    The MPW franchise started in 1998 with the publication of the first-ever Most Powerful Women in Business ranking. The response to this list made it clear that these trailblazing women needed a platform to come together and discuss the unique challenges they were facing. And so, Fortune MPW evolved into a community of leaders that gathered at invite-only events, such as the annual Summit. This year’s theme is “Leading in a Dynamic World.” 

    Going deeper

    The latest EY Global IPO Trends report found that in Q3 2025, global equity markets rebounded strongly, with major indices in the U.S., Asia, and Europe reaching new highs after months of pressure from tariffs, interest rate uncertainty, and debt concerns. The rally was driven by looser monetary policy and solid corporate earnings, according to the report.

    Overheard

    “Frankly, this thing that trade is dead is completely overstated. Trade is like water. You put [up an] obstacle, it goes around it.”

    —Kristalina Georgieva, head of the International Monetary Fund, said during the Fortune Most Powerful Women summit in Washington, D.C., on Monday. Georgieva downplayed any fears of a trade war but recognizes the world is becoming “foggier” and full of uncertainty. She said one of the biggest challenges comes from getting buy-in that cooperation is better than division: “We are in this one big boat. It is a rough sea. We’d better row together,” Fortune reported.

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  • Snowflake tops Fortune Future 50, new CFO highlights AI leadership | Fortune

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    Good morning. U.S. tech companies, particularly in software, have dominated the 2025 Fortune Future 50 list.

    Snowflake, a cloud-based data storage company, takes the top spot on the list released this morning, followed closely by data, analytics, and AI provider Databricks. Both companies are fueled by the rise of AI in business—their platforms enable organizations to unlock and activate their own data as the foundation for artificial intelligence. Rounding out the top five are Celonis, DataRobot, and Astera Labs.

    Since 2017, Fortune has partnered with the consulting firm BCG to publish the Future 50, an annual index of global companies, both publicly traded and venture-backed private firms, with the strongest prospects for above-average, long-term growth. The list highlights top scorers in “corporate vitality,” a measurable and manageable quality that reflects a company’s innate ability to expand.

    Snowflake is not only well-positioned for growth but also preparing for leadership changes. Earlier this month, the company announced that Brian Robins will become CFO on Sept. 22, succeeding Mike Scarpelli, who is retiring. Robins served as CFO of GitLab since 2020 and, before that, held CFO roles at Sisense, Cylance, AlienVault, and Verisign, a Nasdaq-listed company.

    “Snowflake is at the center of the AI revolution,” Robins said in a statement. “I am thrilled to be a part of this hyper-growth phase.” He said he’s committed to helping the company scale efficiently to achieve its vision.

    Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO of Snowflake, echoed that sentiment: “We’re incredibly confident in our next chapter of growth with Brian taking the helm as our new chief financial officer. Brian’s deep commitment to operational rigor and long-term high growth aligns perfectly with Snowflake’s strategic direction.”

    Robins will be tasked with sustaining Snowflake’s momentum. For the quarter that ended July 31, the company reported earnings of 35 cents per share, nearly double from the same period last year. Revenue climbed 32% to $1.1 billion, surpassing estimates of $1.09 billion.

    With a new finance chief, rising demand for AI-powered solutions, and continued revenue growth, Snowflake is aiming to remain a dominant force. View the complete Fortune Future 50 list here.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

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    Joshua Reed was appointed CFO of Alkermes plc (Nasdaq: ALKS), effective Sept. 15. Reed brings over 30 years of financial leadership experience. Most recently, he served as CFO of Omega Therapeutics, a then publicly traded biotechnology company. Before that, Reed was the CFO at Aldeyra Therapeutics. Earlier in his career, he spent more than a decade at Bristol Myers Squibb, culminating in his role as VP and head of finance operations for the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

    Travis T. Thomas, CFO of Ring Energy, Inc. (NYSE American: REI), has resigned effective immediately to pursue other opportunities. According to the company’s announcement, his resignation was not the result of any disagreement between Ring Energy and Thomas regarding financial, operational, policy, or governance matters. Rocky Kwon, currently VP of accounting, controller, and assistant treasurer, has been appointed interim CFO. The company has begun a search for a permanent replacement.

    Big Deal

    Americans’ trust in the responsible use of AI has improved since Gallup began measuring the topic in 2023, according to a newly released report. This year, about a third (31%) of Americans surveyed said they trust businesses to use AI responsibly—3% said “a lot,” and 28% said “somewhat.” In 2023, only 21% expressed trust in businesses’ use of AI.

    Still, skepticism remains. Forty-one percent of respondents this year said they do not trust businesses much when it comes to using AI responsibly, while 28% said they do not trust them at all.

    The findings come from the latest Bentley University–Gallup Business in Society survey, based on responses from 3,007 U.S. adults in a web-based poll.

    According to Gallup, the challenge businesses face as they deploy AI is clear: “They must not only demonstrate the technology’s benefits but also show, through transparent practices, that it will not come at the expense of workers or broader public trust.”

    Courtesy of Gallup

    Going deeper

    “Unconscious Uncoupling: CFO Business Partnering 2025” is a report by Datarails based on a survey of 240 U.S. heads of sales, marketing, HR, IT, customer service, and R&D departments regarding their relationships with CFOs. Although finance teams have evolved into strategic business partners, nearly all business executives (97%) still view their finance chief’s primary role as “limiting spending.”

     

    Overall, 51% of executives ranked poor communication as their biggest complaint in the relationship. IT executives reported having the strongest “business partner” relationship with the CFO’s office, according to the survey.

    “Without finance partnership, businesses will continue to lose significant opportunities to drive growth,” said Didi Gurfinkel, CEO and co-founder of Datarails.

     

    Overheard

    “In the same way that every company became a technology company, I think that every company will become an AI company.”

    —Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev told David Rubenstein last week during an interview on Bloomberg Wealth.

    This is the web version of CFO Daily, a newsletter on the trends and individuals shaping corporate finance. Sign up for free.

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  • AI consulting firm hits $1 billion, makes employees part owners

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    Good morning. Retaining and engaging employees remains a core priority for many companies.

    For Synechron, this meant celebrating its $1 billion annual revenue milestone by making every employee a part owner. The private AI and tech consultancy recently announced its offering a universal equity grant to all 16,000 employees worldwide—each will receive $1,000 in restricted stock units (RSUs).

    Unlike typical performance- or tenure-based models, this RSU grant is equal for all employees, regardless of location or role. There’s no minimum tenure requirement for the award, which is granted to current employees only. The company maintains separate, performance-driven equity awards as well.

    Reaching $1 billion, bootstrapped and without outside investors, is a notable accomplishment, CEO and cofounder Faisal Husain told me. Founded in 2001, the once-small New York startup has grown over 24 years into a global player with offices in 21 countries.

    Leadership wanted a celebration of the milestone that reflected the company’s values, Husain said. After considering standard rewards like gift cards or gadgets, they chose a shared equity stake. “It’s the best form of appreciation,” he said.

    “We’ve all heard the stories—if you bought $1,000 of Amazon or Microsoft shares 20 years ago, it would be worth a lot today,” Husain told me. Synechron employees could have a similar opportunity. 

    Asked if an IPO is in Synechron’s future, he said it’s possible, but, for now, the focus is on growth, innovation, and helping clients through technology’s rapid changes. “We’ve kept the company privately held for 24 years,” Husain said. At some point, things may change, he added, “but we’re not in any rush.”

    Leadership sets the culture

    The grant ties directly to Husain’s leadership philosophy—it reflects a culture of transparency and inclusivity reinforced by regular town halls and a belief that everyone should share in the firm’s success, he said.

    I spoke with two Synechron employees. Roya Shahilow, chief of staff in London for a decade, recalled joining when revenue was just $300,000. “The $1 billion mark felt like a dream in the distance,” she said. “It’s a proud moment to have achieved that.”

    Annushree Chute, senior manager of immigration and travel in Pune, India, also with the company for 10 years, echoed that the excitement in the office was palpable when the news broke. Both credit the company’s supportive culture for their long tenures. “Connecting with everyone, from associates to the CEO, is very important,” Chute said. Shahilow added, “Granting these RSUs speaks volumes about our culture.”

    Every employee received a medallion as a physical symbol of their shares. Shahilow plans to frame hers; Chute will display hers on her desk.

    As CEO, Husain is both reflecting on this achievement and focused on future growth. “Now we have to chart a new path,” he said. “How do we go from $1 billion today to $10 billion? It’s my role to make sure we stay on the winning side.”

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

    Leaderboard

    Inder M. Singh was appointed CFO and chief operating officer of IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), a quantum computing and networking provider, effective immediately. Singh succeeds Thomas Kramer, who will remain at IonQ in an advisory capacity for up to 60 days. Singh most recently served as CFO of Arm, a British semiconductor and software design company, where he oversaw the majority of its IPO. Singh previously held several leadership roles at Unisys, a global technology solutions company, culminating with his position as CFO. Before that, Singh led financial strategy for Cisco, one of the world’s largest networking companies, as its VP of corporate financial strategy and M&A.

    Samantha Rutty was appointed EVP and CFO at Myers Industries, Inc. (NYSE: MYE), a manufacturer, effective Sept. 22. Rutty brings to her new role more than two decades of finance leadership experience across global services and manufacturing companies. She joins Myers from The Brink’s Company, where she had served as VP and CFO of Brink’s North America since November 2022. Before that, Rutty spent 20 years with Eaton Corporation in a series of senior finance roles, including director of finance, eMobility.

    Big Deal

    The Labor Department released the August jobs report on Friday, showing U.S. employers added just 22,000 jobs as the labor market continued to cool. Hiring slowed from an upwardly revised 79,000 in July. The unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, the highest level since 2021. 

    The results are likely to heighten concerns at the Federal Reserve about labor market weakness, according to a note to clients from BofA Global Research. “There is now clearer evidence of deterioration in labor demand, not just supply,” BofA economists wrote. “Therefore, we are changing our Fed call to show two 25bp cuts this year, in September and December.”

    Jerome Powell’s current term as chair of the Federal Reserve is set to expire in May 2026. BofA economists maintain their view that the next Fed Chair will guide the Federal Open Market Committee in a more dovish direction. They now expect another 75bp of rate cuts under the new chair, aiming for a terminal rate of 3.00-3.25%.

    “We pencil those in for June, September, and December 2026,” the note says. “This raises our forecast of cumulative cuts by end-2026 from 100bp to 125bp.”

    On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish its preliminary payroll revision, which recalculates which recalculates employment numbers for the previous year using more comprehensive data, such as company payrolls. 

    Going deeper

    “Anthropic reaches $1.5 Billion settlement with authors in landmark copyright case” is a Fortune report by Beatrice Nolan. 

    From the report: “Anthropic agreed to pay authors around $3,000 per book for roughly 500,000 works, after it was accused of downloading millions of pirated texts from shadow libraries to train its large language model, Claude. As part of the deal, Anthropic will also destroy data it was accused of illegally acquiring. The fast-growing AI startup announced on Sept. 2 that it had just raised an additional $13 billion in new venture capital funding in a deal that valued the company at $183 billion.” Read the complete report here.

    Overheard

    “We’re actually seeing the human skills coming into premium.”

    —Kelly Monahan, managing director of the Upwork Research Institute, told Fortune in a recent interview regarding the use of AI-generated content. 

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  • Wbg introduces CFO service for SMEs seeking financial leadership

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    Scotland-based accountancy firm Wbg has launched a new service offering part-time chief financial officer (CFO) expertise to support the financial management needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

    The move is tailored to companies that do not require a full-time CFO but still need professional guidance in their financial operations and strategic planning, the company said.

    The fractional CFO service will complement Wbg’s existing portfolio of financial services, which already includes areas such as compliance, VAT, bookkeeping, management accounting, and cashflow management.

    The new offering is designed to provide SMEs with the necessary financial oversight and advice to facilitate their growth and development.

    Experienced CFOs from various sectors will be available to assist businesses in setting and pursuing strategic goals, formulating and executing financial strategies, and ensuring financial reporting and budgeting.

    The service is particularly geared towards businesses that are in the process of expanding or planning their exit, the company noted.

    Catherine Livingstone, a partner in Wbg’s Accounts & Business Advisory Service, said: “With our new fractional CFO service, we aim to deliver objective, unbiased guidance that’s both flexible and responsive to the unique requirements of each business.

    “No two businesses are the same – each faces distinct challenges – and our service is designed to offer personalised solutions that address those specific needs.”

    Livingstone added: “This service allows us to give our SME clients access to tailored financial guidance and strategic support. The fractional CFO service means a business can have an in-house advisor on a flexible schedule, providing expert input precisely when it’s needed.

    Recently, Wbg appointed Garry Clarke as the firm’s CFO.

    Clarke, who brings experience from his previous roles including finance director and COO at Localist, will be responsible for driving Wbg’s growth plans.

    He succeeds Yvonne Kemp, who transitions to support investment initiatives with Wbg shareholders N4 Partners.

    “Wbg introduces CFO service for SMEs seeking financial leadership ” was originally created and published by International Accounting Bulletin, a GlobalData owned brand.

     


    The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.

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  • Investigative subpoenas issued to Orange County employees after DOGE audit

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    Gov. Ron DeSantis, along with the state’s Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, slammed Orange County officials in a news conference Wednesday for their lack of cooperation in a DOGE audit. Officials accused county employees of tampering with emails related to the audit, removing keywords related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).Full news conference belowAmong their findings, Ingoglia said, “The county was giving excessive raises to their employees and possibly tampering with documents.” The CFO announced he will be issuing investigative subpoenas related to five DEI grants in Orange County.Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings released the following statement: “Orange County Government fully cooperated with the Florida DOGE audit team, providing all the data and documents requested. No employee was instructed to alter, change or delete any documents.While our employees may have read from or referred to notes or documents being discussed by the DOGE team, employees were not scripted in their remarks.The state has offered no evidence to support its allegation that we were hiding information or acting without integrity. We welcome the opportunity for full public transparency on this issue.”

    Gov. Ron DeSantis, along with the state’s Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, slammed Orange County officials in a news conference Wednesday for their lack of cooperation in a DOGE audit.

    Officials accused county employees of tampering with emails related to the audit, removing keywords related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).

    Full news conference below

    This content is imported from YouTube.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    Among their findings, Ingoglia said, “The county was giving excessive raises to their employees and possibly tampering with documents.”

    The CFO announced he will be issuing investigative subpoenas related to five DEI grants in Orange County.

    Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings released the following statement:

    “Orange County Government fully cooperated with the Florida DOGE audit team, providing all the data and documents requested. No employee was instructed to alter, change or delete any documents.

    While our employees may have read from or referred to notes or documents being discussed by the DOGE team, employees were not scripted in their remarks.

    The state has offered no evidence to support its allegation that we were hiding information or acting without integrity. We welcome the opportunity for full public transparency on this issue.”


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  • Mass layoffs are terrible for shareholders, a study finds

    Mass layoffs are terrible for shareholders, a study finds

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    Do mass layoffs reflect poor management? That’s up for debate. But a new analysis suggests the practice harms shareholder returns, and companies should instead consider tactics like a four-day workweek to cut costs.

    CFOs tend to underestimate the “organizational drag” that’s created as a result of layoffs, according to the research and advisory firm Gartner. This can inadvertently reduce shareholder returns in the long term instead of protecting them, an analysis finds.

    “The first thing to recognize is that there is an immediate upfront cost to layoffs as a business will need to reorganize itself around a smaller group of employees and typically incur costly upfront severance payments,” Vaughan Archer, senior director of research and advisory in the Gartner Finance practice, said in a statement. And what will follow is an increased need for contractor hiring, which can be costly, and remaining employees have a ton of more work and more demands for increased compensation, according to Archer.

    Within three years, the forecasted savings from layoffs tend to become offset by the unforeseen consequences, Gartner said. Even if a business avoids “a vicious cycle of employee turnover” driven by overworked staff and low morale, any cost savings from layoffs will likely be lost. And when businesses start to rehire at some point, it will likely be at higher rates than the employees who were laid off.

    “In the more negative scenarios, the factors detailed here are also going to harm growth in existing and new business, and ultimately a firm will start losing its customers,” Archer said.

    Four days instead of five

    A four-day workweek is one of the 10 cost savings actions companies can take instead of mass layoffs, Gartner suggests. Trimming the traditional workweek model to four days is “not about cutting pay, but may control pay growth and staff turnover as employees find better work-life balance and increased productivity as burnout is reduced,” the firm noted.

    This work dynamic has certainly been a hot topic of discussion. Monster conducted a survey of 868 workers in March focusing on work productivity. Sixty-one percent said they’d rather have a four-day workweek and 33% say they’d leave their job for one with a shortened week. 

    Britain announced in February the results of the world’s biggest trial of a four-day working week, Fortune reported. The six-month pilot included over 60 companies and just under 3,000 to feedback on the “100:80:100” working model: 100% pay for 80% of the time, in exchange for 100% productivity. The results included a 65% reduction in the number of sick days, maintained or improved productivity at most businesses, and a 57% decline in the likelihood that a worker would quit, improving job retention.

    Andrew Barnes is the cofounder of the nonprofit 4 Day Week Global, helping organizations in various countries, including the U.K., pilot shorter schedules. Barnes also owns Perpetual Guardian, one of New Zealand’s largest corporate trustee companies. During MIT Sloan Management Review’s virtual summit on May 4, he talked about his company’s experience. 

    “We implemented the four-day workweek five years ago,” he said. “We’re twice as productive on a per capita basis now as our nearest competitor. We’re not seeing any adverse impacts.”

    Voluntary reduction in hours, internal redeployment, reducing executive compensation, remote work, voluntary leave of absence, a hiring freeze, benefit cuts, organization-wide pay cuts, and sabbaticals are the other options companies can take instead of mass layoffs, Gartner advises.

    If the livelihood and well-being of employees and shareholder returns are on the line, there’s a lot to consider before deciding on a major workforce reduction.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

    Big deal

    Microsoft has released its 2023 Work Trend Index report, “Will AI Fix Work?” The pace of work has accelerated faster than humans can keep up, and it’s impacting innovation, according to the report. “This new generation of A.I. will remove the drudgery of work and unleash creativity,” Satya Nadella, Microsoft chairman and CEO, said in a statement. The report shares three key insights for business leaders: digital debt is costing innovation, there’s a new A.I.-employee alliance, and every employee needs A.I. aptitude.

    Amid fears of A.I. job loss, when asked what they would most value A.I. for, business leaders were two times more likely to choose “increasing employee productivity” (31%) than “reducing headcount” (16%).

    The findings are based on 31,000 people in 31 countries, an analysis of both Microsoft 365 productivity signals, and labor trends from the LinkedIn Economic Graph.

    Going deeper

    “A.I. Can Be Both Accurate and Transparent,” a new report in Harvard Business Review, examines the question: Is there always a tradeoff between accuracy and explainability in artificial intelligence? The research tested a wide array of A.I. models on nearly 100 representative datasets and found that 70% of the time, a more-explainable model could be used without sacrificing accuracy. In many applications, less transparent models come with substantial downsides related to bias, equity, and user trust, according to the report.

    Leaderboard

    Sarah Wells was promoted to CFO at Spruce Power Holding Corporation (NYSE: SPRU), an owner and operator of distributed solar energy assets across the U.S., effective May 19. Wells succeeds Don Klein, who is departing in connection with the previously announced transition from XL Fleet to Spruce Power executive management. She joined Spruce Power in 2018, and most recently served as SVP of finance and accounting and head of sustainability. Before joining the company, she held various financial roles including finance and SOX manager at Cornerstone Building Brands (formerly NCI Building Systems, Inc.). Earlier in her career, Wells served as a senior auditor at PKF Texas.

    William Bardeen was promoted to EVP and CFO at The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), effective July 1. Roland A. Caputo, who announced his planned retirement as CFO in December 2022, will remain with the company through Sept. 30 for a transition period. Bardeen, 48, joined The New York Times Company in 2004. He’s served as chief strategy officer since 2018, also overseeing investor relations on an interim basis since March. Before that, he was SVP of strategy and development from 2013 to 2018. Bardeen has also served in various other leadership roles at The Times in corporate development, business development, and strategic planning. Before joining the company, he was a management consultant.

    Overheard

    “My personal belief is it will be like that movie Her with Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix: Humans are a bit boring, and it’ll be like, ‘Goodbye’ and ‘You’re kind of boring.’”

    —Emad Mostaque, CEO of the fast-growing London-based startup Stability AI, which popularized the text-t0-image generator Stable Diffusion, hopes A.I. will find us “a bit boring” but acknowledges that in the worst-case scenario it “basically controls humanity,” he told BBC in an interview. 

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  • What makes an award-winning board? This CFO and director says its leadership and culture

    What makes an award-winning board? This CFO and director says its leadership and culture

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    This week, Fortune released its Modern Board 25 list that features the most innovative boards of directors among S&P 500 companies. Marie Myers, CFO at HP Inc., is on the board of F5, a Seattle-based cyber security and application delivery firm, which earned the No. 1 spot on the list.

    Myers isn’t on HP’s board of directors, which earned the No. 7 spot, but as CFO, she regularly interacts with the board. The Modern Board’s ranking is based on criteria including the expertise, independence, diversity, and tenure of board membership. Myers shares with me her perspective on why both boards work so well.

    “I believe leadership and culture are what make F5 and its board so effective, and those traits are what first drew me to joining its board,” says Myers, who joined in January 2019. “CEO Francois Locoh-Donou is a phenomenal leader, as is Alan Higginson, the chairman of the board. Together they have built a board that reflects the company F5 aims to be. It’s not just what it does, but also how it does it.”

    She continues, “F5’s human-first and high-performing culture fosters inclusivity and purpose among employees and the board. A lot of companies strive to be inclusive, but at F5 it happens naturally.”

    There’s also a high degree of collaboration between the board and the leadership team, and chemistry is a factor, Myers says. “Chemistry is why the board and leadership come together organically outside of the normal schedule of board meetings to discuss evolving situations and tackle complex business matters,” she says.

    A combination of her experience, “passion for digital transformation,” and financial acumen, have all been especially useful in the director role, Myers explains. “Similarly, having the opportunity to participate in several large-scale transformations in my career provides a great foundation to navigate the broader environment at the board level,” she says.

    ‘CFOs need to be knowledgeable about all aspects of the business’

    Myers, who has nearly 25 years of experience at HP, became the tech giant’s acting CFO in 2020 and was named CFO in 2021. Before being named CFO, Myers served as HP’s chief transformation officer, where she led the company’s IT and Transformation organizations.

    “I’ve always been proud of the fact that HP’s board is one of the most diverse in the technology industry,” Myers says. “There is a broad mix of gender, age, ethnicity, and experience. This brings diversity of thought to every discussion and challenge the board and our company faces.” There’s chemistry among HP’s board and leadership team, as well, she says.

    Any advice for CFOs when forging a relationship with the board? “The role of the CFO is evolving beyond traditional finance and accounting boundaries,” Myers explains. “For example, leveraging data and analytics to become more strategic advisors and partners to the business. This is also true of CFO interactions with the board.”

    She continues, “I think it’s important to establish a direct and collaborative relationship with board members. Today’s CFOs need to be knowledgeable about all aspects of the business, have a broad and informed view of the company, and share their unique insights with the board, not just financials.”

    Her most important advice: “Above all, CFOs need to communicate with transparency and always act with integrity to build trust and credibility with the board,” Myers says.

    Enjoy your weekend, and have a Happy Mother’s Day. See you on Monday.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

    Big deal

    Gallup released a report on Thursday regarding Americans’ perceptions of the best long-term investment, and gold is perceived to have more value than stocks. Real estate came in first as the best bet for a long-term investment (34%). This is down from last year’s record-high of 45%. “Higher interest rates over the past year have cooled the housing market, dampening consumer exuberance about real estate as an investment,” according to Gallup.

    The perception that gold is best increased from 15% in 2022 to 26% today. As a result, gold has overtaken stocks for second position. This year, fewer Americans (18%) than in 2022 (24%) see stocks or mutual funds as the best investment due to U.S. stock indices failing to gain ground over the past year. Today’s preference for stocks is on the low end of the 17% to 27% range of Americans choosing it since 2011, the research found. The latest poll was conducted April 3-25.

    Courtesy of Gallup

    Going deeper

    Here are a few Fortune weekend reads:

    “The next CEO of Twitter, replacing Elon Musk, could be this NBC ad executive—or one of these other high-powered woman execs” by Andrea Guzman and Kylie Robison

    “Former FTX chief compliance officer cooperating in crypto lawsuit against Tom Brady, Shaq and celebrity promoters” by Shawn Tully

    “Jamie Dimon says he won’t be buying any more failed banks: ‘It’s a lot of work’” by Will Daniel 

    “Doing an art activity for just 20 minutes can help you live longer. Here are easy ways to add it into your day” by Alexa Mikhail

    Leaderboard

    Here’s a list of some notable moves this week:

    Cathy R. Smith was named CFO at Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE: JWN), effective May 29. Smith joins Nordstrom from Bright Health Group, where she has served as chief financial and administrative officer since 2020. Before Bright Health, Smith worked as the CFO for Target Corporation for five years. During that time, Target achieved double-digit revenue and EPS growth. Before Target, Smith served as CFO for public companies Express Scripts, Walmart International, Gamestop, Centex, Kennametal, Textron, and Raytheon.

    James “Jay” Saccaro was named VP and CFO at GE HealthCare (Nasdaq: GEHC), effective June 1. Saccaro succeeds Helmut Zodl who is remaining with the company to lead special projects regarding separation from GE. Saccaro joins GE HealthCare from Baxter International, where he has been serving as EVP and CFO since 2015. Before rejoining Baxter, he was SVP and CFO at Hill-Rom Corporation. 

    Todd Tuckner was named Group CFO at UBS. Tuckner will take on the role at the close of the acquisition of Credit Suisse. Having joined UBS in 2004, Tuckner is currently CFO and head of business performance and risk management for Global Wealth Management. Tuckner will succeed Sarah Youngwood, who has decided to leave the firm after the transaction closes. Youngwood joined UBS in 2022.

    Kapil Agrawal was named CFO at Outschool, an education platform that offers a variety of small-group classes online. Agrawal brings experience in finance and international expansion. Most recently, he served as interim CFO at Poshmark. He was also pivotal in improving Poshmark’s gross margins, unit economics, and profitability. Before Poshmark, Agrawal served as global head of pricing at Uber Technologies, and head of business strategy at Capital One.

    Gayle Jardine was named interim CFO at Coda Octopus Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: CODA), a real-time 3D/4D/5D and 6D imaging sonar technology company, effective May 4. The company’s CFO, Nathan Parker, has departed from his role, effective May 3. Jardine joined Coda Octopus Group as its European director of finance in 2015. Before that, she was the owner and director of Pentland Accounting Limited. Jardine also previously served as the operations and finance manager for Wireless Fibre Systems. 

    Howard Fu was promoted to CFO and treasurer at Procore Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: PCOR), a global provider of construction management software, effective May 8. After four years as CFO and treasurer at Procore, Paul Lyandres is stepping into the newly-created president. Fu most recently served as SVP of finance at Procore for two years. Previously, Fu served as VP of financial planning and analysis at DocuSign. Before that, he led the sales finance and M&A finance teams at Salesforce.

    Marcus Glover was named EVP and CFO at Bally’s Corporation (NYSE: BALY). Bobby Lavan, Bally’s current CFO, will be leaving the company to pursue another opportunity. Most recently, Glover served as chief strategy officer for QPSI LLC, a supply chain solutions and contract packaging company. Before that, he served as president and COO of the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa, and president and COO of the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino. Glover was also a senior executive with Caesars Entertainment in various positions, including SVP and general manager for the Horseshoe Casino and Thistledown Racino, assistant general manager at Harrah’s/Caesars Entertainment St. Louis, Mo., and VP of operations at Harrah’s/Caesars Entertainment in Biloxi, Miss.

    Gary W. Ferrera was named EVP and CFO at Driven Brands Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: DRVN), an automotive services company, effective May 10. Ferrera succeeds Tiffany Mason. Most recently, Ferrera served as the CFO of Skillsoft Corporation, an educational software company. Before Skillsoft, he spent four years as the CFO of Cardtronics, PLC, an owner/operator of ATMs. He also served as CFO at DigitalGlobe, Inc., Intrawest Resorts Holdings, Inc., Great Wolf Resorts, Inc., National CineMedia, Inc., and Unity Media. 

    Overheard

    “Sadly, the Great Resignation is not over for mothers. The fact that a significant percentage of mothers are leaving the workforce or changing jobs due to the lack of affordable childcare and the need to stay at home with their children is concerning.”

    —Jill Koziol, Motherly CEO and cofounder, told Fortune in an interview. Motherly’s recent State of Motherhood report surveyed nearly 10,000 mothers. Eighteen percent of mothers changed jobs or completely left the workforce this past year; 28% said they wanted to stay home with the kids, and 15% said they didn’t have childcare options, the research found. For 64% of at-home moms, flexible work schedules would get them to return to the workforce. And 52% said affordable childcare would.

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  • How the workforce of the future will be more like an ‘ecosystem’

    How the workforce of the future will be more like an ‘ecosystem’

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    CFOs have become central in steering business strategy and value creation. But that task is about to get a lot more comprehensive in scale.

    The workforce is changing into an ecosystem, consisting of full- and part-time employees, but also includes robots, chatbots, contractors, gig workers, professional service firms, app developers, and even customers. These internal and external elements all contribute to an organization’s value creation and strategic goals, according to the new book, Workforce Ecosystems: Reaching Strategic Goals with People, Partners, and Technologies.

    Two of the authors explained their research on Thursday during MIT Sloan Management Review’s (SMR) virtual summit on the future of work. “When Amazon decided it wanted to have its own transportation system, it didn’t hire people,” said Elizabeth J. Altman, coauthor and an associate professor of management in the Manning School of Business at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. “It started subcontracting, often with mom and pops. These people add value to Amazon, but don’t work for Amazon.”

    She continued, “If you think about YouTube or TikTok, those content creators are contributing to the business in a very meaningful way, and enabling the business to go forward. For many platform businesses that rely on contributions from users, those users absolutely, in my mind, are part of the workforce ecosystem.” However, “the relationship between the company and their customers or contributors is a little more complex than it was when a company was just selling a product to customers,” Altman said.

    The years of research culminating in a book included global surveys of more than 10,000 business leaders across industries, and more than 100 executive interviews, with 26% of the businesses surveyed earning more than $1 billion in revenue. 

    When external contributors are considered to be part of an organization’s workforce, that’s “a non-trivial shift,” said David Kiron, a coauthor and editorial director of MIT SMR. “It’s so nontrivial that three-quarters of managers agree that effectively managing these external folks is critical to their organization’s success,” Kiron said. “It’s especially true for organizations like Cisco and Novartis, and some of these other organizations that have tens of thousands of external contributors getting the work done.” 

    However, based on their research, just 30% of business leaders agreed that their organization is sufficiently prepared to manage a workforce that relies on all of these external contributors. “Those leaders who are taking this issue seriously consider it to be a holy grail, or a potential strategic differentiator for them to figure this problem out,” Kiron said. 

    Regarding a workforce ecosystem framework, four vital themes emerged in their research: management practices, technology enablers, integration architectures, and leadership approaches. Senior leaders and business unit leaders have to manage these themes. And the departments—HR, procurement, finance, legal, and IT—closely collaborate in a cross-functional approach for the workforce, internally and externally. There can’t be departmental silos in this approach. 

    However, a workforce ecosystem comes with challenges like issues of ethics, compliance, and regulatory matters. “The third part of the book is about ethics and social responsibilities and corporate social responsibility,” Altman explained. “We’re very aware that this structure leads to all kinds of questions. Like, who owns the intellectual property, for example. That is an ongoing discussion. There are different mechanisms for working with it. It’s not that it hasn’t been addressed at all, but I think these discussions continue to evolve as workforce ecosystems become more prevalent.”

    In a workforce ecosystem, I asked the authors if company strategy and value creation ultimately fall under the purview of the CEO and CFO. “We have realized that these discussions move to the C-suite,” Altman said. “They are strategic conversations because they get to the heart of how organizations compete [in their] industry, how they develop new products and services and move into new markets. So yes, ultimately, we think this is a very cross-functional C-level discussion. But we also see it going down deep into an organization.”

    A workforce redefined, for sure.

    Enjoy your weekend. See you on Monday.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

    Big deal

    The “Nasdaq 2023 ESG & Climate Survey” is based on feedback from executives in North America and Europe. Companies of varying maturity levels report they are leaning in on sustainability initiatives despite an unclear path forward and with regulation looming on the horizon. Forty-five percent of companies have been tackling ESG strategy for fewer than three years, and 9% of companies have been tackling ESG for more than five years. As companies advance in their journey, teams grow and become more integrated into day-to-day operations and decision-making.

    When asked how the most senior team member responsible for ESG and sustainability was appointed, 47% of executives said the person voluntarily took on responsibilities on top of their own role. Meanwhile, 39% said the team member migrated internally from other teams, and 14% said the person was hired for the role.

    Courtesy of Nasdaq

    Going deeper

    Here are a few Fortune weekend reads:

    “A famous hedge fund chief who managed to net record returns as stocks fell in 2022 says investors should look abroad to profit” by Will Daniel

    “Frank founder sued by JPMorgan for making up customers is in talks with DOJ over fraud charges” by Luisa Beltran

    “Airbnb’s CEO spent 6 months living in his company’s rentals—and found the core problem with his business” by Trey Williams

    “7 ways to bounce back after a bad night’s sleep” by Alexa Mikhail

    Leaderboard

    Here’s a list of some notable moves this week:

    Markus Neubrand was named CFO at Guess?, Inc. (NYSE: GES), effective Aug. 1. Neubrand will succeed interim CFO Dennis Secor. Neubrand currently serves as group CFO of luxury fashion brand MCM Worldwide. Before that, he spent 17 years at Hugo Boss, in roles including managing director of Scandinavia, and group director of financial planning, then COO and CFO. 

    Teresa Chia was named CFO at Vertafore, an insurance technology company. Before joining Vertafore, Chia was a senior partner and managing director at White Mountains Insurance Group, a publicly traded holding company. She was responsible for White Mountains’ direct investing and corporate mergers and acquisitions activity. Before that, Chia was a private equity investor at Permira Advisors, where she focused on investments in the global technology and consumer verticals.

    Tim MacCarrick was named CFO at project44, a supply chain visibility platform. MacCarrick has over 25 years of senior executive experience in finance and operations roles. He’s held both COO and CFO roles at public and private companies including Qlik, Xerox, DLL, and most recently OutSystems. 

    Patricia Kaelin was named CFO at Safe & Green Holdings Corp.(Nasdaq: SGBX), a developer, designer, and fabricator of modular structures, effective May 2. Kaelin served as CFO of Buddies Brand, a privately held consumer packaged goods (CPG) company. Before that, she served as CFO of 1933 Industries, Inc., a publicly traded CPG company. Kaelin also served as CFO of business operations at Clifton Larson Allen, a CPA and consulting firm. 

    Jay Matushak was named CFO at Bright Health Group, Inc. (NYSE: BHG), the technology-enabled health care company, effective May 12. Matushak will succeed Cathy Smith, who is stepping down to pursue another opportunity. Matushak joined Bright Health in 2021. He currently serves as SVP of finance. Matushak also serves as CFO of Bright HealthCare, the company’s insurance business. 

    Michael Dougherty was named CFO at bioAffinity Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIAF; BIAFW), a biotechnology company. Most recently, Dougherty served as CFO of Alexa Business Domains, Amazon’s Alexa AI and Voice division. Before that, Dougherty was chief financial and operating officer of TINT and CFO at Filestack. He also previously served as CFO for Amazon Pay. 

    David Black was named CFO at Proterra Inc. (Nasdaq: PTRA), a commercial vehicle electrification technology company, effective May 16. Karina Padilla, the current CFO, will step down from her role, effective May 15. Black served as a special advisor to the CEO of BWX Technologies, a supplier of nuclear components and fuel to the U.S. government. Before that, he served as SVP and CFO of BWX Technologies. 

    Overheard

    “We continue to see our customers return to us for reasons of the product innovation…in areas like refreshers, iced shaken espresso, cold foam, those are difficult to make at home, they give customers a reason to come in.”

    —Starbucks CFO Rachel Ruggeri told Yahoo Finance.  

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    Sheryl Estrada

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  • ‘Anything to survive’: How one leader is pushing ahead

    ‘Anything to survive’: How one leader is pushing ahead

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    The CEO of Evofem Biosciences is managing through a crushing debt load, Nasdaq delisting, and sweeping layoffs. Read More

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    Maria Aspan, Sheryl Estrada

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  • How companies can recruit ’10x’ employees

    How companies can recruit ’10x’ employees

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    Lucy Brewster here, filling in for Sheryl. Typically, there are effective employees, there are good ones, and then there are the coveted few who are indispensable. As startups look to cut costs amid the bank failures and economic anxiety, having one or two leaders that stand out can make or break the enterprise.

    So, what separates top-tier talent from the pack? The phrase “10x employee” has been used in Silicon Valley for years, often referring to engineers, to describe employees that produce far more results than the “average” employee. Yet experts explained that truly coveted employees aren’t “lone wolf” types who have their heads down working all day; they stand out because of their collaborative team work and contribution to a positive work culture. The most in-demand employees have a combination of highly skilled technical skills and valuable soft skills. “It could be someone’s domain expertise, such as cybersecurity or fintech [that makes them unique],” said Bryan Powell, operating partner of talent at Insight Partners, who advises Insight’s startups on how to build their teams. “These people bring the team along and win together, but not at the cost of others.”

    “Even amidst all these layoffs, there still is this cluster of people in different categories within any industry sector that are still in high demand because they have leadership capability, they’re adaptable, and they move the organization forward,” said Tammy Madsen, professor of management at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business

    Catching these employees’ attention is an ongoing hustle for executives, even in a labor market that favors those hiring. While the recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed a slight decline in job openings from 10.6 million to 9.9 million, the competition for the very top employees remains cutthroat, especially for startups trying to poach talent from seasoned tech giants. “Whether you’re recruiting in a hot market or a cold market, top talent has choices,” explained Powell. 

    Madsen notes that beyond salary and perks, people are looking to align themselves with a company that sees them as a whole person. “We’re recovering from about three years of uncertainty that came with many employees being concerned about their health and job security,” she explained. “Thinking about that group that has bargaining power in this space as the top tier of a particular software category or finance category, wherever they go, intrinsic rewards become more important than extrinsic rewards,” she said.

    Employees who are in high demand likely won’t be responding to generic job opening posts, either. “Building trust with top talent is of paramount importance—you can’t send these individuals generic LinkedIn messages and hope for the best,” explained Powell. “By making a connection and trying to understand what they want, by truly listening and then presenting opportunities that match their career interests—that is how you attract these high-level employees,” Powell added. For example, many software developers want to solve unique technical problems and challenges. So when you’re recruiting, that should be highlighted, Powell explained. “Companies need to reflect inward and ask, ‘Do we have a strong value system inside the company? Is the mission clear? Is the work interesting?’”

    Great company culture also means an executive team that is committed to setting and meeting their goals to be an equitable and diverse workplace. “Diversity builds the best teams and culture, so it needs to be put into practice—not just words,” said Powell. (Yesterday, I spoke to an expert about how the importance of building an equitable pay structure.)

    For newer startups, you’re competing for software talent with companies with strong brand legacies, and you have to find a way to create a positive impression as a newer player. “You also can’t ignore the importance of a strong employer brand—especially if you don’t have broad brand recognition like a Meta, Amazon, or Salesforce,” Powell said. 

    Many of the companies with top-tier employees have the most robust training and career advancement opportunities internally—which is not a coincidence. While some employees have technical skills that are hard to come by, soft skills are equally, if not more, valuable. “Organizations making ongoing learning a priority is important for new hires and critical, both in rescaling and upskilling,” Madsen said.

    Lucy Brewster

    Twitter: @lucyrbrewster
    Email: Lucille.Brewster@fortune.com

    Big deal

    You’ve likely heard the notion that the cause of the ongoing pay gap between women and men is that women aren’t as assertive as men when negotiating their salaries. Well, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, only a minority of people, regardless of gender, actually ask for higher pay. While slightly more men than women asked for a higher salary the last time they were hired (32% of men compared to 28% of women), more women reported getting denied and offered the original pay after asking for a raise (38% of women versus 31% of men). Age arguably played a significant role in whether employees negotiated salaries or not, with 46% of workers aged 18-29 reporting they didn’t feel comfortable asking for higher pay. 

    Going deeper

    Fresh snow, mediation sessions with Jeff Bezos, and “surprise” mountain lions—these are the experiences that make a $40-million utopia. Well, that’s if your idea of paradise is “TED meets Burning Man.” In her latest magazine feature, Fortune’s Lila MacLellan tells the story of how plans for Summit Powder Mountain, led by founders Elliott Bisnow, Brett Leve, Jeff Rosenthal, and Jeremy Schwartz went from a lofty vision of a VC-backed, futuristic winter wonderland to its reality—a few half constructed houses at high altitude. In 2013, the founders of the popular, exclusive Summit Conference series decided to buy a ski mountain for $40 million with the grandiose intention of building a self-sustaining community of other Silicon Valley regulars and celebrities, changing the world one wellness ritual at a time. Things didn’t go as planned. Read Lila’s story here to see how it all went down. 

    Leaderboard

    Grant E. Fitz has been named CFO of manufacturing giant Myers Industries (NYSE:MYE). He will replace interim CFO Monica Vinay effective May 8. Fitz has over three decades of operational and financial experience, including a tenure as an executive at General Motors. He was previously the CFO of tech company EFI before joining Myers Industries. 

    Eric Williams has been named CFO of commercial space technology company Momentus Inc (NASDAQ: MNTS). He will take over from interim CFO Dennis Mahoney. Williams has over fifteen years of financial operations experience at various tech companies. 

    Overheard

    “We won—but we came out of that broke.” 

    —Al Altomari, CEO of Agile Therapeutics told Fortune‘s Maria Aspan, explaining that he had to spend about $250 million to get birth control drug Twirla approved by the FDA. Read the rest of Maria Aspen’s feature about the dysfunctional birth control market here.

    This is the web version of CFO Daily, a newsletter on the trends and individuals shaping corporate finance. Sign up to get CFO Daily delivered free to your inbox.

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    Lucy Brewster

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  • A major bank has banned ChatGPT—should your company follow suit?

    A major bank has banned ChatGPT—should your company follow suit?

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    Finance and artificial intelligence aren’t like oil and water. There are areas where the two mix, like expense reporting. But when it comes to generative-A.I. applications such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a financial institution is taking a pass.

    This week, there have been reports that JPMorgan Chase & Co. is restricting staff from using the ChatGPT chatbot. The firm’s mandate wasn’t made in response to a certain event but part of standard controls for third-party software usage, the Telegraph first reported. JPMorgan didn’t immediately respond to my request for comment. 

    Launched in November by OpenAI, ChatGPT is a chatbot that can answer questions and can generate content on any topic you can think of, and even write articles. It’s trained to follow language and thought patterns like humans. (Read more about OpenAI founder Sam Altman here.)

    To discuss ChatGPT in the workplace, I had a chat with Vikram R. Bhargava, assistant professor of strategic management and public policy at the George Washington University School of Business, who conducts research on A.I. and the future of work.

    “I think that a lot of us, including people working in finance, were sort of stunned by the performance of ChatGPT when we first started playing around with it,” Bhargava says. “A number of employees and even banks might be tempted to use these tools to make their life a little easier,” he says. For example, asking it to come up with a relevant Excel formula for a modeling task that an analyst or an associate might do, he explains. But not fully knowing how the technology operates, “does create a little bit of discomfort in heavily relying on it,” he says.

    “The thing with banking, of course, is that it’s a very heavily regulated industry, and this technology is also new to regulators,” Bhargava says. Along those lines, Mira Murati, chief technology officer at OpenAI, told Time in a recent interview that regulators will need to get involved with ChatGPT and govern the use of A.I. in a way that’s “aligned with human values.”

    “I don’t know the specifics of the rationale behind JPMorgan’s decision, but it does strike me as prudent,” Bhargava says. “This technology is rapidly evolving. One of the difficulties is—what might be true of ChatGPT as it stands, might not be true in three months.”

    JPMorgan isn’t a novice when it comes to A.I. The bank recently ranked No. 1 in data intelligence startup Evident’s A.I. Index, the first public benchmark of the major banks on their artificial intelligence maturity. The index covers the largest 23 banks in North America and Europe. JPMorgan spends $14 billion in technology annually, of which approximately half is dedicated to investments, the firm said in an announcement.  

    “Leading in A.I. and knowing how to use A.I. responsibly, sometimes might require the firm to abstain from using the given technology,” Bhargava says. 

    Michael Schrage, a research fellow at the MIT Sloan School Initiative on the Digital Economy, spoke with finance chiefs at Fortune’s CFO Collaborative event in January about the possibilities of generative A.I. in finance. I asked him his thoughts on JPMorgan’s reported restriction.

    Schrage says he’s not certain how OpenAI currently manages, collects, and analyzes “prompts” (how you get ChatGPT to do what you want). But he suggests prompts may be an issue for a bank concerned about privacy rules, compliance, and proprietary processes. Prompts that are too detailed may inadvertently reveal information that the bank or its clients would prefer not to be shared, Schrage says.

    “In the same way that Google and Bing know what topics, themes, and names are being searched, it’s similarly probable that OpenAI is tracking the level of detail and specificity of prompts,” he says.

    Again, Schrage is not sure of how OpenAI handles and tracks prompts, but says: “It’s easy to imagine and enact ways where prompts can be anonymized, aggregated, masked, and shielded to minimize revealing sensitive information while still getting good ‘generative advice’ and insight.” I reached out to OpenAI to ask about prompts, but haven’t received a response.

    Many CFOs are already cautious and experimenting with A.I. And, it will be some time before they’d feel comfortable incorporating ChatGPT, Alexander Bant, chief of research for CFOs at Gartner, recently told me. 

    What would make financial institutions more open to ChatGPT? “They need a little bit more security in knowing how the use of this technology interacts with the current regulatory environment,” Bhargava says. But are there perhaps some tasks where a company can experiment without being reprimanded by the Securities and Exchange Commission? 

    “Let’s say there’s an entry-level employee on your team who might not write the clearest, most concise emails,” Bhargava explains. “So, using ChatGPT might facilitate clearer communication.”

    The jury’s still out on applying ChatGPT in finance, but generative A.I. isn’t going anywhere.

    Have a good weekend. See you on Monday.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

    Big deal

    Hyperproof, a SaaS-based compliance and risk management company, has released its 2023 IT Compliance and Risk Benchmark Report. The company found that security, compliance, and risk management professionals were more concerned with short-term, immediate threats, as opposed to handling larger-scale decisions like long-term security issues. Respondents said their No. 1 concern was cybersecurity risks (36%), followed by third-party risk (29%), and lack of support and resources dedicated to IT risks and compliance (24%). The research also found that companies are poised and ready to level up their risk and compliance management processes in the coming years. 

    Going deeper

    Here are a few Fortune weekend reads:

    “The housing market correction has already caused homeowners to lose $2.3 trillion,” by Lance Lambert

    “These are the top cybersecurity startups to watch in 2023, according to VCs,” by Lucy Brewster

    “The ‘free money’ tech investment is over and the ‘old economy’ is set to become the big winner, according to Bank of America,” by Will Daniel

    “These 5 sleep habits could add 5 years to your life, say experts,” by L’Oreal Thompson Payton

    Leaderboard

    Here’s a list of some notable moves this week:

    Sandeep Singh Aujla was promoted to CFO at Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), the global financial technology platform that makes TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, effective Aug. 1. Aujla has held senior finance positions at Intuit for seven years and is currently the SVP of finance for Intuit’s largest business unit, the Small Business and Self-Employed Group (SBSEG), and for Intuit’s technology organization. Michelle Clatterbuck, who has served as CFO since February 2018, plans to step down as CFO on July 31.

    Joanne Knight was promoted to CFO at Cargill, a global food corporation that provides agricultural and financial services. Knight currently serves as Cargill’s acting CFO. Before this role, she was VP of finance for Cargill’s agriculture supply chain enterprise, including ocean transportation and the world trading group. Before Cargill, Knight spent 10 years in finance, marketing, and business leadership roles at General Mills that included P&L responsibility. She also held finance leadership roles at Wachovia.

    Robert Higginbotham was appointed interim CFO at Foot Locker, Inc., effective March 1, according to the company’s form 8-K filed on Feb. 21. Higginbotham will serve in this role in addition to his current duties as SVP of investor relations and financial planning and analysis, a role he began in December 2022. The company continues to conduct a search to identify a successor to current EVP and CFO Andrew E. Page who will depart on Feb. 28. Previously, Higginbotham served as VP of investor relations.

    Ryan Clemen was promoted to CFO at SelectQuote, Inc. (NYSE: SLQT), an insurance sales agency. Clement was named interim CFO in May 2022. Before joining SelectQuote in January 2022 as the SVP of financial planning and analysis, Clement served as the CFO of Sifted (formerly VeriShip). Before Sifted, Clemen spent seven years at Edelman Financial Engines, where he served in various senior-level finance and operational roles.

    David Rudow was named CFO at Unite Us, a software company enabling cross-sector collaboration. Rudow will lead the Unite Us finance organization. He served most recently as CFO at nCino taking the company public in 2020. For more than 20 years, Rudow served in senior leadership positions, including SVP at CentralSquare Technologies and senior analyst roles for several leading investment banking and asset management firms. 

    Kevin Schubert was named CFO at Rubicon Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: RBT), a digital marketplace for waste and recycling, effective immediately. In addition to his current responsibilities as president, Schubert will now oversee Rubicon’s end-to-end financial operations. Prior to serving as the company’s president, Schubert was Rubicon’s chief development officer. Before joining Rubicon, he held senior executive and advisory roles with public companies, most recently, CFO for Ocean Park Group.

    Overheard

    “I have all the respect for [Fed Chair Jerome] Powell, but the fact is we lost a little bit of control of inflation.”

    —JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in an interview during CNBC’s Halftime Report.

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    Sheryl Estrada

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  • CFOs brace for a long and deep recession—in the U.K.

    CFOs brace for a long and deep recession—in the U.K.

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    With a looming recession in the U.K., debt finance is highly unattractive to CFOs.

    Some countries will be hit harder by a recession than others as the global economy is expected to contract this year, but the U.K. is in trouble. A Financial Times survey released on Monday found the U.K. is facing a “deeper and more prolonged recession” than any nation in the G7, a global policy forum representing seven of the world’s most advanced economies, Fortune reported. About four-fifths of economists said the U.K. will experience a much longer recession than its peers. They predict a rough 2023 and a potential return to normal by 2024.

    “The U.K. suffers from an energy shock as bad as Europe’s, an inflation problem…as bad as the U.S., and a unique problem of lack of labor supply from the combination of Brexit and the NHS crisis,” Ricardo Reis, a polled economist and professor at the London School of Economics, said in the report.

    Corporate distress has accelerated faster in the U.K. than in the rest of Europe and reached a two-year high, according to the recent Weil European Distress Index.

    A key finding of Deloitte’s UK CFO Q4 2022 survey released on Tuesday found CFOs view bank borrowing and debt issuance as the least attractive it has been since the financial crisis. As interest rates are at 3.5%, finance chiefs rate credit as being more expensive than at any time since 2009, according to the report.

    “When interest rates were at very low levels, debt finance easily eclipsed equity as a source of finance,” Ian Stewart, chief economist at Deloitte, said in a statement. “CFOs now see them as being roughly on par.”

    Seventy percent of CFOs rate credit as costly, meanwhile 45% say that new credit is hard to get. Just 28% say they expect their company’s demand for credit to increase over the coming 12 months. However, Stewart also noted that CFO “concerns about energy supply and prices have fallen back,” he said. The findings are based on a survey of 78 CFOs participated, including those at FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies.

    The Office for National Statistics reported last month that Britain’s inflation rate in November was 10.7% down from a 40-decade high of 11.1%. On average, CFOs  believe inflation will fall to 5.8% in a year’s time. However, in two-years, they expect it to stand at 3.3%, which is above the Bank of England’s 2% target. 

    In late September, the U.K. experienced market turmoil after government proposed tax-cutting plans sent bond and currency markets spiraling. If the U.K. markets are any indication, due to this macroenvironment, the era of putting in place fiscal stimulus, cutting taxes, and greatly replacing lost income without inflation or rising interest rates being a major concern could be over. A prolonged recession in the U.K. may have some implications for the U.S. 

    Deloitte’s Q4 report on the sentiments of CFOs in North America released on Dec. 14, found net optimism of finance chiefs for their own companies fell for the third quarter in a row, and the lowest level since Q2 2020. The talent crunch also remains major concern.

    Each quarter, Deloitte tracks a series of metrics around CFO expectations in revenue, earnings, dividends, cap spending, domestic hiring, and domestic wages, Steve Gallucci, the global and U.S. leader of Deloitte’s CFO Program, told me last month. “When you look at fourth quarter 2022 versus third quarter 2022 all those measures came down,” he said. The biggest declines were in year-over-year growth expectations for revenue and earnings at 4.2% and 2.9%, respectively, down from 6.2% and 6.4% in Q3.

    “Cost management going into 2023, with the continued uncertainty in respect to inflation, is going to be critical,” Gallucci said. 

    In the U.S., consumer prices rose 7.1% in November from a year ago, down from 7.7% in October and a high of 9.1% in June. In December, the Federal Reserve announced a 0.50 percentage point interest rate hike, its seventh rate hike in an effort to tame inflation. The minutes from the Fed’s meeting Dec. 13-14 meeting were released on Wednesday. “Participants stressed that the committee’s ongoing monetary policy tightening to achieve a stance that will be sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent is essential for ensuring that longer-term expectations remain well anchored,” according to the document.

    CFOs across the globe are undoubtedly preparing for what many are predicting to be a roller coaster year.

    See you tomorrow.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

    Big deal

    The burden of debt repayments rose for U.S. companies in the third quarter of 2022, according to a new S&P Global Market Intelligence report. The median interest coverage ratio fell from 8.98 to 8.19 in the third quarter of 2022. This metric tracks the ability of companies to cover interest payments on their debt by dividing earnings before interest and taxes by the cost of debt-interest payments of companies rated BBB- or higher by S&P Global Ratings. The decline breaks “a near-continuous increase” in the ratio since the second quarter of 2020. This indicates that “companies are feeling the pinch of rising borrowing costs and a weaker economy,” according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

    Courtesy of S&P Global Market Intelligence

    Going deeper

    Willis Towers Watson’s (WTW) annual analysis of the funded status of the nation’s largest corporate pension plans found the 10-year march toward full funding lost momentum in 2022. The funded status ended 2022 at 95%, the same level it began the year as weak investment returns offset lower pension liabilities created by higher interest rates, according to WTW. The funded status had been rising steadily since 2012 when it stood at 77%. The findings are based on an analysis of pension plan data for 356 Fortune 1000 companies that sponsor U.S. defined benefit pension plans and have a December fiscal year-end date. Overall investment returns are estimated to have averaged -19% in 2022, although returns varied significantly by asset class, WTW found.

    Leaderboard

    Tom Boyle, CFO, has been appointed to also serve as chief investment officer at Public Storage (NYSE: PSA), an owner, acquirer, developer, and operator of self-storage properties, effective Jan. 1, Boyle’s additional role as chief investment officer will include development, redevelopment, acquisitions, asset management, and third-party management. He joined Public Storage in 2016, serving as CFO of operations, until his appointment as the company’s CFO in 2019. Before joining Public Storage, Boyle served in roles of increasing responsibility with Morgan Stanley since 2005, from analyst to his last role as executive director of equity and debt capital markets.

    Zahir Ibrahim was named CFO at BARK, Inc. (NYSE: BARK), e-commerce and content company for dog lovers, effective immediately. Most recently, Ibrahim served as CFO and chief administrative officer at the startup Do Good Foods LLC. Before to that, he served as CFO of KIND LLC, a healthy snacks company. Ibrahim also previously served as CFO at Annie’s Inc., a natural and organic food company. He also held several roles at Molson Coors Brewing Company culminating with VP, controller, and chief accounting officer. Earlier in his career, Ibrahim served in senior financial positions at CML Innovative Technologies, and Elementis Specialties, and Pirelli Tires.

    Overheard

    “The environment remains challenging, and our customers are taking a more measured approach to their purchasing decisions. With this in mind, we’ve made the very difficult decision to reduce our workforce by about 10%, mostly over the coming weeks.”

    —Salesforce cofounder and CEO Marc Benioff wrote in an email to staff on Wednesday, Fortune reported. U.S.-based employees affected by the layoffs will be entitled to five months of pay as well as insurance, career resources, and other benefits during their transition.

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    Sheryl Estrada

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  • Macy’s CFO says his finance team will help ‘shape outcomes’ in 2023, not just report results

    Macy’s CFO says his finance team will help ‘shape outcomes’ in 2023, not just report results

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    “The finance team will not report the news,” says Macy’s Inc. CFO Adrian V. Mitchell. “The finance team is going to help shape outcomes with our partners across the enterprise. That mindset shift was quite critical.”

    As we head into 2023, I followed up with Mitchell about the progress of Macy’s transformation to a digitally-led business. He says the finance, planning, merchandising, and supply chain teams are working together to modernize the retailer, which has been in business for more than 150 years.

    “Much of the modern department store ambition is about retooling Macy’s by building new capabilities, exiting legacy capabilities, and showing up for the customer,” he says. 

    Macy’s Inc. CFO Adrian V. Mitchell / Courtesy of Macy’s Inc.

    By streamlining its supply chain, Macy’s improved inventory turnover by 15% compared to before the pandemic, the company reported in its Q3 earnings. A big part of supply chain and inventory management has to do with analytic capabilities using tools like machine learning and demand forecasting, Mitchell says. 

    With a deep focus on the supply chain in 2021, “We were able to get the vast majority of our inventory in time for the holiday, and very little [of 2021 goods] actually spilled into 2022,” he says. “In 2022, we’ve seen the supply chain loosen up. The fill rates continue to improve every month, and every quarter this year. So we’ve adjusted and we’re watching confirmed orders.”

    He continues, “So if you think about the 2022 holiday, we had 55% newness, which is 30 percentage points higher than 2019. We’re coming into the season with a lot of newness as a fashion retailer, and we can actually adjust in season based on the demand profile.”

    Location-level pricing is an area where Macy’s uses machine learning, Mitchell says. For example, they can look at the velocity of a particular item like a black Polo sweater, its inventory availability in specific locations, and availability for the digital business “Then we can predict for that black Polo sweater what the appropriate markdown magnitude and timing should be,” on a case basis, he explains. This is different from the past when looking at the sell-through rate and then making decisions on markdowns that would apply to every store in a particular region, he says.

    “Pricing analytics continue to pay dividends for us,” Mitchell says.

    Mitchell has replaced manual processes with technology that includes enterprise reporting “that’s one truth for how the entire leadership team and their managerial teams talk about performance,” he says. “We talk about inventory, sales, margin, credit business, marketplace business, all on one sheet of data and information.”

    Macy’s reported net sales in Q3 were $5.2 billion, down 3.9% compared to the same time last year. However, the retailer beat estimates. “We’re pleased to be on the higher end of our sales expectations,” Mitchell says. “We were able to beat the bottom line handily relative to expectations.” 

    “Our stores were ready for the holiday in mid-October,” he says. “This year, we believe the holiday pattern is very much a pre-pandemic pattern.” The demand is on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, cyber week, and the 10 to 12 days leading up to Christmas, he says. 

    “The consumer remains under pressure,” Mitchell says. “We do recognize that in dollars things are more expensive on the nondiscretionary side. So we have to continue to delight the customer.” The company will be able to share more data in January, he says.

    For Mitchell’s finance team, getting a 360-degree view of the business is critical, and you can’t just do that from your desk. “My finance leaders and their teams are now going to [distribution centers], they’re going to stores, they’re sitting in working sessions with business partners to understand the levers that we need to pull in order to drive the financial outcomes,” he explains. 

    See you tomorrow.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

    Big deal

    Accenture’s new report, “Payments Gets Personal,” explores the consumer transaction journey and provides insight on future payment innovations. Globally, 66% of consumers surveyed use cash for payments at least five times a month. By region, North America had the lowest percentage of consumers (59%) that use cash frequently. Debit card came in second as the most frequent form of pay globally (64%). And more than half (56%) of respondents use a digital wallet. Biometrics payments is the authentication of physical characteristics such as retinas, fingerprints, and faces. Forty-two percent of respondents believe biometrics are likely to be widely used by 2025. In addition, 9% said they would be willing to use it as their in-person primary method of payment, if available, by 2025. The findings are based on a survey of more than 16,000 consumers in 13 countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

    Courtesy of Accenture

    Going deeper

    Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing services, the company’s “best performing and least recognized business, is cutting few, if any jobs,” and may even add headcount next year, writes Fortune’s Geoff Colvin. For his piece, “The CEO of Amazon Web Services likes to hire people who are ‘restless and dissatisfied.’ Here’s why,” Colvin sat down with Adam Selipsky to talk about the culture of AWS and how he chooses team members.

    Leaderboard

    Christina Zamarro was promoted to EVP and CFO at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (Nasdaq: GT), effective Jan. 1. Zamarro will succeed Darren R. Wells, who will become EVP and chief administrative officer. Zamarro joined Goodyear in 2007 after several years working for Ford Motor Company. She’s currently VP of finance and treasurer at Goodyear. For more than 15 years with the company, Zamarro has played key roles in financial strategy, treasury, and investor relations functions.

    James M. Moses was named vice chairman and CFO of First Hawaiian Bank and its parent company First Hawaiian, Inc. (Nasdaq: FHB), effective Jan. 3. Moses has more than 20 years of experience in the banking field. He joins the company from First Bank in St. Louis, Missouri, where he served as EVP and CFO. His previous experience includes serving as EVP and CFO of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, and SVP and manager of Asset Liability Management at Webster Bank.

    Overheard

    “We still have some ways to go.”

    —Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference on Wednesday that officials were not close to ending their campaign of interest-rate increases to tame inflation. Powell’s statement followed the central bank’s announcement of a 0.50 percentage point interest rate hike, which is smaller than the four previous hikes of 0.75 percentage points. Officials also signaled borrowing costs would head higher than expected next year, Fortune reported.

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  • More CFOs are ditching back-to-back video meetings to curb employee burnout

    More CFOs are ditching back-to-back video meetings to curb employee burnout

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    Employee burnout is real and can be heightened by inefficient work processes. And since hiring and retaining talent remains a top concern for CFOs, some are working toward curbing the stress levels of their team members—by also curbing daily video meetings.

    This week, Gina Mastantuono, CFO of the software company ServiceNow, shared a LinkedIn post with her thoughts about research on brain wave activity, which found back-to-back video meetings increase stress levels. “Those of us working in a hybrid model feel it,” Mastantuono writes. “It’s why I changed it up and set some new guidelines for our ServiceNow finance employees.”

    “Our Zoom meetings are no longer 30 or 60 minutes,” she writes. “The majority of our meetings in finance now last 20-25 minutes with a five-minute buffer to stretch and  take a mental break before the next meeting starts,” Mastantuono writes. “We’ve been at it for the last several months and see a stark difference.”

    “We’ve also instituted Friday WIN (What’s Important Now) time,” she explains. “Every Friday from 1-5 p.m. (local time), everyone in finance blocks their calendars and is discouraged from having video meetings. The purpose is an intentional focus. It gives us space to catch up on reading, writing, and whatever is essential to get your job done healthily, without constant interruption.” Mastantuono added, “Listening to your employees’ feedback is pure gold.”

    The last time I chatted with Xihao Hu, CFO at TD Bank in the U.S., he shared with me best practices in data storytelling. This time Hu shared his thoughts on making meetings less stressful. “I’ve read several articles and stories recently about companies encouraging employees to cancel all meetings or cut back on their meetings throughout the day,” he told me. “This has definitely sparked my interest and influenced my way of thinking.” As a company, TD has encouraged employees to hold 20-to-25-minute meetings vs. 30-minute time blocks, and “We practice well-being by taking screen breaks or walking meetings,” Hu says. 

    Regarding employee engagement, TD’s “Training Days,” which include a full day of workshops and panel discussions, “gives employees the flexibility to dive into a variety of interesting topics mapped to their career development or areas of interest,” Hu says. “We block out the calendars well in advance to avoid meeting conflicts on Training Days,” he says. 

    Hu also told me what he does personally to combat burnout. “As a leader, it’s important that I practice what I preach because everyone needs support from leadership when finding work-life balance,” he explains. “I block ‘me’ time in the calendar where I enjoy spending time with my parents or watching soccer. I also share how I spend my time through open, honest, and frequent communication with my entire team. It starts at the top and creates a positive ripple effect which hopefully helps avoid meeting fatigue.”

    I asked Alka Tandan, CFO at tech company Gainsight, her thoughts about video meetings. “We’re very aware that our remote-first workplace can easily lead to virtual meeting fatigue,” Tandan told me. Gainsight makes use of the “speedy meetings” setting in Google Calendar, which “limits meetings to 25 or 50 minutes and helps us avoid back-to-back calls when possible,” she says. Tandan encourages department leaders to identify certain days of the week that are “focus days” where internal departmental meetings are discouraged, she says. “It gives us the time and energy to focus on getting work done and forces us to ask if a meeting is truly necessary to accomplish our goals,” she explains. “We still meet externally with other departments, vendors, or customers.”

    “Gainsight has strict rules on weekend emails,” she says. “We ask employees to try and avoid work emails on Saturdays so everyone can take some well-deserved time off.” And in addition to regular unlimited PTO, weekends and public holidays, employees get an extra day off each month called “Recharge Days.”

    Chalk time and meeting management up to yet another line item CFOs are having to become experts at balancing.

    Try to unplug and have a good weekend.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

    Big deal

    The 2022 U.S. Bank CFO Insights Report, gauges the priorities of finance leaders as they navigate uncertain times. Regarding inflation risks, the top practices are identifying opportunities to cut costs (57%), evaluating the credit risk of major customers (35%), evaluating working capital practices (32%), and pricing (32%). However, CFOs surveyed view the talent shortage as the top risk, more so than high inflation, according to the report. Ways finance leaders plan to cut costs include investing in technology, discontinuing low-margin/low-growth business lines, and outsourcing certain business functions. The results are based on a survey of 750 senior finance leaders who work in U.S. businesses across multiple sectors.

    Courtesy of U.S. Bank

    Going deeper

    Here are a few weekend reads:

    A crypto security CEO did business with Sam Bankman-Fried and sent a team to the Bahamas. He was shocked by the lack of interest in security controls and FTX’s grand ideas: ‘Maybe we’ll buy Goldman Sachs’ by Shawn Tully

    3 reasons why the huge tech layoffs don’t mean a recession is around the corner, Goldman says by Prarthana Prakash

    Introducing the chief remote officer: Corporate America’s response to a hybrid workforce that’s here to stay by Trey Williams

    Early birds for the win. Here’s why working out before noon is key to your health by L’Oreal Thompson Payton

    Leaderboard

    Here’s a list of some notable moves this week:

    Donald R. Kimble, CFO and chief administrative officer at KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) will retire on May 1, 2023. He will be succeeded by Clark H.I. Khayat, currently chief strategy officer. Khayat joined KeyCorp in 2012, leading corporate strategy and then serving as group head of commercial payments. He established Key’s enterprise payments and fintech partnership strategies. Khayat led the company’s strategy to build scale through a series of investments in capabilities such as digital and analytics as well as successful niche acquisitions, including Laurel Road, Cain Brothers, and Pacific Crest.

    Nancy Walsh was named CFO at Katapult Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: KPLT), an omnichannel point-of-sale payment platform, effective Dec. 12. Former CFO Karissa Cupito is transitioning into a senior advisory role to support the transition through the first quarter of 2023. Walsh most recently was EVP and CFO of LL Flooring Holdings, Inc., a retailer of hardwood flooring and hardwood flooring accessories. Before joining LL Flooring Holdings, Walsh was EVP and CFO of Pier 1 Imports, Inc. She has also held senior finance and risk management roles at The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc., Tapestry, Inc., Viacom, and Timberland.

    John Klinger was promoted to EVP and CFO at The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX), an off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions, effective Jan. 29, 2023. Klinger joined TJX in 2000 as a manager of business analysis at Marmaxx. He held various finance positions within HomeGoods and Marmaxx before being promoted to VP, divisional CFO for AJWright. Klinger then held the positions of VP of corporate finance and SVP, divisional CFO, TJX Europe. He later became EVP and corporate controller. 

    Andrew Murphy was promoted to CFO at Duos Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Duos Technologies Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DUOT), effective Nov. 15. Since 2020, Murphy has served as VP of finance at Duos. Before joining Duos, Murphy held progressively senior finance roles within APR Energy. Before his time with APR, Murphy worked in corporate and public accounting with a focus on tax and business services.

    Donald C. Templin was named EVP and CFO at Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), a health, wealth, and investment company. Templin most recently served as EVP and CFO of Marathon Petroleum Corp. He also served as CFO of MPLX LP, a diversified, large-cap master limited partnership formed by Marathon Petroleum. Before joining Marathon Petroleum in 2011, he held several roles at PwC, including serving as a partner at the firm.

    Jason Conley was promoted to CFO at Roper Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ROP), a producer of engineered products for global niche markets, effective Feb. 1, 2023. Conley will succeed Rob Crisci as EVP and CFO. Conley, 47, is currently VP and chief accounting officer at Roper. He joined the company in 2006 as head of financial planning and analysis and investor relations. Conley also served as SVP of finance and HR at Roper’s Managed Health Care Associates business. 

    Overheard

    “Our annual planning process extends into the new year, which means there will be more role reductions as leaders continue to make adjustments. Those decisions will be shared with impacted employees and organizations early in 2023.”

    —Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a memo to workers on Thursday that the company will continue to lay off employees in the coming year, CNBC reported.

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  • ‘There’s definitely an accountant shortage out there’: MBAs have become the go-to degree and companies are struggling to hire enough CPAs

    ‘There’s definitely an accountant shortage out there’: MBAs have become the go-to degree and companies are struggling to hire enough CPAs

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    Securing the next generation of accountants won’t be easy. It may take some grassroots campaigning by mentors and family members to influence their loved ones to go that path, a technology boost, and a “CPA Evolution.”

    “There’s definitely an accountant shortage out there,” says Ben Lansford, an accounting professor and director of the Master of Accounting program at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. “I hear it from the firms.” And in talking with colleagues at universities nationwide, “we see the declining enrollment in graduate accounting programs,” Lansford says.

    In 2021, there was a 17% drop in employed accountants and auditors from a 2019 peak, according to a Bloomberg Tax analysis. But the number of companies trying to hire accountants hasn’t slowed one bit.

    Between 2021 and 2031, on average, about 136,400 openings for accountants and auditors are projected each year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) occupational outlook handbook. The openings are due to workers leaving the field for different occupations or retiring.

    “In general, employment growth of accountants and auditors is expected to be closely tied to the health of the overall economy,” BLS states in the handbook.

    The next generation of accountants and auditors is in demand, but Lansford explained why some are hesitant. “Accounting is difficult,” he says. “It’s just a tough subject area, and you need a fifth year of college education to qualify to sit for the CPA exam. It makes a major less appealing to a lot of people.”

    But what needs to be communicated to students and young professionals is the time and energy is worth it, Lansford says. “It’s still a good path,” he says. “A rock-solid foundation.” The Big Four accounting firms are even reaching out to high school students to share that message and creating more flexible work environments, Lansford says.

    But it may take a village to get a student interested in accounting.

    “I find that often those students have an older family member, parent, aunt, or uncle, or friend of the family who took that same path and counseled the student about the benefits of accounting,” Lansford says.

    Over the past three years, Lansford has observed more students in graduate accounting programs choosing consulting jobs because they pay more than being entry-level accountants at a firm, he says. According to the BLS, the median annual wage for accountants and auditors was $77,250 in May 2021.

    ‘CPA Evolution’

    But changes to the CPA are coming—with the hope of attracting tech workers to the profession. “The AICPA is calling it a CPA Evolution, and it’s really an overhaul of the CPA exam,” Lansford explains. Starting in 2024, “everyone will take the same three sections, but for the fourth exam section, you can specialize in financial reporting, auditing, tax, or you can specialize in IT. The goal of the change is to make the tent bigger, so to speak.” That’s an interesting addition, since CFOs are increasingly finding themselves at the center of major IT projects. 

    But one drawback under the new CPA exam model is everyone still gets the same CPA certification, Lansford says. There’s no special designation that you took the IT exam area, he says. “So, we as academics are interested in seeing how things play out,” he says. 

    In recent years MBAs seem to have eclipsed CPAs. But maybe the number crunchers shouldn’t be counted out just yet.

    See you tomorrow.

    Sheryl Estrada
    sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

    Big deal

    An increase in customer expectations for e-commerce is placing “intense pressure” on retailers to rebuild their supply chains. That’s one of the key findings of “Increase your pace in the e-commerce race,” a new study conducted by the CMO Council and Business Performance Innovation Network, in cooperation with Attabotics, a robotics and software company. Executives are acutely aware of the need for supply chain and fulfillment transformation and looking for innovative and economically-sound ways to drive change. But they face significant financial and technological hurdles. Legacy systems (70%) and infrastructure in addition to the cost of replacement (61%), were listed as the top barriers to supply chain transformation. The findings are based on a survey of more than 150 executives and professionals across retail, e-commerce, consumer products, distribution, and consulting firms involved in consumer supply chains.

    Courtesy of the CMO Council

    Going deeper

    “San Francisco died so the Bay Area could thrive: What the 10 fastest-growing metro areas reveal about the world of remote work,” a new Fortune report, delves into the findings of research by the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, which points to the metro areas experiencing the most growth as business establishes a new normal after the pandemic.

    Leaderboard

    Deborah Thomas, EVP, and CFO at Hasbro, Inc. (Nasdaq: HAS), a global entertainment company, plans to retire. Hasbro is conducting an internal and external search for a successor. Thomas will remain as CFO until her successor is in place. She joined the company in 1998.

    Michael W. Kalb was named EVP and CFO at CinCor Pharma, Inc., effective Nov. 4. He succeeded Terry Coelho who has retired. Kalb was previously CFO for Amarin Corporation, a cardiovascular-focused pharmaceutical company. Before Amarin, he worked at Taro Pharmaceuticals where he was the CFO and chief accounting officer. His experience also includes a director in the Accounting and Financial Consulting Group of Huron Consulting Group Inc., and over 10 years at Ernst & Young, LLP. 

    Overheard

    “I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.”

    —Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a letter to employees on Wednesday announcing the company was reducing its workforce and letting go of more than 11,000 employees, Fortune reported. 

    This is the web version of CFO Daily, a newsletter on the trends and individuals shaping corporate finance. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.

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