Welcome to the second edition of The Bottom Line, your go-to resource for the Strategic CFO. This month, we delve into CFO career progression, featuring insights on the path from CFO to CEO. Explore strategies to accelerate your leadership journey and stay updated on notable trends shaping the finance profession. Plus, don’t miss an exclusive perspective from a CFO on navigating today’s dynamic leadership landscape.
What We Find Fascinating
The People Premium – A recent study conducted by OneStream¹ found that an investor’s confidence in an organization rests largely on its CFO. In fact, investors are willing to marginally increase their initial investment in a firm whose CFO is focused on strategically driving it forward. While this is an exciting time for CFOs everywhere, the pressure is certainly on.
- CFOs’ Ever-Expanding Role: Nearly 70% of CFOs report being challenged by the demand to propel strategy and drive growth, leading some to feel overwhelmed with the increasing responsibilities placed on them. In fact, in another survey report, half of the CFOs surveyed in North America have considered early retirement, at least partially driven by the increased responsibilities of the role.
- Supply and Demand: This growing demand for CFOs with strong financial, data-driven and strategic skills is harder to meet and compounded by a shrinking talent pool that complicates succession planning for the role.
- Providing Certainty in Uncertainty: Despite the macroeconomic risks an organization may be immune to, both internal and external stakeholders increasingly turn to the CFO for grounding and direction, expanding their visibility and establishing this responsibility as a permanent expectation.
As the role of the CFO continues to evolve, those who embrace these challenges with a strategic mindset are poised to drive transformative growth and lasting value. The future is bright for CFOs who navigate uncertainty with confidence, leveraging their unique position to shape the direction of their organizations.
1 McCann, D. (2024, October 29). Are CFOs more valuable to companies than CEOS?. CFO.com. https://www.cfo.com/news/are-cfos-more-valuable-to-companies-than-ceos/730927/
Ever Think About Becoming CEO?
A new perspective from FTI highlights a growing trend across CEO promotions. As the role of the CFO evolves beyond traditional finance functions, many CFOs are assuming the CEO position. This month, we explore how CFOs can position themselves as strong candidates for the CEO role, including key actions to transition, challenges to anticipate, and strategies to excel at the helm of an organization.
If you would like to dive deeper into these topics, download our newest content below.
CFOs on the Move
This month’s CFO appointments underscore a growing emphasis on cross-industry expertise, with companies like Terex and Labcorp selecting finance leaders who bring diverse sector experience to address evolving business challenges. Internal promotions also remain a strong trend, as seen at USPS and The Giant Company, signaling a preference for leaders with deep organizational knowledge to ensure continuity during transitions. Meanwhile, firms such as Multiverse and Canva are prioritizing CFOs with IPO and growth-phase expertise, reflecting a broader focus on scaling operations and navigating complex market dynamics. This shift highlights the increasing expectation for CFOs to balance strategic vision with operational execution in highly dynamic environments.
- The U.S. Postal Service promoted Luke Grossmann to CFO, effective Nov. 30. Grossmann, who has been with USPS since 2005.
- Former Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg joins Canva, bringing expertise from leading the company through its IPO and pandemic growth.
- Wendy’s hires Ken Cook as CFO, leveraging his 20 years of financial leadership at UPS, including global and domestic roles.
- Terex named Jennifer Kong-Picarello, who previously served as CFO at Schneider Electric and Honeywell, as its new CFO, effective Feb. 3, 2025.
- MassMutual will name Mary Jane Fortin, who previously held leadership roles at Thrivent Financial and Allstate, as CFO on Jan. 1, 2025.
- Labcorp hired Julia Wang, who brings leadership experience from BeiGene, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and Quest Diagnostics, as CFO, effective Dec. 2.
- Jack in the Box reappointed Lance Tucker as CFO, effective Jan. 13, 2025.
- SymphonyAI named Ravi Narula , who has previously served as CFO at Ooma, Gigamon, and other tech firms as CFO.
- Multiverse appointed Jillian Gillespie, who joins from MongoDB, as CFO.
- Alamo Drafthouse promoted Dana Pearson to CFO.
One Thing From a CFO…
A View on Strategic CFOs
Michael Toscano
Chief Financial Officer, dancker
"I’ve always believed that for high performing businesses, Finance provides the blueprint for how they succeed in the market and drive profitability. Early in my career, I was fortunate to work under two mentors—both CPAs turned CFOs who ultimately became CEOs – a common path we are seeing today. They instilled in me the understanding that to truly know what makes a business successful, it requires the ability to interpret financial results effectively and turn that into actions. This fundamental understanding of all areas of the business and how to pinpoint what drives value creation makes CFOs well suited for the CEO role.
With that solid foundation you’ll understand where to focus and allocate resources more wisely. And then from there you can move to higher order efforts like programming your leading indicators and metrics of success into your planning and reporting processes, which build visibility and increase your impact. From my perspective, the most important tool for the success of a business is the finance function and its ability to measure and drive performance.
Finally, the CEOs I admire most are those who are genuine and lead with authenticity, integrity, and care for employees and stakeholders. These are the people I will follow. I must believe that they walk the talk, and that doesn’t come from spoken words. I strive to bring those same qualities to my role as CFO, ensuring that my leadership reflects both strategic insight and a commitment to the people who make success possible."
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