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Joanna Wyrębowska

Principal @ Heidrick & Struggles | MIT Sloan, Leadership Consulting

What’s driving the rise of CFOs to CEO roles? Alyse Bodine from Heidrick & Struggles offers valuable insights on why financial expertise is becoming essential in the C-suite and the unique strengths CFOs bring to leadership. Explore the article by Fortune to learn more: https://bit.ly/3YY7AjC #Leadership #CFOtoCEO #ExecutiveInsights

  • Good morning. Elevating CFOs to the top job is a practice that is gaining steam in corporate America and, as Fortune’s recent “9 CFOs ready to make the jump to CEO” list suggests, the trend is likely to continue. But the C-suite trend of CFO-to-CEO didn’t happen overnight—its growing popularity is the result of several factors. For starters, companies are looking for leaders who can navigate an increasingly unsteady economic climate. But there’s also been an evolution at the corporate level that has seen the role of CFO change from a back-office function to a leader of company strategy. For example, drugstore giant Rite Aid, which emerged from federal bankruptcy protection, needed a new leader. And so it turned to its trusted CFO Matt Schroeder, naming him CEO in September. I asked Alyse Bodine, global managing partner of the Financial Officers Practice at Heidrick & Struggles, what she’s seeing. In many instances, companies are considering CFOs as potential CEO succession candidates, she said. Although specific remits are bespoke to companies and their needs, there are common factors. “At a minimum, CFOs who have led and have had an impact on operational, commercial, and strategic activities will strengthen an executive’s ability to ascend the ranks to CEO,” according to Bodine.

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