CFOs on the Move - Q1 2024 Unwrapped

The corporate world saw a flurry of CFO movements in the first quarter of 2024, with major players across industries announcing key appointments and transitions in their finance leadership.

From tech giants like Amazon and Sonos to consumer brands like Dr. Martens and Impossible Foods, companies sought to strengthen their financial expertise by onboarding seasoned professionals with diverse backgrounds. Notably, Amazon tapped long-time executive John Felton as the new CFO of its cloud computing arm, AWS, underscoring the cross-functional nature of modern finance roles.

The shakeups extended to sectors like pharmaceuticals, where MannKind and Rocket Pharmaceuticals brought in new financial stewards to guide their evolving business models. Meanwhile, in the energy realm, stalwarts like BP and Northern Data Group welcomed fresh perspectives at the helm of their finance operations.

As companies navigated an ever-changing landscape, the importance of strategic financial leadership became paramount. From guiding crucial transactions and transformations to spearheading operational efficiencies, the incoming CFOs faced a host of challenges and opportunities in shaping the financial fortunes of their organizations.

Stay tuned for a comprehensive look at the high-profile CFO transitions that marked the first quarter of 2024, as we delve into the backgrounds, motivations, and implications of these pivotal appointments.

January

(January) Life Time has Named Erik Weaver as New CFO. Weaver, who has worked at the company for 20 years and has been chief accounting officer and controller since May 2022, took on the additional role of interim CFO effective Jan. 1. Life Time CFO Robert Houghton abruptly resigned on Dec. 31, about 16 months after joining the fitness center operator.

(January 2) Alimera Sciences hired Elliot Maltz as the global pharmaceutical company’s CFO. Maltz was most recently chief financial officer of global biotech company Orgenesis.

(January 2) Innovative Food Holdings has named Gary Schubert as its new chief financial officer. Schubert succeeds Richard Tang, who has been CFO for three years. Before joining the company, Schubert was most recently senior director of finance and transformation strategy for Walmart for two years. He was with Walmart for approximately 15 years. He was with Tyson Foods for three years as its senior financial analyst.

(January 4) Digital commerce technology company Drinks has named Matt Wolf as its chief financial officer. Drinks operates a suite of e-commerce tools that enable alcohol retailers and producers to maintain compliance to regulatory rules when conducting sales. Wolf previously served as the chief financial officer of two technology companies: San Francisco-based Roadster Inc. and New York-based ChartHop Inc. He will be taking over the role at Drinks from Kristopher Scott, who had served as the company’s chief financial officer since 2018.

Read The CFO’s interview with Matt Wolf on his First 100 days in seat, here.

(January 5) CVS Health’s interim CFO and senior vice president of corporate finance, Tom Cowhey, has been formally appointed as its next CFO. Since joining CVS Health in Feb. 2022, Cowhey has overseen investor relations, corporate development, treasury, and finance operations, working closely with departing CFO, Shawn Guertin.

(January 8) Scholastic, a prominent global children’s publishing, education, and media company, has appointed Haji Glover as the new Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, effective January 22, 2024. Mr. Glover will be taking over from Ken Cleary, who is transitioning to become President of International. In his new role, Glover will oversee the financial operations of the company, including financial reporting, planning, controllership, tax, and treasury.

(January 9) Saori Casey was appointed finance chief of Sonos, a wireless, portable speakers, and home sound systems developer and manufacturer. Since July 2011, Casey has worked as vice president of finance at Apple. Before that, she spent 15 years at Cisco, where she held several finance leadership positions, including vice president of finance and senior director of finance.

(January 15) Northern Data Group, a leading provider of High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure solutions, today announces a key appointment to its Group Executive Committee of Elliot Jordan as Group Chief Financial Officer. Elliot will join the Group in late February 2024. Elliot has over 20 years of financial and capital markets experience, having held the CFO role at Farfetch during a period of rapid expansion and leading the company’s IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in 2018.

(January 18) Amazon named John Felton as senior vice president and the new CFO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), according to the company. Per messages penned by CEO Doug Herrington and Felton, the long-time Amazon executive will assume the finance chief role and report to Brian Olsavsky, CFO of Amazon.  Felton has been with the company for nearly two decades, most recently as a senior vice president of worldwide operations, per his LinkedIn profile.

Read The CFO’s analysis of why Amazon’s appointment is a testament to the cross-functional CFO, here. 

(January 23) Impossible Foods appointed Elaine Paik as finance chief of the plant-based food maker. Paik spent 25 years at Colgate-Palmolive. Her roles included vice president and corporate treasurer, and director of capital markets and European treasury.

(January 21) Eva Scherer was appointed chief financial officer of Daimler Truck. Scherer has worked at Siemens AG for the last 20 years, most recently as executive vice president and global head of investor relations.

February

(February 1) Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company  announced a new slate of executives, including the appointment of Christopher Smith as CFO. Smith brings more than 20 years of accounting and finance experience within the energy sector to Greenbacker. Over the course of his career, Smith served as partner and CFO at SER Capital Partners, a private equity firm focusing on sustainability. Smith also led Sunnova Energy through its IPO in 2019.

(February 2) BP named Kate Thomson as its permanent chief financial officer with immediate effect, completing a leadership reshuffle following Bernard Looney’s abrupt resignation as CEO in September.

Read about the uphill climb BP’s new CFO has if the oil provider is really to become sustainable over the next few years 

(February 5) Chegg announced the appointment of David Longo as its new Chief Financial Officer. Longo will be taking over from Andrew Brown, who is retiring after a tenure of over twelve years with the company. Longo, who currently holds the position of Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, Corporate Controller, and Assistant Treasurer at Chegg, has been with the company since December 2021.

(February 6) Costco Wholesale announced its longtime finance chief Richard Galanti will step down on March 15 and be succeeded by his counterpart at Kroger’s, Gary Millerchip. Analysts said Millerchip’s departure from Kroger’s was untimely given the grocer’s pending deal with smaller rival Albertsons.

(February 6) Lifestyle brand platform Solo Brands appointed Laura Coffey as its new CFO. Prior to joining Solo Brands, Coffey served as CFO of health and wellness retailer The Vitamin Shoppe for three years.

(February 8) Walgreens Boots Alliance’s CEO, Tim Wentworth, finalized the appointment of its finance chief and named a new head of its nascent healthcare unit, as he aims to turn around a dive in the company’s stock price. Wentworth named Manmohan Mahajan, who has been with the company since 2016, as the chief financial officer. Mahajan has held the position on an interim basis since July last year, when former finance chief James Kehoe stepped down to pursue an opportunity in the technology sector.

(February 15) Gordon Food Service named company veteran Ryan Fischer as its next chief financial officer. Fischer succeeds Jeff Maddox, who retired after 20 years as CFO at Wyoming-based Gordon Food Service.

(February 15) TTEC, a leading global CX (customer experience) technology and services innovator for AI-enabled CX with solutions from TTEC Engage and TTEC Digital, announced Kenneth “Kenny” R. Wagers III as Chief Financial Officer, effective March 1, 2024. Wagers joins TTEC with a strong background in finance, operations, and supply chain management across large-scale multinational organizations spanning three decades. Prior to joining the company, he held senior executive level finance and operations positions at several Fortune 500 companies including UPS, XPO Logistics, and Amazon.

(February 26) The Rockefeller Foundation announced that Keith Olson has been named Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He moves to The Rockefeller Foundation after more than a dozen years as Executive Vice President and CFO for the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

(February 27) Safety Shot announced it has appointed Danielle De Rosa as its new Chief Financial Officer effective March 1, 2024. Ms. Rosa is a multifaceted, analytical, and results-driven professional with more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of financial services and operational functions including serving as a public company CFO.

(February 27) Dr. Martens said Giles Wilson will join the group as chief financial officer on May 27. The British footwear and clothing brand said Tuesday that the incoming CFO and Katie Wilson purchased a total of 57,400 of Dr. Martens’s shares since his appointment was first announced on Nov. 14.

(February 29) Metro Bank Holdings said it has appointed Marc Page as chief financial officer with effect from Sept. 2. The U.K. lender on Thursday said Page has more than 20 years of experience in financial services and currently serves at Barclays, where he has held a number of senior positions since 2017.

March

(March 1) Grocery Outlet appointed Lindsay Gray as interim chief financial officer. The retail store operator said Gray, whose appointment became effective Friday after being appointed by the board to the position on Thursday, will continue to serve as senior vice president, accounting, according to a regulatory filing.

(March 4) Daniel Tempesta was named chief financial officer of Cerence, a software company that develops artificial intelligence assistant technology primarily for automobiles. Tempesta has spent the last 15 years at Nuance, where he was most recently CFO. During Tempesta’s tenure at Nuance, he held several finance leadership roles, including chief accounting officer and senior vice president of finance.

(March 5) Swiss International Air Lines appointed Dennis Weber as chief financial officer and Oliver Buchhofer as chief operating officer. The airline, part of German carrier group Deutsche Lufthansa, said Tuesday that Weber and Buchhofer would start their new jobs on May 1.

(March 5) Electric truck maker Nikola hired Thomas Okray as finance chief. Since 2021, Okray has been chief financial officer of intelligent power management company Eaton. He was also previously chief financial officer of Grainger and Advance Auto Parts. Before that, he was vice president of finance in Amazon’s global customer fulfillment division. Okray also held various executive and CFO roles at General Motors for over 14 years, including extensive time in product development.

(March 6) United Natural Foods appointed Giorgio “Matteo” Tarditi as the grocery wholesaler’s president and chief financial officer. Tarditi has worked at General Electric for more than 26 years and has been CFO of seven of its business units, including large divisions of the power, oil, and gas, aerospace, and health-care businesses.

(March 8) Rubis appointed Chief Financial Officer Bruno Krief as managing director in charge of strategy and mergers and acquisitions, and named Marc Jacquot as his replacement. The French company specializing in storage and distribution of food and chemical products said late Thursday that Jacquot, currently CFO of its Rubis Terminal.

(March 12) E.ON said that Chief Financial Officer Marc Spieker will take on the role of chief operating officer in charge of commercial activities as the German utility reshapes its management board. Spieker, who has been E.ON’s CFO since 2017, will take on the role from June 1, replacing Patrick Lammers.

(March 12) Saul Gates is the new chief financial officer of security software provider Absolute Software. Before Absolute, Gates was CFO of digital accessibility platform Level Access, where he oversaw the company’s financial operations until its acquisition by KKR. He has previously held CFO roles at Telarix, a software provider to telecom companies, and INRIX, a location-based data and software-as-a-service analytics company.

(March 12) Provi, the largest online marketplace for the beverage alcohol industry, appointed Kevin Price as CFO. He most recently was chief financial officer at beverage company Guayaki Yerba Mate and fresh-food vending machine company Farmer’s Fridge. Before that, he was co-founder and CFO of Nordstrom’s apparel subscription service Trunk Club.

(March 14) Sami Siddiqui was promoted to CFO of Restaurant Brands International (RBI), a quick-service restaurant company that owns Tim Hortons, Popeyes, Burger King, and similar businesses. Siddiqui has worked at RBI for 11 years, including 8 years as brand president for Popeyes in Miami, all of its brands in the Asia-Pacific region, and Tim Hortons in Toronto. He first joined the company as head of finance and investor relations before becoming brand CFO for Tim Hortons and later Burger King.

(March 15) Bauer Media Audio UK has today announced the appointment of Christopher Jones as Chief Financial Officer. Reporting into both Simon Myciunka, CEO of Bauer Media Audio UK, and Richard Jackson, Interim CFO of Bauer Media Audio Business Area, Chris will be responsible for ensuring the finance function supports the digital transformation of Bauer Media Audio UK. As part of the position, Chris will support the innovation and growth of the UK and the wider audio business, championing operating efficiency, effectiveness and automation.

(March 18) Alan Ellingson, DraftKings’ senior vice president of finance and analytics, will take over as finance chief of the sports betting company on May 1. Ellingson joined DraftKings in 2020 as vice president of FP&A and has held his current position since January 2023. He previously worked at Iron Mountain, a storage and information management services provider, for more than seven years and was most recently vice president of finance and global operations support. Ellingson succeeds Jason Park, who will take on the new role of chief transformation officer.

(March 19) National Geographic Society appointed Darien Wright as the nonprofit’s CFO and chief operating officer, effective March 28. Wright was most recently chief operating officer of Brookwood Hotels, a Brookfield Asset Management-owned portfolio company. Before that, Wright was an executive at Marriott International for nearly 12 years, holding leadership positions in FP&A, corporate finance, and development asset management.

(March 19) Hadley Peer Marshall was promoted to finance chief of Brookfield Asset Management. Peer Marshall joined Brookfield in 2015 to co-head its infrastructure debt and structured solutions group. She will continue in her role in infrastructure in addition to her new responsibilities as CFO. Before Brookfield, she worked at Goldman Sachs, where she was co-head of the project finance and infrastructure group.

(March 26) MannKind appointed Christopher Prentiss as chief financial officer, effective April 22, after Steven Binder announced that he planned to retire. The biopharma company on Tuesday said Binder will remain at MannKind through the end of the year as executive vice president of special projects.

(March 26)  Rocket Pharmaceuticals shuffled its executive team and hired a finance chief as it transforms its business model toward a commercial-stage gene therapy company. The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company on Tuesday said it named Aaron Ondrey as chief financial officer and Kinnari Patel as president, head of research of development.

(March 28) Smith & Nephew said John Rogers has been appointed chief financial officer from April 1. The U.K. medical-technology company said current CFO Anne-Francoise Nesmes will leave the board on Sunday.

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