Good morning,
Today is Part 5, and the finale, of our week-long series on what it takes to become a CFO. We shared the skill sets and tech tools that modern CFOs will need, along with a peek into the career journeys of current finance chiefs.
Last week, in CFO Daily, I asked finance chiefs to respond to the questions: What is the most important thing you did before landing your first CFO position? What made you ready to take on the role? And many of you took the time to answer!
CFOs in health and financial services industries
After almost 14 years in investment banking at JP Morgan, and moving from associate to vice president to managing director, I knew that I wanted to do something different. I was also the proud mother of twin 5-year-old boys at the time. I mustered the courage to take a yearlong sabbatical. I really had time to reflect on what I wanted next in my career. At the end of my sabbatical, with a little luck and good connections, I became CFO for JP Morgan’s commercial banking business. —Karen Parkhill, EVP and CFO at Medtronic
The key to getting your first CFO job I would say is patience. There are a lot of jobs out there with the CFO title (and lots of headhunters calling about them) but they are not all equal. I found it important to wait for an opportunity that balanced the right industry, position profile that matched with my experiences, size, and ultimately, location. —David Phillipps, EVP and CFO, Equinox
I took my first CFO job after having been a banker. So I learned everything from the ground up. Whether you’re the CFO of a business unit, a region, or a company, you need to make sure your relationship with the CEO is one built on trust, common views, and vision. —W. Dave Dowrich, senior executive vice president and CFO at TIAA
I am retired now from over 40 years in medical devices. The important things to me over the years were: understanding the products and the operations side of the business; developing trust at all levels of the organization; really becoming a trusted partner of the CEO; setting a high bar for performance and integrity; and understanding the numbers. —Ron Stevenson, CFO, retired
CFOs in the tech industry
I was very intentional in my career in building a development path to become the CFO of a public or pre-IPO company. I made sure that I gained experience leading corporate FP&A and investor relations. Managing investors and external key stakeholders in all its aspects is also key for a public company CFO. —Tiziana Figliolia, CFO, Hootsuite
One of the most important things I did before becoming the CFO of Workday was a heat experience with my organization’s product and technology team. A heat experience is a high-stakes, high-stress assignment that pushes you outside your comfort zone and demands you grow as a leader. After nearly five years as a leader in corporate finance for Workday, I became the general manager of our financial management applications organization—a 600-member technology organization 10 times the size of my previous finance team. Up until that moment, all my experience was in more traditional corporate finance and FP&A roles, but I leveraged this unique opportunity to gain valuable experience. —Barbara Larson, CFO, Workday
One of the most beneficial pivots I made in my career was stepping out of a core finance role for three and a half years in 2015 to lead the next evolution of IBM as SVP, transformation and operations. I had the opportunity to work on IBM’s transformation—redesigning IBM’s operating model to align with fundamental market shifts and driving new, agile ways of working. But at the core of this role, I learned more about the importance of culture, our people, talent, skills and processes. Tackling the responsibilities of the transformation role and driving value through the organization helped me look at everything with a new perspective, one that has carried through to my current role as CFO. —Jim Kavanaugh, SVP and CFO, IBM
Taking high-risk assignments. At one point in my career, I recall my boss asking me to step out of a role I loved to build a shared services operation. I did not have a strong background in accounting and was not thrilled with the assignment. However, in hindsight, I greatly appreciate that rotation. —Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, EVP of finance and CFO, Analog Devices
There’s a stereotype that finance teams spend all their time in spreadsheets, but building relationships was my most important step in getting to the CFO’s office. —Jennifer Grunebaum, CFO, Devo
If I had to pick one word that was the most important thing I did to prepare me for today, that would be "change." I actually looked for changes at each step that allowed me to have more influence on the businesses that I was a part of. When the opportunity to join Red Hat as SVP and CFO came up, I was excited because it was a ‘two-for’—a new network to apply my skills and also a different stage company to drive growth and value. —Robert Leibrock, CFO, Red Hat
It is a given that you should have a high degree of business acumen, but the importance of networking, building relationships and working collaboratively with business leaders in your industry cannot be overstated as essential steps towards becoming a successful CFO. —Kirsty Godfrey-Billy, CFO, Xero
One of the most significant changes I witnessed over this time is the increasing prominence of data analytics as finance technology has grown in sophistication. Seeing this shift, I prioritized integrating data into my decision-making as my career progressed. —Jeremy Klaperman, CFO of Rho
I do think my investment banking role was helpful in learning critical thinking, and having exposure to multiple leadership styles, due diligence processes and industries. Also, having a diverse set of experiences across strategy roles, finance roles and leadership roles. — Katie Rooney, CFO, Alight Solutions
Before landing my first position, I worked in financial planning and analysis, accounting, sales, and investor operations—for both public and private companies, including Google, Apple, Adobe, and Looker. I developed cross-functional business knowledge and valuable leadership skills. —Razzak Jallow, CFO, FloQast
Going into investor relations at Microsoft was one of the best career decisions I made prior to stepping into the CFO role elsewhere. It gave me insight into investor expectations and how to better communicate business performance beyond a spreadsheet. —Bill Koefoed, CFO, OneStream Software
I started my career as an auditor at KPMG and worked over 10 years on several large public companies. I was fortunate to jump to VP finance of a publicly-traded radio broadcast company and led over two dozen M&A transactions. This fast-paced environment provided the experience and confidence for me to take the next step as CFO. —Omar Choucair, CFO, Trintech
There are three key things that prepared me most to become CFO: developing a deep understanding of how a SaaS business works; developing executive presence; and constructing a financial narrative about the business that we could strive to execute on consistently over time. —Tony Tiscornia, CFO, Coupa Software
Before I became a CFO, I purposefully spent four years of my career outside of finance as the general manager of three different business units for my last company. In that role, I was tasked with managing teams in sales, marketing, and even product and engineering. Investing the time to really understand the functional areas outside of finance was the single most important thing I did before landing my first CFO position. —Chirag Shah, CFO, Kong Inc.
Before becoming a CFO, I was fortunate enough to travel around the world with my CRO. This allowed me to understand how sales, product and engineering all came together, and some of the challenges they faced. —Brian Robins, CFO, GitLab
Developing a strong background in various operations roles is key and ultimately placed me in a position to succeed as a CFO. —Chris Jodoin, CFO and COO, EverestLabs
Two things helped me prepare for my role as CFO: mentorship and stepping outside of my comfort zone. —Kevin Rubin, CFO, Alteryx
Taking new and challenging roles to diversify my skill set has been instrumental for me throughout my current position as CFO. —Libby Merrill, CFO, ThreatX
My willingness to speak up and raise my hand for a project or role prepared me to be a CFO, even when I was afraid I didn't have all the needed experience. —Angela Pierce, president, CFO, Anaconda, Inc.
You can view all of this week's stories here. Want to learn more? Send me a note about what you'd love to read about the path to becoming a CFO.
Have a good weekend. See you on Monday.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
