Historically, there has been a lack of women in financial leadership the roles. But that is changing.
Women in finance dominated this year Fortune’s Most Powerful Women (MPW). The technology industry comes second, followed by retail and healthcare. This marks the 25th anniversary of the Dynamic Women in Business list, and it was very competitive to earn a spot. For the first time, this is a global list, rather than separate international and national versions. All positions have been filled by CEOs or those in the process of becoming CEOs. Karen Lynch, CEO of CVS won first place.
CFOs of two of the world’s largest technology companies—Google and Microsoftearned a place on the list.
Ruth Porat (#12) has been SVP and CFO at Alphabet and Google since 2015. This year, Porat oversaw Google’s acquisition of cybersecurity company Mandiant for $5.4 billion, which was completed last month. It was the company’s second largest acquisition ever.
Amy Hood (No. 15), EVP and CFO at Microsoft, with the company since 2002, started her current role in 2013. Hood leads the way to Microsoft Acquisition of $69 billion of ActivisionBlizzard announced this year. The acquisition should make Microsoft competitive in the metaverse and gaming space.
Porat and Hood run their businesses through a market downturn it was hammering technology industryresulting in hiring freezes and even layoffs.
Among the influential women on the list representing the financial sector are: Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup; Abigail Johnson, CEO, Fidelity Investments; Thasunda Brown Duckett, CEO, TIAA; Shemara Wikramanayake, Managing Director and CEO, Macquarie; Ana Botin, Executive Chairman, Banco Santander; Marianne Lake and Jennifer Piepszak, co-CEOs, Consumer and Community Banking, JPMorgan Chase; Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO and President, Ariel Investments; and Penny Pennington, Managing Partner, Edward Jones.
When it comes to advancing women in finance, Amanda Blanc (#24 on the list), Group CEO Aviva, created a master plan. Blanc partnered with Bain & Company to design a set of recommendations to help leaders of UK financial services companies achieve gender parity. The action plan focuses on recruitment, retention and promotion, culture and behavior, and the integration of diversity, equity and inclusion. A recommended course of action for recruitment is: “A centralized process, questioned about biases and focused on skills rather than experience, with a large talent pool and a commitment to interview 50% of women for positions at all levels,” according to the report published in March. .
Times are changing as the percentage of female CEOs and CFOs has reached an all-time high, according to the latest report from executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates. volatility report. In the first half of this year, 7.3% of CEOs of 681 Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies are women, up from 3.5% in 2012. And currently, 16% of CFOs are women, up from 9, 4% in 2012.
There is still a long way to go, but it is progressing.
Until tomorrow.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Big deal
Consumer discretionary (non-essential goods and services, such as cars and leisure products) was the most risky sector for the second consecutive quarter, according to risk measurement data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. This is due to the pressure of high inflation, falling public markets and expectations of a recession, the report found. Using three risk criteria – business advice, short interest and probability of default – S&P Global Market Intelligence examined 11 sectors representing 4,238 companies and filtered out the four sectors with the highest potential investment risk. raised. Consumer discretionary scored the highest in terms of the proportion of reduced corporate guidance and rising short-term interest. Companies in the sector that lowered business forecasts more than doubled quarter-over-quarter to 34 and were up 10-fold from the first quarter.
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Go further
Compensation Advisory Partners has published its annual report on the remuneration of the chief financial officer, examining the results of compensation for CFOs versus CEOs. The analysis summarizes 2021 compensation actions among 130 companies with a median revenue of $14 billion. The research found that more CFOs received raises in 2021 compared to 2020, with the median increase generally in line with 2020. About 7% more CFOs received base salary increases last year. And overall, 62% of companies raised salaries for CFOs in 2021 and 42% made raises for CEOs, according to the report.
Ranking
Kelly Porter was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Lazydays Holdings, Inc. (NasdaqCM: LAZY), a travel and tourism company providing RV concession services, effective November 15. Porter succeeds Nick Tomashot who will retire as Chief Financial Officer. As part of the transition, Tomashot will remain with Lazydays as an advisor until the end of the year. Porter began her career in public accounting at Moss Adams, spending more than 20 years building their franchise accounting services firm, where she was a partner. Most recently, she served as controller and vice president of FP&A at Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE: LAD), an automotive dealership group.
Timothy Schick was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Laser Photonics Society (Nasdaq: LASE), a global industrial developer of Cleantech laser systems, effective October 5. Schick joined the LPC in July 2022 as vice president of finance. Prior to joining LPC, he held the position of Chief Financial Officer at Jupiter Marine International. He was also Director of Financial Planning and Analysis at Everglades Boats. Previously, Schick held various financial and investment positions.
Understood
“The global economy is facing a crisis on several fronts. The picture for 2023 has darkened considerably.
— Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Secretary General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said during a press briefing on Wednesday. The WTO has warned that world trade will slow significantly next year amid “strong headwinds”, raising the risk of recession, Fortune reported.
This is the web version of Daily CFO, a newsletter about the trends and people shaping corporate finance. Sign up to receive it for free in your inbox.