Good morning. Betsy Ward, the first woman to become CFO at MassMutual, will retire at the end of this year—after 30 years at the company.
But MassMutual, a Fortune 500 company, will still have a woman at the helm of finance. Mary Jane (MJ) Fortin was named the next CFO, effective Jan. 1. Fortin was previously the president and chief commercial officer at Thrivent Financial. Before that, she served as president of Allstate Financial and led the development and execution of the go-to-market strategy for the life insurance, retirement, and benefits businesses.
Fortin’s 35 years of experience in the financial services industry “will be invaluable” to the company, Roger Crandall, MassMutual chairman, president and CEO said in a statement.
She will succeed Ward who over the years, worked in several leadership positions, including chief enterprise risk officer and chief actuary at MassMutual before becoming CFO in 2016.
“Betsy has played a key role in leading MassMutual through periods of unprecedented growth, serving as a driving force across multiple transformative transactions to help deliver long-term value to our policy owners,” Roger Crandall, MassMutual chairman, president and CEO said in a statement. During this time, the company reached "record levels of capital and maintained excellent financial strength and flexibility,” Crandall said.
As a pioneering leader at MassMutual, I asked Ward if she had any advice for young women beginning a career in finance. “Remain intellectually curious and work on technical skills to learn the drivers of the business in detail,” Ward said. “This detailed learning will help later in your career with strategic decision-making.”
I asked her how businesses can create a talent pipeline that will lead to more women in leadership roles. A commitment to meritocracy and development, she told me.
“When it comes to meritocracy, I believe that organizations must be clear with objective metrics about success as well as managers’ thoughtful distribution of opportunities for all employees to prove themselves,” according to Ward. And there has to be a commitment to development that will help women’s trajectory through the talent pipeline and into senior roles, she said.
“We need to help our female colleagues gain more of a strategic perspective," Ward said. And encourage relationship building with others who can support that perspective.
Regarding building a pipeline for women leaders in finance, it takes investment that should align with the financial roadmap and the company's mission, she explained. “Finance needs to communicate numbers into a clear message that inspires our colleagues to align and set goals that reinforce our strategy,” Ward said.
Have a good weekend.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
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The following sections of CFO Daily were curated by Greg McKenna
