Drugstore giant Rite Aid needed a new leader—and so it turned to its trusted Chief Financial Officer Matt Schroeder, naming him CEO in September. In doing so, Rite Aid became just the latest large corporation to elevate its finance chief to the top job—a practice that appears to be gaining steam in corporate America. Fortune identifies below nine current CFOs who appear to have what it takes to follow Schroeder's example.
First, some important context: The C-suite trend of CFO-to-CEO didn’t happen overnight, and its growing popularity is the result of several factors. Those include economic uncertainty, and the evolution of the CFO role from a back-office function to a leader of company strategy.
According to Scott W. Simmons of the executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates, CFOs have a unique vantage point since work crosses all segments of the company. What’s more, the typical CFO today has exposure to board members and knows how to communicate with them in a way others of the executive leadership team may not. CFOs are also averse to taking too much risk during times of uncertainty. “That kind of mindset could be valuable as a CEO,” he said.
For a chief financial officer to move into the top job, they must not only have the CFO role, but should acquire operational experience, and know how to run a business within a company. That is so “they really get the commercial orientation tested more so than they could within a finance-only function,” Simmons said. He added that CFOs looking to move up should own the profit and loss (P&L) report as general manager, and possess effective communication and emotional intelligence.
So which big company CFOs possess these qualities? Fortune asked Simmons for his take on current Fortune 500 CFOs who could potentially step into a CEO role in the next three years. Here, in alphabetical order, are his top 7 choices—plus two more names selected by Fortune.
Pascal Desroches, senior executive vice president and CFO, AT&T
In 2016, AT&T reached a deal to buy Time Warner. At the time, Pascal Desroches was the CFO of Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc., owned by Time Warner. He then became CFO of WarnerMedia and the Administrative Officer of Turner. He was responsible for all of WarnerMedia’s financial operations as well as running Turner’s global communications, human resources, legal, strategy and research, security and technology organizations.
Desroches would eventually become the strategic partner of AT&T CEO John Stankey in bringing the company back to its telecommunications roots. Desroches became CFO of AT&T in 2021 and helped to steer the company in completing a DirecTV spinoff that year, and then a spinoff of WarnerMedia for a merger with Discovery, Inc., in 2022. Regarding leadership, Desroches told Fortune in a previous interview it’s important to “get out of your comfort zone, learn new skills, and expose yourself to different areas of the business.”
Yanela Frias, EVP and CFO, Prudential Financial
Yanela Frias began her tenure in March as EVP and CFO of Prudential succeeding Ken Tanji. Frias is the insurance giant’s first female CFO and has built a 27-year career at Prudential.
"This is a deep-rooted Pru person,” Simmons said. Looking at her track record, she ran businesses and worked in international markets, he said. In addition to her finance leadership roles during her time at the company, she also led the Investment & Pension Solutions business within Prudential Retirement, served as president of Prudential Retirement, and was appointed president of Group Insurance in 2021. Over the years, she gained experience central to the CFO role, like running a P&L.
The company has clearly invested in her for the CEO role at some point in her career, Simmons said.
Kevin Jacobs, CFO and president, global development, Hilton
Kevin Jacobs is CFO and president of global development for Hilton and leads the company's finance, real estate, corporate strategy, development and architecture and construction functions globally. He joined the company in 2008 ,and became CFO in 2013. Previous roles include SVP of corporate strategy, treasurer, and EVP and chief of staff.
"At a hotel company, arguably the most important operating role is to run development," Simmons said. Jacobs has "incredibly strong" leadership chops and has spent significant time building strategy, he said. "I can see him being tapped for CEO," Simmons added.
Dan Janki, EVP and CFO, Delta Air Lines
Dan Janki joined Delta, a Fortune 100 company, as finance chief in July 2021. He was previously at General Electric(GE), where he worked since 1992. At GE, he most recently served as president and CEO of GE Power Portfolio and SVP of GE. His more than two decades of experience at GE also includes a wide variety of senior roles at GE Energy, GE Capital, GE Global Operations and GE Corporate.
Janki has proven his adaptability and ran significant businesses along with having a high commercial acumen, Simmons said.
Mark Mason, CFO, Citi
Mark Mason has built a career track record that would position him as a future Fortune 500 CEO, Simmons said. CFO of Citi since 2019, he joined the bank in 2001.
Mason has held several senior operational, strategic, and financial executive positions, including CFO and head of strategy and M&A for Citi’s Global Wealth Management Division, CEO of Citi Private Bank, and CFO of institutional clients group.
In 2023, Fortune spoke with Mason about his career-defining moments. He identified one as working on a joint venture between Citi’s Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley that created a wealth management business in 2009. He then became CFO of Citi Holdings and, shortly after was appointed COO of Citi Holdings where he eventually became CEO of the division.
Breaking down silos and looking at matters with a one-firm perspective has been “true whether I’m in a CFO role or a CEO role,” he said.
Jess Merten, EVP and CFO, Allstate
“If you look at Jess’s rotations, he checks the boxes,” Simmons said. Merten became CFO of Allstate in 2022. But he joined the insurance company in 2012 as a senior vice president in finance overseeing Allstate Financial. Merten later became Allstate Financial's chief financial officer, helping reposition the business and improve its performance. He moved on to become treasurer of Allstate, then chief risk officer overseeing all corporate risk and return activities. Merten then took on the role of president of Allstate Financial Products, owning a P&L.
“Jess is known as a very strong leader, “ Simmons said. Merten could be considered an internal candidate to eventually succeed Allstate CEO Tom Wilson, Simmons said.
Kathryn Mikells, SVP and CFO, ExxonMobil
Kathryn Mikells joined ExxonMobil in 2021 as SVP and chief financial officer. Before Exxon, Mikells spent six years as CFO for London-based Diageo. She is Exxon’s first official CFO; before her appointment, members of the management team shared the finance duties. Mikells is the first woman to join the management committee of Exxon, the U.S.’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company. Mikells is also listed among Fortune's Most Powerful Women.
Mikells' experience spans several industries. She began her career at General Electric as an investment analyst. She moved on to a 16-year career at United Airlines, where she served in several corporate planning and financial roles before being appointed senior vice president and chief financial officer in 2008. After that, she went on to serve as chief financial officer at ADT Incorporated and Xerox Holdings Corporation before joining Diageo in 2015.
Jamie Miller, EVP and CFO, PayPal
“Jaime Miller is a strong leader who has rotated outside of finance and has run significant businesses at companies of scale. She also has experience in a variety of industries,” Simmons said.
Miller has worked across industries and guided both public and private companies through dynamic environments and transformation over the course of her 30-year career. Miller began the CFO role at PayPal in 2023.
Before that, she served as global CFO of EY, having joined to spin off its strategy, tax, and consulting business and lead an IPO. Miller was also previously CFO of Cargill, where she also assumed corporate strategy and business development responsibilities. Miller earlier spent 12 years at General Electric (GE), serving most recently as SVP and CFO. Among her roles at the company was CEO of GE Transportation and chief information officer at GE.
Ewout Steenbergen, EVP and CFO, Booking Holdings
Ewout Steenbergen joined Booking Holdings in March of this year. But in Simmons’s opinion, Steenbergen will have a CEO role in the future. His career experience includes running regions and business units as division CEO, Simmons said. Steenbergen also has deep operating experience and understands how businesses work, he said.
As CFO at S&P Global, Steenbergen was also responsible for the S&P Global Engineering Solutions Division and Kensho Technologies. Before S&P, he was EVP and CFO of Voya Financial, Inc., and served in other leadership roles at ING Group, like chief risk officer for ING Asia, around the globe.
He has experience leading global operations and managing teams across the EU, Asia, and North America, Simmons said.
