Looking to fill a pending vacancy in the CEO’s chair? We’ve got the perfect candidate: the chief financial officer.

While the typical path to the corner office is through other functions like sales or operations, according to Ash Athawale, SVP of Robert Half’s executive search practice, there’s a common playbook for CFOs to follow to become chief executive.

“For CFOs to move into that role, what they need to do is [obtain] more of a general management oversight and experience,” Athawale said, “because they can bring their fiscal experience easily. It’s already in their DNA. But acquiring these skills helps them become a good candidate for the CEO.”

According to a recent analysis of senior leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies from executive search firm Spencer Stuart, CFOs, along with COOs, are “common steppingstones to the CEO role.”

An intentional move

CFO Brew reviewed eight corporate CFO-to-CEO announcements from this past year and found commonalities that shed light on the CFO’s path to the chief executive’s office. The biggest thread tying them together was the CFO’s experience with and knowledge of the organization.

Each company in CFO Brew’s review opted to promote internally. Mark Witkowski, CEO of distribution company Core & Main, started his tenure as CFO nearly a decade before, in 2016. He’s been with the company since 2007. Michael Kennedy, CEO and president of natural gas companies Antero Resources and Antero Midstream, joined in 2013 and started his tenure as CFO of Antero Resources in 2021. Carmaker Jaguar Land Rover’s new CEO, PB Balaji, came from parent company Tata Motors, where he served as group CFO since 2017.

This tracks with the Spencer Stuart research, which found that the companies it studied hired approximately 60% of C-suite leaders internally, “underscoring the importance of leadership development and succession planning.”

Just over three-quarters of CEO positions were filled via internal hires, according to the study. That’s the second-highest internal hire rate in the C-suite, behind chief operating officers (79%) and ahead of CFOs (65%).

“To move from that CFO spot into the CEO role, you’re now responsible not just for a sliver of the business, but you’re responsible for the entire business,” Athawale said.

Click here for more on the CFO to CEO pipeline.—AZ

Let it go? Not if you’re Disney. The entertainment giant has convinced its CFO to stick around.

The company has extended CFO Hugh Johnston’s contract, originally slated to end in December 2026, through January 2029, Reuters reported. Johnston joins head of communications Kristina Schake, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Horacio Gutierrez, and Chief People Officer Sonia Coleman, who’ve also recently had their contracts extended. Disney is seeking a new CEO to replace Bob Iger, who will retire in late 2026, and hanging onto key leadership should help provide continuity.

Johnston came to Disney in 2023 after 34 years at PepsiCo, where he served as CFO, as well as president of the sodamaker’s North America division and its SVP of transformation. At Disney, he’s assisted Iger in a major restructuring that split the company into three divisions: Disney Entertainment; ESPN; and Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products. The restructuring plan is intended to cut costs and make the company’s streaming service profitable.

Johnston faces some challenges in the near future: Disney’s embroiled in a dispute with Google-owned YouTube, and there’s a fraught selection process to replace longtime CEO Iger on the horizon.

What’s a CFO make at the House of Mouse (we know you’re wondering)? Johnston’s salary is $2 million, and he has an annual target bonus of $4 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The extended contract didn’t change those terms, but it did raise Johnston’s long-term equity incentive to $16.5 million.

Read more on our website.—CV