Good morning. One hundred women from companies across the globe earned a spot on the Coins2Day Most Powerful Women (MPW) list released this morning. The list features women from six continents, 19 countries and territories, and 14 different industries. Several finance chiefs are among the honorees.
From women making a significant impact early in their careers to those who are seasoned veterans, all of the leaders are successfully navigating a business world that has been in flux. The MPW list reflects the nature of executives’ work and corporations’ global scope. No. 1 on the list is General Motors CEO Mary Barra who is among the chief executives of Coins2Day 500 companies and Coins2Day Global 500 companies represented.
CFOs act as strategic partners to CEOs. Steering the company strategy, meeting the challenges of an evolving role, and having a growth mindset are among the qualities these finance chiefs have in common. Here are the nine CFOs on the Coins2Day 2024 MPW list:
—Colette Kress, EVP and CFO of Nvidia, No. 16
A newcomer on the list, Colette Kress has been finance chief at Nvidia since 2013. Analysts consider Kress, who previously worked at Cisco and Microsoft, instrumental in Nvidia’s success on Wall Street—its market cap routinely flirts with $3 trillion. For the company’s fiscal year 2024, revenue was up 126% to $60.9 billion.
—Amy Hood, EVP and CFO of Microsoft, No. 20
For over 11 years, Amy Hood has been at the helm of Microsoft’s finance division as EVP and CFO. Hood joined the tech giant in 2002 from Goldman Sachs where she served in various roles including investment banking and capital markets groups. During her tenure at Microsoft, she’s helped the company drive growth through technological shifts, including the movement to the cloud and the AI era. Microsoft earned $245.1 billion in revenue in the last full fiscal year 2024, up 16% from $211.9 billion the year prior.
—Susan Li, CFO of Meta, No. 21
Susan Li is one of the youngest finance chiefs in the Coins2Day 500. The 38-year-old C-suite leader has been instrumental in developing and executing Meta’s turnaround strategy since taking over as the CFO in November 2022. Li joined the company, then called Facebook, in 2008. She started her career at Morgan Stanley, working as an investment banking analyst. When she became Meta CFO, the tech company had a market cap of $250 billion. Its market cap surpassed $1 trillion in January 2024 and stood at roughly $1.3 trillion in late September.
—Anat Ashkenazi, SVP and CFO of Google and Alphabet, No. 22
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced in June that Anat Ashkenazi would become CFO of the tech giant. Ashkenazi, a newcomer on the MPW list, previously had a 23-year career at Eli Lilly and Company, culminating in a CFO appointment in 2021. She left Lilly on a high note. The company ranks no. 127 on the Coins2Day 500, jumping up 15 spots from last year’s ranking. Lilly earned a record $34 billion in revenue in 2023.
—Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei, No. 43
Meng Wanzhou, finance chief of the Chinese multinational conglomerate tech corporation, makes her debut on the MPW list. Huawei and Wanzhou are on a comeback tour. The company, sanctioned by the U.S., is positioning itself at the forefront of China’s drive for self sufficiency. It generated almost $100 billion in revenue, in part thanks to products like its Mate brand of smartphones and AI chips.
—Kathryn Mikells, SVP and CFO of ExxonMobil, No. 44
Kathy Mikells joined ExxonMobil in 2021 as SVP and chief financial officer. Before Exxon, Mikells spent six years as CFO for London-based Diageo, Plc. She is ExxonMobil’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 at Exxon. For the full year 2023, the company reported total revenue of $344.6 billion.
—Sinead Gorman, CFO of Shell, No. 53
Sinead Gorman stepped into the role of CFO at Shell in 2022. Since joining Shell in 1999, Gorman has also served in other key finance leadership positions across the globe, including executive vice president of finance roles for Upstream. With Gorman as CFO, Shell continues to grow. In 2023, cash flow from operations was $54.2 billion, the second-highest in Shell’s history. Adjusted earnings were $28.3 billion, and revenue and other income amounted to $323.2 billion.
—Melanie Kreis, CFO of DHL Group, No. 73
Since 2016, Melanie Kreis has been CFO of leading logistics company DHL Group, the first woman appointed to the role. Kreis, a physicist, is a member of DHL’s board of managing directors. She first joined the company in 2004. Before becoming Group CFO, she served in several financial leadership positions, including CFO of DHL Express. DHL Group earned revenue of $91.2 billion in 2023
—Png Chin Yee, CFO, Temasek, No. 98
Png Chin Yee joined Temasek, Singapore’s investment company, in July 2011 and is currently CFO. Her previous roles at Temasek include heading financial services and senior managing director for China investments. She was at UBS AG before joining Temasek. In July, Temasek revealed in its annual review that its net portfolio value grew by $5.2 billion to reach $289.7 billion for its 2023 financial year.
Sheryl Estrada
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The following sections of CFO Daily were curated by Greg McKenna
Leaderboard
Michelle Chang was appointed CFO of Zoom (Nasdaq: ZM), best known for its namesake video conference platform, effective Oct. 7. She will succeed current CFO Kelly Steckelberg, who will step down after seven years in the role following the company’s earnings announcement for its third-quarter ending Oct. 31. Chang arrives after spending almost 25 years at Microsoft, most recently serving as corporate vice president and CFO of the tech giant’s Commercial Sales & Partner Organization.
Cassandra Harris was appointed CFO of Genesco (NYSE: GCO), the parent of footwear and apparel brands such as Journeys and Johnston & Murphy, effective Oct. 7. She will succeed Thomas A. George, who will retire on Dec. 12 after over thirty years as a public company CFO. Harris joins Genesco from Artisan Design Group, where she has served as CFO since Feb. 2023. She previously held the same role at Tupperware Brands and spent nearly ten years at VF Corporation, the parent of brands such as The North Face and Timberland.
Big Deal
The market for biofuels has grown at a much faster pace than that of fossil fuels, tripling in size over the past 15 years, according to a new report from Bank of America. Corn, sugar, and soy oil remain the bulk of the raw materials used by biofuel producers, though focus has shifted to using non-food sources such as crop residues, wood residues, and dedicated energy crops.
Financials remain an issue for the industry, however, as net returns for biodiesel have largely remained below that of ethanol for most of the past four years. Subsidies have been an important driver of supply growth and have favored renewable diesel over ethanol or biodiesel.
Additional factors weighing on demand for biogasoline include the rise of electric vehicles and less ambitious requirements for blended gasoline in Europe and Asia. Nonetheless, the report noted sustainable aviation fuel credits from programs like the Inflation Reduction Act should continue to push that industry to low carbon alternatives.
Going deeper
“How a Princeton rower became Diamondhands and fooled Silicon Valley’s most famous VC firm—twice,” is a new report from Coins2Day’s Jeff John Roberts. Famed venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz bet on Nader Al-Naji’s crypto startups multiple times. When the Justice Department arrested him for allegedly defrauding investors, however, the firm showed up as “Investor 1” in the DOJ’s criminal complaint.
Overheard
“The situation remains fluid until the attack occurs as well as the subsequent retaliation. It is premature to make judgements as to how this will influence financial markets in coming days…The current S&P 500 selloff is relatively mild relative to the geopolitical risk.”
— Mike O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, told USA Today after Iran launched missiles at Israel amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
