Here’s the thing about CFOs. Sometimes, they change jobs. Radical, right? As a wise woman once said: Spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before.
In case you missed the LinkedIn updates, here are some of the biggest CFO moves of the year so far.
Hi, Barbie! Mattel named Paul Ruh its CFO, starting May 19. Previously, he served as CFO for Kenvue, a consumer health company, where he led the company’s separation from Johnson & Johnson Services, marking “one of the largest splits in public company history,” according to a release.
Before Kenvue, Ruh was CFO of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health; he also spent 13 years at PepsiCo in a variety of financial leadership roles, including CFO of the company’s Latin America business.
“We welcome Paul at an exciting chapter in our journey and look forward to his partnership as we continue to successfully execute our multi-year strategy and unlock the full value of our IP outside the toy aisle,” Ynon Kreiz, CEO and chairman of Mattel, said in a release.
Thanks, I got it online. eBay, the commerce platform where you’re still waiting for someone to buy your vintage Snoopy merch, said in April its (now former) CFO Steve Priest was leaving the company May 11, and would be replaced by Peggy Alford, a PayPal executive, effective May 12.
Alford served as EVP of global sales for PayPal between March 2020 and January 2024. She held other leadership positions at the company from 2019 to 2020. Prior to that, she was CFO and head of operations at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic fund established by Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.
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“I’m truly excited to return to a company with such a rich history and legacy,” Alford said in a release. “There’s a deep sense of pride in being part of an organization that continues to resonate with so many people around the world.”
Post-whoopsies. In April, Macy’s announced that Thomas J. Edwards, CFO and COO of luxury fashion company Capri Holdings, will take over as CFO and COO on June 22, replacing departing Adrian Mitchell.
“With these changes, we complete a purposeful evolution of the Macy’s, Inc. leadership team and I am confident that we have the right talent to support the return of Macy’s, Inc. to enterprise growth,” Tony Spring, chairman and CEO, said in a release.
The leadership switchup arrived as part of a wider strategic initiative from the retailer as it attempts a recovery from an accounting migraine after an employee who handled small-package delivery expenses hid over $150 million in expenses over the course of three years to cover up an accounting error.
One successful merger. David Kennerley, a longtime PepsiCo veteran, took over from interim CFO Todd Foley at Kroger, the supermarket giant, starting April 3. Foley, who’d been with the company for more than 20 years, stayed on as CFO until the end of Kroger’s fiscal 2024 reporting cycle.
At the end of 2024, a US district court judge in Oregon blocked an attempted merger between Kroger and its rival Albertsons, arguing that the merger would ultimately harm consumers. (The two companies have been in a corporate lovers’ quarrel ever since.)
Hey, at least Kroger’s CFO switchup panned out.