The biggest CFO moves of 2025

We’d forgive you if you haven’t been checking LinkedIn with your morning coffee lately. There are only so many times you can read about how a CFO learned the true meaning of Christmas and generated shareholder value in the process.

But for anyone in the midst of a digital detox, there has to be a way to see which CFOs left their posts and took on new roles this year, right? Well, would you look at that…We’ve rounded them up for you.

And if you want to see what happened earlier in the year, we’ve also got you covered.

Fresh face. Ulta Beauty appointed Christopher DelOrefice as its next CFO, effective December 5. Chris Lialios, who served in the role on an interim basis after former CFO Paula Oyibo left the company in June, returned to his former position as SVP and controller.

Most recently, DelOrefice served as CFO at medical technology company Becton Dickinson since 2021. Previously, he spent 20 years at Johnson & Johnson, where he held a variety of financial leadership roles, including VP of investor relations.

Spatial awareness. Autonomous driving company Waymo tapped Google executive Steven Fieler to take over as CFO. Fieler’s new post became effective December 1, when he took the baton from CFO Elisa de Martel, according to a LinkedIn post from Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana.

“This is a pivotal moment in our journey as we continue to scale our fully autonomous ride-hailing business, expand our operations globally, and grow our team. Steve’s extensive experience will be instrumental in guiding us through this next transformational chapter,” Mawakana said.

Fieler most recently served as “a key member of Google’s CFO leadership team, where he served as vice president, planning, [business operations], investments, and investor relations, Mawakana said in a blog post” Before Google, Fieler was the CFO of information tech company HP.

Name brand. PepsiCo selected Walmart finance exec Steve Schmitt as its next CFO, effective November 10. He stepped in for Jamie Caulfield, who’s retiring after a 30-year career at the beverage giant.

Schmitt previously served as CFO and EVP of Walmart US, where he oversaw “the finance function for Walmart’s multi-billion-dollar omni-channel US organization and leading the core financial activities of Walmart’s largest business unit,” according to a press release.

“Steve’s experience working with complex supply chains, adapting to the dynamic retail landscape and omnichannel consumers, and delivering operational excellence on a large scale will be impactful at PepsiCo,” CEO Ramon Laguarta said in a statement.

Permanent basis. Finally, in welcome news for interim CFOs everywhere, Unilever’s interim CFO, Srinivas Phatak, officially took over on a permanent basis, starting September 16. 

He’d been appointed interim finance chief in February 2025. Before that, Phatak served as deputy CFO and group controller for Unilever. Upon his interim appointment, the company announced “that a full search would be initiated to appoint a permanent CFO.”

“Following that process, the Unilever Board is in unanimous agreement that Srinivas is the best candidate for the role, due to the strength of his industry and functional experience and having performed strongly as acting CFO,” the company said in a statement.

Hey, that’s worthy of a humble-braggy LinkedIn post.