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CFO Brew

Alex Zank

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This CFO helps set growth strategy

Chikako Tyler counts sales-team management among her responsibilities.

Execs, board members diverge on path toward achieving company objectives

Directors must make an effort to understand C-suite concerns, survey suggests.

CFOville

Jesse Klein

Most people barely notice the power lines that stretch above them. But for some, it’s their job to observe, plan, and build the infrastructure connecting the electrical grid. And as the country moves to 

Bonnie Castle is the CFO of SBS, a design software platform for the utility industry. The company’s products help engineers design the power lines that connect to electrical substations. The platform enables a project developer to make plans for running lines through high wildfire risk areas, lays out when power lines can run underground vs. overhead, plus many more tiny nuances underlying the power grid that most people never think about.

Castle gave CFO Brew a rundown of her job and offered advice for CFOs.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in finance?

First, I’m part of the company’s executive leadership team, which means my job is to help the CEO and the rest of the leaders set the company’s strategy and find ways to grow the business and maximize profit. My daily responsibility is everything related to the company’s money

what comes in and what goes out. At a high level, I make sure we are managing finances wisely, staying on budget, and using resources efficiently.

What’s your playbook for handling this time of uncertainty and possible recession?

We’re in an interesting space where we cater to utility companies. Whenever I think about what’s going on in the economy, the potential risk of a recession, or when Trump talks about tariffs, it actually puts us at a position of strength. That’s driven by the fact that really what’s going on is he’s encouraging everyone to invest in the US. And companies are doing that.

You’re seeing very large companies like Google and Nvidia putting significant investment in the US by building data centers, and that then drives a huge demand for power generation. And so the utility businesses are growing like crazy.

How do you think the CFO role has changed over the past five to 10 years, both for you, and in general?

The biggest shift has been the new reliance on data analytics and technology. Five years ago, much of our work was still done in a more traditional way, including heavy use of Excel, manual processes, and siloed ERP systems. Today, the landscape is entirely different. We now operate in an environment where multiple systems are integrated and talk to each other, enabling faster, more informed decision-making.

The broader shift toward digitalization has changed the CFO role. We’re not just in charge of financials anymore, and we’re expected to leverage tools like AI and automation to optimize workflows, improve accuracy, and enhance how we serve both internal and external stakeholders.

Much like our customers, we’re also navigating a more complex regulatory environment. This has pushed us to adopt automated solutions to do more with less, freeing up our teams to focus on high-impact work and strategic initiatives. Today’s CFO needs to be as comfortable with data and digital tools as they are with balance sheets and forecasts.

Future CFOs should be dynamic and adaptable, thinking beyond traditional finance and accounting to truly drive business growth. The modern CFO is a strategic partner, someone who understands how to optimize value across the organization, not just manage numbers.

For those stepping into private equity (PE)-backed companies (SBS is majority-owned by Peak Rock Capital), be prepared for a faster pace and laser focus on value creation. Unlike other business environments, PE-backed firms operate on defined exit timelines (typically within 3–5 years) and often target a minimum 3x return for investors. This requires a deep understanding of stakeholder expectations and a constant focus on scaling efficiently, improving performance, and executing on strategic priorities.

If you’re coming to a CFO role from consulting or a non-operational position like I did, the transition into an operational role means taking full ownership of outcomes, including leading teams, driving growth, and implementing new systems and processes. It’s important to leverage your background experience, but also adjust to the specific needs of the company and C-suite. For example, my background in consulting at PwC, and then at a family-owned company, provided a strong foundation in high-level analysis and diagnosing key business issues across a variety of companies. Transitioning into this role in a PE-backed business meant embracing agility, thinking strategically, and always keeping your eye on long-term value creation.

Compared to family-owned firms, PE-backed companies tend to offer more capital, better access to talent, and advanced systems, which enable the business to scale quickly. However, they also demand quicker decision-making and results. Success in this environment means being hands-on, resourceful, and forward-thinking.

What is your favorite piece of personal technology?

I live and breathe ChatGPT. And I will be a nerd, and I will say Excel. I was raised in Excel, and then I love Chat GPT as well; that platform has been usually helpful. Those would be my two—accounting nerd over here.

Bonnie Castle, CFO of SBS, on an abstract background.

This CFO is helping connect the dots on the US power grid

 Bonnie Castle, the CFO of SBS, on life in the energy sector. 

Natasha Piñon

In his early career, Akhil Shrivastava was collecting stamps on his passport.

Before taking over as CFO of The Estée Lauder Companies in November 2024, Shrivastava went out of his way to build a uniquely global career. He estimates that in his nearly two decades at Procter & Gamble, where he worked until he moved to Estée Lauder in 2015, he lived in approximately eight to 10 different houses around the world.

That’s what happens when your resume reads like a travelogue: Shrivastava has jumped from India to Thailand, Singapore to Cincinnati, Boston to New York, and the distant land of New Jersey.

“Living in so many houses and cities and schools for the kids, you become a global nomad, but you kind of consider everywhere your home, and you really develop a deep love and admiration and reliance on people,” he told CFO Brew.

For those looking to make a career jump at some point, your passport doesn’t need to be quite as well-worn. “Raising your hand” for opportunities to build a “diversity of experiences” should do the trick just as well, Shrivastava said.

Still, he cautions that a wide range of experiences isn’t enough by itself. “You [also] have to build depth,” he added. “You have to go to the bottom of the ocean before you can be the captain of the boat.”

If you happen to be reading this while working from home in sweatpants, sure sounds like the kind of CFO you could learn a thing or two from.

Shrivastava has certainly been the captain of his ship. He started his career at Procter & Gamble in Asia, landing in internal auditing despite an engineering and finance background. The heads-first experience taught him about how a company lays its foundations, he told us. From there, he moved to roles within P&G focused on the foundations of the business: a shampoo factory; a paper factory; and a skincare, haircare, 

“Seeing day-to-day operations, going in the morning, looking at the shop floor, machines, engineers, warehousing, logistics—it gives you a real sense of what these great brands and products that we see on the shelves come from and who are the people behind them,” he noted.

After that, it was another move, this time to Singapore, where he did FP&A for P&G’s Oceania, Australia, and India regions. And it was in this role that he was tasked with “trying to solve the ultimate test at the bottom of the pyramid:” Could P&G launch Tide laundry detergent at one rupee a wash?

“That kind of opportunity really teaches you end-to-end business. First you have to go to people’s homes, [see] how they wash, how much water they have, what kind of clothes they have, the environment they have,” Shrivastava explained. Then you have to work with R&D, and think about distribution and marketing, he continued.

Ultimately, the efforts led to a significant increase in market share in India, he said. “Of course, it was a long journey, but that was a great introduction for me to learn business end to end, from R&D to marketing, insights, purchasing, sales, operations, people.”

A role at P&G’s Cincinnati headquarters followed, where he worked in the office of the global COO and sales officer before moving to the company’s beauty business. He later served as finance director for Gillette North America, which P&G had acquired.

By the time he got to Estée Lauder in 2015, “the spirit of constant learning” he’d developed in his early years across Asia inspired him to go into treasury, “because I felt that was necessary for me to learn the total skill set to maybe one day have that opportunity to be in these shoes [as CFO],” he said. Clearly, it worked out.

Simplicity is also key. To be a great finance leader, he thinks “sometimes you have to simplify.” He recommends always diving deeper to understand the “essence” of what a company is solving, stressing that “if you can’t explain it like a lemonade stand, that means you do not understand it yourself.”

The Estée Lauder Companies CFO on the benefits of a globe-spanning career

Akhil Shrivastava, who stepped into the top finance seat at Estée Lauder in November 2024, has a resume that resembles a particularly well-worn passport. 

A new study from finance management platform OneStream showed that companies with a female CFO increased shareholder value by an average of 4.5% annually, 0.2% higher than their industries overall.

But even with this outpaced performance, the percentage of female CFOs has been stubbornly static. Since 2011, the number of CFO seats at Global Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies held by women has remained stuck at 25%.

OneStream looked at the stock performance of US, Europe, and UK Global Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies, comparing those with female CFOs to industry averages. The company also looked at the LinkedIn profiles of 346 CFOs, 86 of them women, to map out the differences in career paths, and sent a survey to 700 senior finance professionals, half men and half women, to get qualitative context.

US companies saw an average revenue growth of 7.3% after appointing a female CFO, while those in Europe and the UK saw higher increases of 10.6% and 12.8%. As for specific sectors, energy organizations with women CFOs performed 2.8% better than the stock market, and those in the health sector performed 4.7% better.

Underperforming companies that hired women as CFOs went on to see total shareholder return improve by an average of 10%, relative to industry benchmarks, compared with the return under the previous CFOs.

“In my experience, women are often handed leadership roles in times of crisis because they’re seen as detail-oriented, thoughtful in their approach, and relentlessly hard-working,” Hope King, founder of Macro Talk, said in the report.

OneStream’s research also found women were more likely to align with “financial guardian” or “strategic architect” personas in their LinkedIn profiles. These archetypes prioritize risk tolerance, strategic planning, and transparency, according to OneStream. Male CFOs were more likely to identify with “digital operator” and “resilient reformer” personas more focused on technology.

But men weren’t the only ones thinking about technology. Female CFOs viewed AI as a potential equalizer. While it typically takes women three years longer than men to reach the CFO chair (18 years, versus 15 for men), 83% of women CFOs said automation could diversify the paths into the position, and 69% felt it was supporting personal career growth.

Update 08/28/2025: This story has been updated to reflect relative performance of companies that hired women as CFOs, according to One Stream's Glass Chair study.

Companies with female CFOs outperform industry averages

The “glass chair” might be a throne.

Kelly Steckelberg has had a whirlwind CFO career. She helped 

 in 2019. And then less than a year later, she was guiding the company through the pandemic, when it ultimately became a 

 of that era. Today, she is taking all those learnings and applying them as CFO of a buzzy new internet darling—Canva.

The Australian-based design platform was valued at 

 in August. There have been talks about taking the company public, and 

 in November 2024 fueled rumors even more.

Steckelberg spoke with CFO Brew about Canva's finance strategies.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What did your time at Zoom teach you that you’re applying to your role at Canva?

I learned a great deal at Zoom, but as far as parallels with Canva, the biggest takeaway was the power of product-led growth and the importance of building for scale before you need it. During the pandemic, demand skyrocketed almost overnight, and the only way we were able to keep up was because we had already invested in engineering, product, and sales capacity. That discipline made all the difference. At Canva, we are already at incredible scale, but I think constantly about where we need to invest to ensure we continue to meet the needs of our customers and drive long-term growth. It is all about being thoughtful with resources, prioritizing long-term sustainability, and making sure we have the foundation in place to flex up or down when needed.

What’s different about working at Canva than your previous roles?

One of the biggest differences is that Canva was born global. At other companies I have worked at, the center of gravity was almost always the US. Canva was founded in Perth, Australia, and has grown into 10 offices worldwide, with Sydney as HQ. As a tech company not founded in Silicon Valley, it has always been important to lead and operate with a global-first mindset. That creates a different dynamic and requires being intentional about building inclusively with my team and peers across time zones and cultures.

Do you have a unique KPI that Canva keeps track of?

We have a metric that we call “close the loop.” This measures how quickly we fix customer issues. Every time a user shares feedback and we act on it, we close the loop. It reflects our commitment to turning insights into real improvements and ensuring our community sees the impact of their voice.

How are you thinking about the possibility of Canva going public? How would you prepare for that? What advice do you have for other CFOs who might be thinking about that?

I think about going public as part of a longer journey and not just about a single moment.The key is to build the right foundation long before you ever step onto the public stage. That means applying sustainable growth strategies, putting the right processes and controls in place, building the right team, and creating a culture of financial rigor and discipline around accountability.At Canva, we aspire to be a generational company, so the timing will be about when it best supports that mission. In the meantime, we are focused on running the business with public company standards and rhythms, because that foundation will make us stronger.For other CFOs, my advice is to think about the IPO as an important milestone, and celebrate that, but remember that it is more a graduation than an exit. The company is stepping onto a bigger stage and the expectations and stakes are higher. Be sure that the entire company is ready for that debut and how you will collectively work together to sustain excellence for the long term.

What would your job be if you weren’t a CFO?

If I wasn’t a CFO, I would be doing something completely different like running a florist or bakery, but I’m not super creative, so luckily I ended up where I did!

A portrait of Kelly Steckelberg, the CFO of Canva against a brown graphic background.

Canva CFO talks going public 

The former Zoom CFO sets her sights on a new internet breakout.

Public companies that go looking for a CFO (and there have been a lot of them lately) tend to favor those with experience, according to the latest Russell Reynolds CFO Turnover Index.

Global CFO turnover at public companies reached a 

 in the first half of 2025, with 173 finance chiefs being replaced during the period, the index shows. Appointments were up slightly from 169 in the first six months of 2024. Turnover was particularly high among S&P 500 companies and in the industrial and natural sources sectors, according to the consulting firm.

The increase in CFO turnover came from “increased retirement rates and record high CEO turnover in 2024,” Russell Reynolds noted. The firm found that 56% of outgoing CFOs in H1 either retired or transitioned to board roles , another seven-year high and “significantly above” the 41% seven-year average.

 Amid a busy six months of CFO turnover, the proportion of women appointed to CFO roles declined YoY to 22%, from a first-half record of 28%.

“To maintain momentum, it’s critical that organizations continue to challenge traditional leadership profiles and accelerate the development of a broader pool of leadership talent,” the firm noted.

Most CFO appointments were internal hires.

 Insiders had the best path to CFO positions at public companies: More than half (57%) of incoming CFOs came from within the companies, a slight YoY uptick from 54%.

Organizations that went with an outside candidate put more emphasis on experience. H1 saw “the highest percentage of externally appointed experienced CFO hires,” (77%), according to the data. Russell Reynolds explained that companies 

 into experienced candidates to help them “navigate complex economic markets” or when succession plans didn’t come together.

Global CFO turnover reached a seven-year peak in the first half of this year

Most CFO appointments were internal hires, but companies opting for outside candidates emphasized experience.

Coworking is a recurring segment where we talk to CFOs and other leaders in the finance space about their experiences, their companies, and the larger economy. Let us know if you are—or you know—a CFO we should interview.

Christopher Smith has been in the sustainability world since his days as a director at Enron. (Yes, 

 Enron). These days he is the CFO of CleanChoice Energy, a wind and solar project developer and provider of clean energy to the Northeast Atlantic region. When he first started out in sustainability 25 years ago, it was more commonly called the “alternative energy” industry. And today, with Trump’s recent 

CFO Brew sat down to talk to Smith about how federal cuts are impacting the sector, his plans for a possible recession, and the unique challenges facing a solar CFO.

How have the cuts that have come to solar and wind from the Trump administration impacted your role as a CFO?

I’ve seen ups and downs through the energy business, so we’ve seen this sort of turbulence.

But long term, we think, and clearly see, clean energy is the long-term winner. And so we plan to stay the course and really stay focused on delivering for our customers and being citizens in the communities where we are.

Are there any unique challenges for being a CFO of a solar energy company?

A lot of the complexity is navigating the capital markets and the right way to finance the business and to grow the business. The reason the capital intensity is so high is because you’re investing in something that’s going to generate benefits for many years. And so to grow the business, you really have to be able to access and foster very good relationships with banks and with capital markets. And when I say banks, typically, I mean commercial banks.

I would distinguish that from being a public CFO, which I’ve done, which is very much about investor relations and the messaging. And capital is raised in that business in a very different way.

There has been chatter the past couple months about possibly entering a recession. As a CFO, how are you preparing for that possibility with your company?

I think the important thing is capital stewardship as a CFO and really positioning the businesses to be able to handle all kinds of outcomes. You hope for the best, but you plan for the worst. And that’s a tough thing to balance sometimes because it can affect people. The language can affect what they think about their prospects. And it can also be difficult because it may mean you need to be more guarded and more defensive.

But the businesses that survive and thrive are the ones that are able to power through, and not be too much skating close to the edge.

If you weren’t a CFO what would you be?

A portrait of Chris Smith, the CFO of Clean Choice against a beige background.

Veteran CFO in the clean energy sector gives his take on this moment

Christopher Smith breaks down being the CFO of a solar energy company. 

Niki Heim is the CFO and chief administrative officer of LogicSource, a procurement and sourcing services and technology firm. Before taking on the CFO role, she had stints in banking and athletic gear. This is her first role as a CFO. In addition to the traditional CFO duties, she sees her role as “as a strategic integrator,” offering insight that creates value within the organization.

CFO Brew recently spoke to Heim about the future of finance, her advice for aspiring CFOs, and how the role can change in a time of uncertainty.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in finance?*

While my role as CFO at LogicSource includes the traditional pillars of finance—accounting, forecasting, and financial operations—that’s just the foundation. Beyond that, I serve as a strategic integrator, applying a detailed, cross-functional lens to understand how each initiative and the department contributes to the broader financial picture. The core finance responsibilities get me in the room, but it’s that deeper operational insight that drives real value and continuous improvement.

Finance has a unique opportunity to lead through data-informed, strategic decision-making, and for years it seems the industry has been intentionally repositioning the function as a true business partner. While the term “chief no officer” gets thrown around negatively, I believe we should reframe that perception. Upholding financial discipline and saying no to initiatives that don’t align with the company’s strategic direction is not a limitation, it’s a critical part of enabling long-term success. 

I am a big believer in collaboration and that finance should be deeply involved in the early stages of initiative development to proactively guide its success. This limits having to say no or putting an end to it downstream after significant time and effort has been exhausted. Finance can guide the direction with data informed decisions, whether it be analyzing historic conversion rates or pushing data out like increased costs of labor.

What have you learned about being a CFO in a time of uncertainty?

I feel like it’s been a time of uncertainty since 2020 so I’ve learned to just never be comfortable and constantly be adapting and just be willing to make decisions on the fly. In the past, I would overthink where I wanted to go with a decision, but having confidence in my initial kind of gut feel and taking it from there right away is something that I've learned to get much more comfortable with.

Future CFOs should think beyond the numbers. The role today is as much about strategic partnership as financial stewardship. Learn the business deeply, communicate clearly, and strike the right balance between growth and discipline. Invest early in scalable systems and stay curious. Collaboration across functions is key to driving real impact.

If I weren’t a CFO, I’d probably be crafting landscapes to combine creativity, structure, and patience to shape outdoor spaces. Not unlike financial planning (just with more dirt), it requires vision, discipline, and a long-term mindset. There’s something incredibly satisfying about doing something tangible with your hands and seeing immediate progress. Finance requires more time to produce results.

Correction 08/27/2025: LogicSource's company description has been clarified.

A portrait of Niki Heim, the CFO and chief administrative officer of LogicSource against a brown background.