CFO Exits Pick Up Amid Covid-19 Pandemic
By: Agenda
August 21, 2020
Three large U.S. companies this week said goodbye to their chief financial officers, continuing a surge in CFO departures following months of relative stability.
The Wall Street Journal reports that so far this year, 83 CFOs at Fortune 500 companies have left their posts, compared with 84 last year at the same time. But it took several recent departures — including Dhivya Suryadevara of General Motors Co., Kelly Kramer of Cisco Systems and John F. North III of Avis Budget Group — to draw even with 2019 as the early days of the coronavirus pandemic seemed to bring about a slowdown in CFO turnover.
According to the Journal, 2019 saw a total of 129 Fortune 500 CFOs leave their roles, thanks to a robust stock market, which made equity packages more appealing. The recent spike seems to be driven not by money, but by a more demanding workload amid the pandemic. With more frequent board meetings, investor calls and town hall sessions as a result of the coronavirus crisis — not to mention the stress of raising money, cutting costs and renegotiating loans — CFOs are starting to contemplate their futures.
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