Leadership
Strategy announced CFO Andrew Kang's resignation for unspecified personal reasons. CEO Phong Le will serve as CFO from Nov. 6 to Dec. 31, after which Reza Virasteh, currently VP of operations, will become CFO and co-principal financial officer with Le. Shelley Khanna, global controller, will become chief accounting officer and principal accounting officer on Nov. 6. Kang will serve as an advisor through the end of the year. The leadership change coincides with Q3 earnings, where Strategy reported net income of $19.53 billion versus $2.79 billion a year earlier, while total revenues dipped to $125.4 million from $128.7 million. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor expressed optimism about bitcoin's future despite volatility.
Hershey announced on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, the appointment of Dave Hulays as its new Chief Financial Officer, succeeding Steven E. Voskuil, who is retiring. Hulays, 54, previously worked at Procter & Gamble and joined Hershey in 2012, bringing 30 years of financial experience. Voskuil will remain with the company until early in the second quarter of 2027 to facilitate the transition.
Tim Stawicki, senior managing director at global insurance brokerage and consulting firm WTW, says that in response to an expected 11.1% increase in employee healthcare benefit costs in 2027, corporate finance departments are engaging in cost control to an unprecedented degree. He advises CFOs to work with HR departments to manage spending through optimizing vendors and adjusting plan design, while staying compliant and balancing employee needs with talent competition.
Williams-Sonoma said in its second-quarter earnings report released on Wednesday that it will share part of the benefits from approximately $200 million in tariff refunds. Of this amount, $47.5 million will be used to compensate suppliers, and $10 million will go to employee 401(k) accounts. CEO Laura Alber called this move "the right thing to do."
SolarWinds announced its CEO succession plan on Wednesday, with current CEO Sudhakara Ramakrishna stepping down on September 30 and Chief Product Officer Cullen Childress taking over as interim CEO. Meanwhile, CFO Tim Karaca will step down on September 1, succeeded by Samuel Monti. Karaca stated on LinkedIn that he will serve as an advisor until the end of the year.
The latest report from Crist Kolder Associates shows that the average age of newly appointed CFOs in 2026 has dropped to 48.2 years, a significant decline from last year's 51.9 years and the lowest since 2016. Meanwhile, the average age of new CEOs has remained stable at 53.5 years. Generation X (born 1965-1980) is accelerating its replacement of the Baby Boomers, becoming the backbone of corporate financial leadership. The CFO retirement wave has hit an eight-year high, with the proportion of first-time CFOs rising to 64%.
The latest report from Crist Kolder Associates shows that as of mid-2026, the number of Black CFOs at Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies has fallen to 15, a 25% decrease from the 2021 peak. The number of Asian and Hispanic CFOs has increased slightly, but the overall proportion of non-white CFOs has declined from 14.9% in 2024 to 14.4%. The report notes that the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling and 2025 executive orders have prompted companies to scale back DEI programs, reversing diversity efforts.
Deloitte's 2026 annual survey finds a significant gap between healthcare CFOs' expected involvement in key decisions and their actual readiness, particularly in consumer affordability and mergers and acquisitions, where the gap reaches up to 33 percentage points.
Carmen Chan, set to become ZipRecruiter's Chief Financial Officer on August 17, said she is delving into the core of the business through a 'learning journey' and staying in sync with interim CFO David Travers as she prepares to lead the finance department for the first time. She emphasized a focus on capital allocation and investor relations, leveraging her capital markets background to reshape the company's equity narrative.
In recent years, the demand for fractional or interim financial leadership has continued to rise, initially driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently accelerated by the rise of artificial intelligence. The integration of AI in finance and accounting has significantly changed business models, and companies are increasingly accepting of hiring fractional or part-time CFOs. Based on an interview with Jason Hope, founder of Hope Financial Consulting, this article analyzes how AI is impacting the financial consulting industry and future trends.