Why CFOs Are Increasingly Becoming CEOs: The Skills Boards Look For

The CFO role is becoming a CEO proving ground

The shift in how boards view CFOs shows up in two striking statistics. Russell Reynolds Associates’ 2024 Global CFO Turnover Index found that 34% of departing CFOs moved into a president or CEO role, compared with 20% the year before. In a Boston Consulting Group survey of about 500 chief executives, more than one in four said their own CFO posed the greatest threat to their job—more than any other C-suite position.

Those findings point in the same direction: finance leaders are increasingly seen as contenders for the top job. But a record of sound financial management may get a CFO considered; it won’t, by itself, make the case for promotion.

I joined Dreamix as its first CFO in mid-2022, after ten years in corporate banking, and became CEO in September. Along the way, I helped lead a buy-side acquisition and a sell-side transaction, served as deputy CEO and received EY’s CFO of the Year award. Those experiences mattered, but they weren’t enough on their own. Here are five choices I’d make again if I were aiming for the CEO role.

1. Take responsibility for growth

Cost control comes naturally to finance leaders. The risk is letting it define the job. To make a credible case for CEO, a CFO needs to show how the company can grow—and back that view with results.

At Dreamix, I led a buy-side acquisition that generated half of the company’s growth that year. I also brought in clients through my own network and examined whether sales or marketing was producing revenue, then aligned budgets with what the results showed.

The challenge is real. Spencer Stuart’s research on CEO performance found that former CFOs tend to be slower than CEOs from other backgrounds to increase revenue. Only 8% of CEOs promoted from CFO roles led their companies into the top quartile for revenue growth. Boards have reason to test a finance leader’s commercial record. A persuasive growth thesis needs evidence, not confidence alone.

2. Join decisions while they’re taking shape

Finance often enters a discussion after the strategy has formed, to assess its cost. That timing limits the CFO to judging other people’s plans. Getting involved while ideas are still being developed lets you help shape the company’s direction.

I began doing this at Dreamix before my title gave me an obvious mandate to do so. I wasn’t a shareholder; acting like an owner meant taking responsibility for the whole business regardless. That distinction matters because boards have time to observe whether a CFO sees beyond the finance function. McKinsey found that more than 90% of CFOs who became CEOs were promoted from within. That gives colleagues years to assess how you think.

In some companies, the CFO already carries responsibilities associated with a COO. Russell Reynolds describes CFOs overseeing areas such as IT, legal and facilities. If that’s your remit, treat those functions as part of running the business. The COO comparison is useful because it makes the broader scope visible.

3. Take on work beyond finance

Strong numbers won’t make a CFO look like a general manager if the only people who see the work are in finance. Run a division, region, integration or major transformation—something with accountability across teams and for an outcome beyond reporting. At Dreamix, acquisitions gave me that kind of responsibility: transactions reach every part of a company, and someone has to own the result.

There’s evidence that this experience is common among CFOs who become CEOs. McKinsey found that three-quarters of former CFOs promoted to CEO in the FTSE 250 had worked outside finance. Former CFOs interviewed by Spencer Stuart offer a practical version of the same advice: spend time with customers and take part in commercial negotiations.

That doesn’t mean pretending to be a sales, marketing or engineering expert. It means learning enough about those teams’ aims to help them make better decisions. Sitting in project reviews and pricing discussions can show where teams deliver on margin; working with engineering leaders can help solve business problems while leaving technical judgment to them.

4. Put your view of the future on the record

Financial reports explain what has happened. They don’t decide what the company should do next. At Dreamix, I could track revenue rising from €7.25 million to €25 million and EBITDA margin from 11.2% to 18.8%, and explain each change. Those figures still didn’t tell us where to go.

A CEO has to interpret the evidence, choose a direction and accept responsibility for the consequences. That’s a different kind of judgment from explaining results, and boards need to see it before they hand over the top job.

My first major test came in 2022, as central banks raised interest rates. Startups then accounted for more than 40% of Dreamix revenue. I argued that many startup clients would find fundraising harder and that we should pursue more enterprise business. The shift affected sales, marketing, delivery and hiring. By the end of 2024, startups made up 18% of revenue. Over the following two years, I saw software companies with greater exposure to startups struggle with declining revenue and late payments.

Write down where you think the company should be in three years and share that view with the CEO. Take a strategy to the board alongside the financial results. You’ll get parts of the forecast wrong; making a public, reasoned commitment is part of showing you can lead. And the finance background remains an advantage once you’re in the CEO role: McKinsey found former CFOs were nearly twice as likely as the average CEO to conduct a strategic review in their first two years.

5. Build trust with the people who will choose the next CEO

Board and shareholder confidence doesn’t appear when a CEO vacancy opens. It grows through repeated contact, especially when you show that you’re thinking about the company’s future and can represent its interests.

At Dreamix, the people making the eventual decision changed after the company’s 2024 sale to Synechron. I built trust with the new owners at the negotiating table, representing Dreamix during the sale. Two years later, that relationship helped support my move to CEO.

Russell Reynolds’ report says boards are increasingly treating CFOs as potential successors. They want executives who can present the company to investors and serve as a thought partner to the CEO. Treat board meetings and shareholder discussions as chances to demonstrate that range; those across the table are already assessing it.

Broaden the job before the title changes

None of these moves is a shortcut. They add up over time, as a CFO takes on work beyond the original job description and earns the trust to lead the whole business. The title may open the door. The scope you’ve already taken on helps determine whether you’re ready to walk through the next one.

That experience matters to clients, too. Choosing a software partner means trusting the judgment of the company’s leaders. A leader who has learned to own outcomes is more likely to treat a client project as a personal responsibility.