CFO Recruiting Summit — Beyond the Balance Sheet: Executing Growth and Value Creation
March 5, 2026 – As business complexity accelerates across industries, the office of the CFO is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Once centered primarily on financial stewardship, today’s CFO organizations are becoming enterprise-wide strategic engines—driving growth, managing risk, enabling transformation, and serving as critical partners to the CEO and board. As the CFO role increasingly serves as a pipeline to the CEO seat, the structure, capabilities, and leadership within the Office of the CFO are being redefined. This evolution carries significant implications for how organizations design finance functions, develop future-ready leaders, and attract the next generation of CFO talent.
Hunt Scanlon Media is convening 250 CHROs, chief talent officers, CFOs, executive recruiters, and finance professionals at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago on April 20, 2026, to explore the talent dynamics shaping the modern office of the CFO. Join us as we examine succession planning, leadership transitions, and the future of finance leadership through the lens of talent strategy.
As the responsibilities of the CFO continue to broaden, boards are reassessing what true leadership readiness looks like at the highest levels of the organization. In this session, Andrew Nathanson, president and CFO of ZRG, will moderate a conversation with Blythe McGarvie, lead independent director at Apple Hospitality REIT and Wawa, and former CFO of Société BIC and Hannaford Bros., to examine how directors evaluate finance leaders across performance, succession planning, and CEO potential. Drawing on extensive board and executive experience, the discussion will explore how directors assess CFOs in real time across capital allocation, risk oversight, transformation initiatives, and governance demands. Attendees will gain insight into the capabilities that distinguish technically strong finance leaders from those positioned to influence strategy, guide enterprise direction, and ultimately transition toward the CEO seat.
The Adaptable CFO
Today’s CFOs are increasingly defined not just by where they lead, but by how effectively their leadership skills translate across different business environments. In this session, Brian West, former CFO of Boeing, will draw on his experience leading finance organizations within large, complex enterprises to discuss how CFO leadership capabilities extend well beyond any single industry or ownership model. The conversation will explore how finance leaders are applying enterprise leadership experience to successfully navigate transitions in an ever-changing world.
Once viewed primarily as the organization’s chief scorekeeper, the CFO role has expanded into that of a strategic architect responsible for navigating complexity, driving transformation, and shaping long-term value. In this fireside chat moderated by Clem Johnson, president of Crist|Kolder Associates, Jon Baksht, CFO of Fortune Brands Innovations, and Mike Drazin, CFO of Medline Industries, will examine how moments such as IPO execution, large-scale transactions, and enterprise transformation have reshaped the expectations placed on finance leaders—including Medline’s landmark IPO in December 2025, the largest since 2021, and the highly successful sale of Pactiv Evergreen to Novolex.
Related: CFOs as Strategic Architects: Navigating Transformation in Financial Services
Drawing on experience operating under private equity ownership and public market scrutiny, they will discuss how these inflection points require CFOs to move beyond reporting and control toward leadership, judgment, and enterprise-wide decision-making. Attendees will gain insight into how today’s CFOs are redefining the role by actively influencing strategy, performance, and value creation at the highest levels of the organization.
Evolving Expectations
In today’s dynamic environment, finance leaders at every level are being asked to go beyond the numbers. In this panel, CFOs, corporate talent leaders, and executive recruiters will explore how expectations are shifting across the Office of the CFO — from CFOs to VPs of finance and controllers. In a session moderated by Stacy Kelly, managing director at StevenDouglas, panelists will discuss what separates high-impact leaders, how stakeholder dynamics influence the hiring process, and how companies are defining “fit” across different ownership models and industry contexts. Panelists include: Jon Hill, managing partner at The Energists; Kristina Bittorf, head of finance at Aeropay; Tim Bosslet, CFO of Chomps, and Aron Beach, managing director at Wynnchurch Capital.
The CFO Rewired: From Leading Finance to Driving Strategic Value
Today’s CFO plays an active role in shaping corporate strategy, managing risk, and driving long-term enterprise value. They navigate complexity, challenge the status quo, and act as the CEO’s co-pilot in an ever-changing environment. CFO influence now spans capital allocation, M&A, operational efficiency, and digital transformation, according to a recent report from True. “Today’s CFO has a hybrid skill set: deep financial acumen, strategic foresight, digital literacy, and exceptional leadership,” the report said. “This structural transformation requires a new talent playbook. Organizations must widen the lens through which they view top financial talent and where they look for their next CFO.”
In today’s private equity environment, CFOs have evolved from financial stewards into strategic architects of value creation and growth. Denis LaPolice, president and founder of Resource Management Group, brings over 25 years of experience advising clients and recruiting top CFOs and financial officers for Fortune 500 corporations and private equity–backed companies. He will lead a fireside chat featuring Jillian Evanko, CEO of Duravant, and Crosby Baker, head of human capital at H.I.G. Capital, to discuss how finance leaders drive value throughout the investment lifecycle — from early-stage transformation to exit. The conversation will explore how CFOs prepare for and manage exits across varying hold periods, how timing influences strategy, equity, and compensation outcomes, and how financial leadership and talent strategy work in tandem to maximize returns in an increasingly complex market.
Developing Finance Leaders
As the responsibilities of the Office of the CFO continue to expand, finance leaders are being asked to build depth and continuity across their organizations—not just for today, but for the next operating cycle. This panel will bring together CFOs, senior finance executives, chief talent officers, and executive recruiters to examine how organizations are developing the next generation of finance leadership.
Related: The CFO Talent Shortage Is Reaching a Breaking Point
In this session, moderated by Max Woolger, VP of revenue at Ezekia, panelists will discuss how CFOs are shaping leadership pipelines, balancing internal development with external hiring, and preparing future leaders to operate across transformation, complexity, and growth. The conversation will explore how succession planning, capability-building, and leadership readiness are becoming core components of CFO strategy. Panelists include: Heather Rickard, SVP of talent at Cushman & Wakefield; Amanda Henkel, partner at Caldwell; and Meenal Sethna, EVP and CFO at Option Care Health.
Moving Beyond Conventional Workplace Metrics
Talent is now a balance-sheet issue, with workforce cost, leadership depth, and organizational capability directly influencing enterprise performance and value creation. In this session, Richard Stein, CEO of talent intelligence advisor HSiQ, will examine why people-related blind spots—such as leadership readiness, attrition risk, and capability gaps—can materially affect execution, capital allocation, and long-term outcomes.
As CFOs take on broader enterprise responsibilities, the discussion will explore how finance leaders can move beyond traditional workforce metrics to gain clearer, forward-looking insight into talent risks and opportunities. Attendees will gain a practical perspective on why talent intelligence is becoming an essential input to the finance function as it supports enterprise leadership and sustainable growth.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
