Odgers Berndtson Leading CFO Search for World Energy
January 6, 2025 – Odgers Berndtson was recently called in by World Energy to lead in its search for a new CFO. Emily McGonigle is leading the assignment. “We are delighted to be conducting the search for CFO at World Energy,” Odgers Berndtson said in a LinkedIn post. “This role will involve being a strategic member of the World Energy leadership team as the organization transitions to align with its new business model as a provider of decarbonization services. This is an excellent opportunity for a dynamic partner to play a key role in establishing a world-class finance function.”
Based in Boston, the CFO will be a strategic member of the World Energy leadership team as the organization transitions to align with its new business model as a provider of decarbonization services. Odgers Berndtson explains that this role will report to the co-founder and CEO and work closely with the business unit leaders and current/future investors to lead the planning and analysis, financial reporting, working capital management, asset/liability management, budget and forecasting, lender relationships, and treasury management, and act as the primary interface for all banking, tax, and audit stakeholders.
The CFO will embrace the opportunity to upgrade systems, improve processes and operations, and support continued growth. Furthermore, the executive’s challenge will be to build the team to become a value-added and analytical partner to support strategic, operational, and agile decision-making.
The CFO must be an energetic, strategic, and hands-on manager with a mature, influencing leadership style, according to Odgers Berndtson. “Critical to success in this role will be the ability to pivot comfortably from strategic partnership to exceptional execution,” the firm said. “The CFO will be an exceptional communicator and act as the spokesperson on all financial matters as it relates to World Energy and will play a highly visible role with investors, regulators, and stakeholders across the supply chain. The CFO will be viewed as a potential succession candidate to the CEO.”
The successful candidate will be an operationally minded CFO with experience building systems to manage KPIs and monitor working capital. Odgers Berndtson notes that they will bring a deep understanding of value chain and product management, ideally gained within complex manufacturing or clean-technology business. Critical to success will be the CFO being a highly effective ‘storyteller,’ capable of telling the World Energy story, as well as bringing a confident, unflappable style with exceptional people leadership skills.
World Energy is a low-carbon solution provider enabling world leading companies to meet their net-zero commitments. With operations in sustainable aviation fuel, clean hydrogen, advanced biofuels, and now pioneering decarbonization as a service, World Energy is collaborating to confront the biggest decarbonization challenges in the hardest-to-abate sectors. For over 25 years World Energy has been at the forefront of commercializing new renewable fuels and is now developing over $15 billion of new capital projects to push the frontier of clean energy at scale.
Odgers Berndtson delivers executive search, leadership assessment, and development strategies to organizations globally. The firm’s 250-plus partners cover more than 50 sectors and operate out of 59 offices in 29 countries.
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Ms. McGonigle is a principal within the CFO practice, working on senior finance searches across all industries. She draws on her chartered accountancy background to review technical acumen and fit in assessing role requirements and candidate suitability.
CFO’s Increasing Importance
CFOs are being asked to play an ever-broader role. “The tumultuous environment companies are operating within demand a different skill-set in the CFO chair,” said ON Partners co-president Tim Conti. “CFOs are playing a critical strategic role in companies, not only to pull levers necessary to secure a company’s financial platform, but also to position the company to emerge in a strong competitive positioning in a marketplace where not all will survive. This requires the CFO to lead from the front, be strategic and savvy, to navigate a company through choppy waters. When boards and CEOs do not have confidence that they have this strategic CFO, then they have no choice but to seek out an alternative.”
Financial Services is Booming, CFO Role Continues to Evolve
Despite economic uncertainty and the challenges of finding top talent, the financial sector continues to change and grow. Interviewed by Hunt Scanlon Media, search leaders who specialize in the sector offer their insights on the path forward, the CFO’s responsibilities, and more.
“In times like these, where businesses demand hyper-agility, being a functional specialist isn’t good enough,” said Bryan Buck, partner at ON Partners. “It’s required now that CFOs can see around corners and understand the physical (and digital) trends that are reshaping their world – and then act quickly. They need to think like P&L owners – not like accountants. Regardless of the product or service their company offers, customer expectations have changed. And the CFOs in highest demand right now are the ones who have proven to be nimble and business-focused enough to drive organization’s to where the puck is moving (both organically and inorganically).”
This business environment is also putting more pressure on CFOs. “There’s definitely more need for CFOs to operate with transparency around the realities of the market conditions, how those conditions are impacting the business in the short and long term, and what strategic steps are being taken to address the challenges faced,” said Mr. Conti. “Shareholders understand that market conditions are challenging, and they’ll be more patient in these unique times, but only if they have confidence in the CFO’s leadership and strategy.”
“Yes – and it’s industry-agnostic,” Mr. Buck added. “For public companies specifically, those in negatively impacted sectors are trying to survive the rapid slow down, and maintain various levels of ongoing business operations, while planning and positioning for a potential recovery that could happen within the next few quarters…or the next few years,” he said. “Public finance leaders on the other end of that spectrum are seeing tremendous growth and demand, but they’re also cognizant that current share price reflects Wall Street’s expectation of perfection – leaving no room for quarterly missteps.”
Related: Odgers Berndtson Recruits CEO for the Port of Gulfport
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
