SPMB Executive Search Places CFO for Komodo Health
June 15, 2023 – SPMB Executive Search, which helps find transformative executives throughout Silicon Valley, has assisted Komodo Health, a leading healthcare technology company, in placing Vikas Mehta as its new chief financial officer. The assignment was led by partner Steven Popper.
In his role as CFO, Mr. Mehta will be expected to help build on the company’s consistently strong year-over-year growth and market expansion while further strengthening its finance and operating models to prepare the company for future growth. Komodo surpassed $200 million in annual recurring revenue during its last fiscal year.
Mr. Mehta brings more than two decades of extensive experience leading financial strategy in enterprise software, retail, and financial services industries. As a finance veteran, he has led digital transformation at Fortune 50 companies including Nike, Walmart, Microsoft, and Paypal. Most recently, he served as the CFO of Anaplan, where he was responsible for finance, audit, legal, procurement, investor relations, accounting, and strategy. Prior to Anaplan, he was CFO of Nike Direct, where he provided strategic leadership and direction across supply chain and finance functions to drive digital transformation during the height of the pandemic.
Founded in 2014, Komodo Health is a technology platform company that pairs a complete view of patient encounters with enterprise software and machine learning to connect individual patient journeys and large-scale health outcomes. Across life sciences, payers, providers, and developers, Komodo helps its customers unearth patient-centric insights at scale — marrying clinical data with advanced algorithms and AI-powered software solutions to inform decision-making, close gaps in care, address disease burden, and help the enterprise create a more cost-effective, value-driven healthcare system.
Veteran Recruiters
For over 40 years, SPMB has worked alongside its clients to build executive teams that ensure venture capital and private equity-backed game-changers achieve scale, and position multi-billion-dollar public companies to unlock innovation. Specializing in technology and innovation, SPMB recruits upper management and board members to growth-oriented companies in tech, consumer, and sustainability industries. SPMB has also placed dozens of senior executives at the portfolio companies of leading private equity firm partners including Blackstone, KKR, and TPG.
Related: Key Capabilities for the Modern CFO
Specializing in technology and innovation, SPMB Executive Search recruits upper management and board members to growth-oriented companies in tech, consumer, and sustainability industries. SPMB has also placed dozens of senior executives at the portfolio companies of leading private equity firm partners including Blackstone, KKR, and TPG.
Mr. Popper joined SPMB in 2007 from Howard Fischer Associates and has since become an integral part of the leadership team. The same year he joined SPMB, Mr. Popper founded its CFO practice which recruits accomplished, company-shaping financial executives to public, VC-backed, and PE-funded companies in software, fintech, biotech, consumer technology, and sustainability. Since inception, the CFO practice has completed over 200 searches across all segments. Mr. Popper’s clients include the portfolio companies of IVP, Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, Warburg Pincus, a16z, Spectrum Equity, KPCB, and many more.
The Market for CFOs
The market for senior finance executives remains candidate-centric and brisk, according to Andy Miller, CEO of BrainWorks. “While public discussion of macroeconomic conditions continues to hint at inflation and recession, finance professionals remain fully employed and heavily engaged,” he said. “Among the finance executives, CFOs and business unit financial officers remain in high demand, both to provide oversight for portfolio companies in the PE space and to engage newly created business units by expanding public companies. Tax talent has been in demand for many years and is increasingly scarce. Global and complex tax guidance and leadership, including managers, directors, and analysts remain essential in the proliferation of business strategies. Also engaged at high volume over the last 12 months are controllers, analysts, and FP&A professionals.”
The Evolving Role of the CFO
Given the speed at which market conditions, business strategies, and operational structures have changed in recent years, businesses are more aware than ever of the crucial role the chief financial officer plays in shaping and driving a company’s strategic direction. A just-released report by BoardEx of “The Role of the CFO 2022” examines more than 1,400 CFOs who lead major publicly traded companies across 16 countries around the world. Let’s take a closer look.
At the sector level, geopolitical uncertainty, legislative uncertainty, and uncertainty regarding interest rates, inflation, and the potential for recession create sector-level challenges. While forecasting is fraught with uncertainty, BrainWorks believes that inflation has peaked and that recession is largely a lagging story at this point. “Given the degree of uncertainty in the world, any assessment of what financial services will face in the future is at best educated guessing,” said Mr. Miller. “That said, the challenge of securing top talent, the sufficiency of talent in the marketplace, the rate of change between currencies, tax implications of selected business strategies and the proper filing of documents in support of such strategies, accurate forecasting, analytics, and planning will all remain needful in the sector.”
Related: Financial Services is Booming, CFO Role Continues to Evolve
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
