How often do you see transitions like this? Say you enjoy the execution part of IB, but don't want to be an MD, selling all the time and having the burden of revenue generation. Is it possible to stick around until VP level, then move into industry in a finance/corp dev role that could put you on track to CFO level? I can point to some notable examples (CFOs of Nike, Meta, and Microsoft, to name a few), but curious how common it is. Is it a viable alternative to being a career banker, or just a rare occurrence that you can't really bank on?
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Uncommon for bankers to be CFOs unless there is a a CAO. Unnecessary in most businesses. CFOs are ex tax/accounting/ops/treasury/fp&a that are very good at managing the big picture.
I would say that this is the case for most companies.
Direct path is difficult unless you have FP&A experience prior to banking. More likely you get brought into a senior FP&A / strategy position with the tacit understanding that there is a path to CFO via succession planning. There are no guarantees, of course.
Thanks – should've been clearer; this is the type of path I was referring to. Didn't assume an IB VP would make a direct transition to CFO in most cases.
Appreciate the insight.
CFO of Meta quitted Banking after 2 years Analyst and worked at Meta for 15 years before making CFO, not sure if that's a good example...
I see some of this in small/mid Life Sciences firms if coming from HC coverage. Given the cash burn and acquisition end-goal, CFO role has heavy BizDev components and IB experience has more value.
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