Should I leave Corp Dev to work directly for CFO?
I currently work in Corp Dev at a very well known Fortune 10 company. I’ve been here for 5ish years and have been promoted twice (I’m essentially the equivalent of a VP at a BB). I was recently approached by the CFO of the company to work “directly” for him/her. But I’d actually be reporting directly to their chief of staff. Seems like a very interesting role but not sure if it’s worth leaving my sweet Corp Dev role.
From what I understand I’d have amazing exposure to executives across the company. I’d be managing the CFO’s investor and client relationships. Earnings prep. External conference prep. Plus a bunch of other administrative stuff.
I worry that this role is only valuable if I see myself staying at this company for the long haul since it is very relationship based and will literally not leverage my technical skillset whatsoever. I’m still young, so I’m not sure this is the right time to jump into a role like this. Plus I don’t really have anything to benchmark this against since I haven’t really heard of this type of role before (closest thing would be a chief of staff type role).
Pay is the same as what I make now.
Any thoughts?
From the description I suppose this role could help you fast track to the CFO role? I've had very limited exposure to corp dev, but from what I've seen in smaller companies it has pretty limited upwards mobility to the C Suite. Heads of corp dev don't usually become CFOs and usually ex-audit folks are preferred. If becoming a CFO is a path that interests you then I think you should pursue it. If you're more risk averse and content with where you're at then I'd stay where you are.
I’d love to become a CFO one day and this job will give me direct exposure to the day to day of a CFO of a massive global company. I will be in direct contact with him/her every single day. I will learn how to BE a CFO, but I won’t be gaining any direct hands on technical/ownership experience in other areas of finance like FP&A, Controllers, IR, etc.
Fast track may be possible based on exposure alone. Proximity has a value, I’m just not sure how much value I should allocate to it alone. Again, I think this role is extremely valuable if I remain at this company in the long term. Would be playing the long game for sure.
Not the CFO but the CEO actually had a stint in Corp Dev back in the day for what it’s worth.
Absolutely yes. He or she wants you to be the right hand man and you will basically run the day to day of his or her job. You will get true CFO reps.
Not really, sounds like the Chief of Staff is the right hand man.
From what I've seen re: exits across my CD group, most of the time the mid-manager / VP level folks exit to the CoS role, not right hand to CoS.
I actually had 2 managers of mine when I was much more junior in my group leave to be CoS / Head of Strategy for CxOs and they asked if I'd like to join them. I had a great relationship, but didn't feel it would've helped a ton vs. sticking around a bit longer and exiting into a CoS role.
Fast forward a few years and I've been promoted to junior manager versions of my two mentors above. I came from Finance, so had discussions with a few ex-bosses about being a CoS for them. Ultimately opted out of that. Both mentors of mine LOVE their jobs because they picked good CEOs / CFOs to work for, but neither have said they view this as a path to CEO / CFO. You hit the nail on the head in one of your comments, they both believe the relationships and sweat equity they build with all of their boss' peers will help project them into the CxO path (e.g., allow them to have real Product, Line of Business, and PnL responsibilities sooner)
Anecdotally, I've also heard you typically want to report up through the CEO path rather than CFO path (e.g., a Corp Dev / Strategic Finance / Strategy team that reports into the CEO is generally more tailored towards growth, spending, creating new businesses, etc. as opposed to one reporting into a CFO given the obvious expense management component of that role).
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