Jeff Julien, CFO of St. Petersburg, Fla.-based brokerage firm Raymond James Financial, is stepping down after becoming the nation's longest-serving CFO, according to The Wall Street Journal.
His time as CFO at Raymond James Financial — a role he started in 1987 — marks the longest tenure of any CFO of America's 673 biggest companies. Those companies include all firms in the S&P 500 and Fortune 500, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited data from executive recruitment firm Crist Kolder Associates. The average CFO holds his or her position for about 5.1 years, according to Crist Kolder Associates' Volatility Report for 2018.
Not Mr. Julien, who weathered decades of changes at Raymond James Financial. He joined the company in 1983 after serving as a certified public accountant for Price Waterhouse. He went on to lead the firm through the rise and fall of the dot-com era, the Asian financial crisis and the Great Recession.
Over those years, the role of CFO shifted. For hospital CFOs as well, what was historically a more behind-the-scenes role for executive accountants evolved into a position marked with strategizing, planning decisions and evaluating transactions.
Of Mr. Julien's tenure, Devin Ryan, an analyst at capital market firm JMP Securities, noted Mr. Julien's ability to change the perception of CFOs.
"He's not just a behind-the-scenes, numbers CFO," Mr. Ryan told The Wall Street Journal. "He's publicly facing, he's involved in strategy and in a number of different areas of operations of the firm and also communicating with investors."