Companies are looking for — and promoting — CFOs with CEO qualities, Fortune reported Sept. 29.
The publication referenced executive search firm CristKolder Associates' recent volatility report, which analyzed data from 681 Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies.
During the first half of 2022, 8.1 percent of CFOs from the report's data set were promoted to CEO, marking an all-time high. By contrast, only 5.6 percent of CFOs leapt to CEO in 2012.
The increase nods to CFOs' evolving roles in the C-suite, according to Fortune. Companies are looking for more dimensional CFOs with operational or commercial leadership competencies.
Since the pandemic's start, more companies are hiring CFOs internally to minimize risk during turbulent times, according to Fortune.
"This goes back to the breadth of the CFO role now as being at the hub of the central nervous system of the organization," Clem Johnson, president of Crist Kolder Associates, told Fortune. "And as a consequence, they have to have relationship capital and partnering skills and really be trusted."