CFOs reveal key moves that helped propel their careers

Today is Part 5, and the finale, of our week-long series on what it takes to become a CFO. We shared the skill sets and tech tools that modern CFOs will need, along with a peek into the career journeys of current finance chiefs.

Last week, in CFO Daily, I asked finance chiefs to respond to the questions: What is the most important thing you did before landing your first CFO position? What made you ready to take on the role? And many of you took the time to answer!

CFOs in health and financial services industries

After almost 14 years in investment banking at JP Morgan, and moving from associate to vice president to managing director, I knew that I wanted to do something different. I was also the proud mother of twin 5-year-old boys at the time. I mustered the courage to take a yearlong sabbatical. I really had time to reflect on what I wanted next in my career. At the end of my sabbatical, with a little luck and good connections, I became CFO for JP Morgan’s commercial banking business. —Karen Parkhill, EVP and CFO at Medtronic

The key to getting your first CFO job I would say is patience. There are a lot of jobs out there with the CFO title (and lots of headhunters calling about them) but they are not all equal. I found it important to wait for an opportunity that balanced the right industry, position profile that matched with my experiences, size, and ultimately, location. —David Phillipps, EVP and CFO, Equinox

I took my first CFO job after having been a banker. So I learned everything from the ground up. Whether you’re the CFO of a business unit, a region, or a company, you need to make sure your relationship with the CEO is one built on trust, common views, and vision. —W. Dave Dowrich, senior executive vice president and CFO at TIAA

I am retired now from over 40 years in medical devices. The important things to me over the years were: understanding the products and the operations side of the business; developing trust at all levels of the organization; really becoming a trusted partner of the CEO; setting a high bar for performance and integrity; and understanding the numbers. —Ron Stevenson, CFO, retired

CFOs in the tech industry

I was very intentional in my career in building a development path to become the CFO of a public or pre-IPO company. I made sure that I gained experience leading corporate FP&A and investor relations. Managing investors and external key stakeholders in all its aspects is also key…