As a CEO, I’ve had the privilege of watching the CFO role transform before my eyes. Once seen primarily as stewards of compliance and guardians of quarterly earnings, research published on CFO.com shows that today’s CFOs are stepping into something far bigger: they are architects of enterprise strategy, resilience, and growth.
I’ve experienced this shift firsthand. When the pandemic disrupted supply chains and squeezed margins, the CFOs I worked alongside weren’t just looking at ways to trim costs. They were reimagining what finance could be, moving from manual processes to automation, and from siloed operations to centralized, digital-first finance. In many cases, what began as cost initiatives evolved into blueprints for enterprise-wide reinvention.
The new mandate for the modern CFO
The forces reshaping business are the same ones elevating CFOs: digital disruption and AI, geopolitical volatility, demographic change, decarbonization, and financial innovation. Jack McCullough, founder and president of the CFO Leadership Council, says he sees a clear shift in what it takes to be a successful CFO in this environment as the role evolves far beyond traditional responsibilities. Success requires speed, agility, data mastery, transparent communication, and cross-functional collaboration.
That’s why, according to RGP’s CFO Perspectives survey, 74% of CFOs now yield enterprise-wide influence, and 93% say they play a significant role in shaping business strategy. The best CFOs I know have become the connective tissue between data, strategy, and execution. They aren’t just reporting on performance or risk; they’re helping define it.
The CFO qualities that CEOs value most are also changing. The ability to model scenarios in real time, anticipate shocks before they hit, and guide the business with clarity is now table stakes. Agility and solutioning are key. Research from IBM shows that CFOs are key agents of change and can respond more quickly to strategy shifts compared to their peers. Whether it’s understanding how an interest rate hike impacts global supply chains or how AI-native competitors could alter pricing power, CFOs have become the agility engine of the enterprise.
The finance office has been rewired by technology, and it’s changing how CEOs lead. Static reports have given way to dashboards delivering real-time insights. AI, predictive analytics, and automation have transformed finance into the digital nervous system of the business. Nearly 75% of the CFOs RGP surveyed say they now influence – and many times, lead — technology investments, a territory once reserved for CIOs and CTOs.
This transformation is reshaping the C-suite itself. My CFO isn’t just my financial partner—she’s my co-pilot in strategy. We work hand-in-hand with the COO and CIO on digital investments, with the CMO on customer value creation, and with sustainability leaders on ESG commitments.
CFOs are stepping in to more leadership roles
Given the enterprise-wide perspectives that they bring, it’s no wonder that more CFOs are stepping into CEO roles. Research from Crist Kolder Associates shows an uptick in the percentage of former CFOs who have taken on CEO roles at Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies in the first half of 2025. The firm’s co-Managing Partner, Scott Simmons, says CFOs have a unique vantage point because their work spans across all segments of the company, they know how to communicate with boards in ways that other leaders may not, and they bring are risk-averse mindset that’s increasingly valuable.
The reality is clear: CFOs are no longer just the stewards of capital. They are the architects of enterprise reinvention, designing business models resilient enough to withstand disruption and agile enough to seize opportunity.
And for CEOs like me, that changes everything. The CFOs who lean into agility, technology, collaboration, and storytelling won’t just protect their organizations from risk. They will redraw the blueprint of modern enterprise and in doing so, they’ll help define the very future of leadership itself.