Succession Planning for a C-Suite Role in the CFO Group
A Fortune 50 leading US bank approached Armstrong Craven to help them improve the bench strength in the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Office. In support of the bank’s wider DE&I strategy, the project specifically focused on introducing candidates from underrepresented groups who could develop into a C-level role in the CFO group in the coming years.
Background & Scope
A Fortune 50 leading US bank approached Armstrong Craven to help them improve the bench strength in the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Office. In support of the bank’s wider DE&I strategy, the project specifically focused on introducing candidates from underrepresented groups who could develop into a C-level role in the CFO group in the coming years.
The Chief Accounting Officer had announced their decision to retire within a three-year time frame and Armstrong Craven was engaged to provide a Talent Pipelining solution that would enable the Bank to explore the market confidentially well before the retirement was announced to the market, with a focus on engaging female talent.
The first stage of the project involved an initial Talent Mapping project to provide detailed organizational charts, identifying prospective talent within competitor banks’ finance leadership groups.
The second stage of the project involved confidential candidate outreach and engagement to introduce a shortlist of candidates into the bank's executive hiring process, consulting with the Chief Accounting Officer throughout the process.
The Solution
To identify suitable talent, Armstrong Craven investigated and produced organizational charts of the finance and accounting leadership teams at other global banks including:
- BNY Mellon
- Capital One
- Citibank
- Goldman Sachs
- J.P Morgan
- Morgan Stanley
The Outcome
The resulting talent map detailed the reporting structure and biographies of over 180 finance and accounting leaders within these target competitor banks, as well as 59 profiles of underrepresented talent from other organizations and 33 current and previous signing partners for the listed banks from the Big4.
Following a review of the identified profiles, Armstrong Craven confidentially approached a priority list of 24 executive profiles, conducting 16 career conversations and introducing four fully qualified candidates for interview.
From the four shortlisted candidates, the Bank successfully hired a woman into the role of Global Corporate Controller as a designated successor to the Chief Accounting Officer. The placed candidate is now established in the leadership team and the acclimatization in the final run-up to retirement is well underway, ensuring a seamless succession at that point.
By using a proactive Talent Pipelining approach, as opposed to a reactive and costly Executive Search at the point of retirement, the Bank was able to take time to explore the market on a confidential basis. They also had the time to ensure best efforts were made to secure a hire from an underrepresented group, and to ensure a strong period of acclimatization and handover between incumbent and successor at a fraction of the cost of a retained Executive Search.
This approach also means the Talent Map can continue to be used by the executive talent acquisition group for future hiring at no additional cost.
Contact our team today to learn more about Armstrong Craven’s range of services, including talent sourcing, insights, mapping and pipelining.
