CFO Revolving Doors – January 2022

Happy new year and welcome back to work – 2022 has started with once again an air of uncertainty but that hasn’t stopped the CFO appointments, with December proving to be a very busy month. Here’s hoping that 2022 will be a better year for all.

CFO appointments in NSW – ASX Listed

After announcing his resignation last month from GWA Group, Patrick Gibson has moved to Blackmores as their new CFO. Patrick replaces Gunther Burghardt who is leaving Blackmores to pursue personal interests.

Calin Scott moves into Patrick’s old role at GWA Group.  Calin will be working again with CEO, Urs Meyerhans. They previously worked together at Tetra Tech / Coffey.

Craig White, who recently left Genesis Care, has not given himself much of a break.  Craig has been appointed CFO of Integral Diagnostics following the announcement of Anne Lockwood’s resignation in my previous update. Craig will join on 24th January.

Aristocrat CFO, Julie Cameron-Doe, who moved to Las Vegas in 2018 when she was first appointed CFO has resigned.  Julie is taking a new role as CFO of Wynn Resorts.  I am assuming the Aristocrat CFO role will remain in North America.

Following the sale of Prime Media Group to Seven West Group, John Palisi steps down as CFO of Prime as the CFO role has been made redundant. 

Herb To is the new CFO at TZ Limited.  Herb moves across from Dentsu Media and replaces Craig Sowden. 

Digital media company Motio have announced Michelle Malley as their new CFO. 

Wastewater specialist, SciDev have appointed Anna Hooper as their new CFO.  Geoff Stephenson was the interim CFO following John Fehon’s resignation back in October.

Matthew Johnson has moved from Wine Specialist, DW8 to listed software company, IXUP.

Ex NTT and Dimension Data CFO, Brett Bergheim has gone back into the IT industry, joining MOQ as their new CFO.  Brett replaces Danny Loh.

Having been interim CFO of Contango Asset Management, it was announced that Conor Byrne has been appointed into the permanent CFO role.

Western Australian shipbuilder, Austal, have stolen a Sydney CFO with Geoff Buchanan moving to Perth as interim CFO. 

CFO’s taking interim CEO roles

There has been lots of talk in the press around Magellan Financial Group with the resignation of the CEO – Dr Brett Cairns.  It is great to see the current CFO, Kirsten Morton, stepping in as interim CEO.

Property Management software business, Urbanise have also appointed their current CFO, Simon Lee, as interim CEO.

Other CFO appointments

West HQ have moved quickly to replace outgoing CFO, Daniel Brandon.  Ex Aldi executive Tony Achie moves into the CFO role. Tony starts his new role at the end of the month.

In the “For Purpose” sector there was a bit of movement with Nick Johnson moving from Benevolent Society to disability service provider, Afford. 

Nick’s deputy at Benevolent Society, Stefan Duvenhage, has been promoted into the CFO role.

Following John Butler’s resignation from Certis Australia, Renee Duffy has moved across from Australian Community Media and has started as the new CFO at Certis Australia.

Kevin Chan has moved from Freshfood and is now the CFO of venture capital and private equity firm, Seventh Street Ventures.

Companies in the market for permanent CFOs

One School Global are in the market for a new CFO given Wayne Dorsey’s resignation.  

Listed payments compliance firm, Identitii is looking for a new CFO following Trent Jerome’s resignation.

After 15 years with the business, Qube CFO Paul Lewis will be stepping down.  Not sure who is running the search, but this would be a great role for someone in 2022.

About the Author –

Colin Kerr is a Principal Consultant – Contracting | [axr] Recruitment & Search – a specialist in executive search, selection and contract recruitment. He has joined to build up their interim / contracting business and focus on interim CFO roles and their direct reports. If you know of any recent CFO ‘movers and shakers’ or need any assistance in this area, please get in touch [email protected]

After graduating with a first-class honours degree in Accountancy from the University of Stirling, Colin began his career with PwC in their audit team in London and became a qualified Chartered Accountant. After a secondment to PwC Jakarta for three years, Colin moved to Sydney in 1997 and began his recruitment career with a leading international recruitment firm.