Revolving Doors – March 2022

Welcome to the latest CFO Magazine CFO job market insights. The year is moving quickly… unemployment remains at 4.2%, COVID is hanging around and people are still talking about the Great Resignation!

The market sentiment in recruitment remains very positive, especially for finance roles below $200,000.  This space is very busy, with lots of roles and lots of counteroffers taking place.  We are also seeing salary pressure in this space with candidates getting good salary increases when they move.

At the top end of the market, it is busy – but not quite as busy.  In fact, my CFO research shows the level of activity is 25% down from February 2021.  For candidates looking for new roles in the CFO space, I think the biggest challenge is navigating the multiple channels of where the roles are coming from.  The channels are wide and thin – lots of “boutique” search firms, lots of clients trying to do it themselves (always a challenge if they do not know this space) and the roles found via “The Network”

CFO appointments – ASX Listed

One role that will attract a lot of attention will be the CFO role at Scentre Group.  This follows the announcement that Elliott Rusanow will be promoted from the CFO role to CEO role, as Peter Allen has announced his retirement.

Also moving into the CEO space is Laurent Toussaint the current CFO at Countplus.  He will assume the interim CEO role following the announcement that a new employment agreement will not be entered into for the current CEO Matthew Rowe.

Whilst not technically listed, but owned by Woolworths, Quantium has a new CFO.  Brent Merrin has moved internally from a group role within Woolworths to the CFO role at Quantium. Gavin Wilkie was the previous CFO at Quantium.

Energy procurement and services business, Energy Action is on the lookout for a new CFO following Tracy Bucciarelli’s decision to resign.

DW8 a technology-driven business looking to disrupt the beverage market has appointed Clint Lander as interim CFO following Matthew Johnson’s resignation.

Innovative car subscription business Carly has strengthened their executive team with the appointment of David Loeffler as CFO.  David joins from magazine publisher ARE Media.

Richard Leon returns to electronic design software company, Altium as interim CFO following the departure of Martin Ive.  Richard had been CFO from 2008 – 2015.

Other CFO appointments

Property Council of Australia has announced their new CFO following Jo Gullick’s decision to move to Tasmania.  Andrew Nightingale is the new CFO, moving across from Presbyterian Aged Care.

Daniel Brandon (ex West HQ CFO) had landed a new role.  Daniel is the new CFO at Sydney Metro Airports. Daniel is taking over from Jon Wilkie who has been interim CFO since December 2021.

Providence Asset Group who are an investment firm focused on clean technology have appointed Rachel White as their new CFO.  Rachel has a big corporate background followed by more recent work with early-stage ventures.

In the NFP space, Claire Yule has landed the CFO role at Fred Hollows Foundation. Claire was previously CFO of Dentons Australia.

Andrew Winarczyk has moved across from NSW Department of Education and is the new CFO of One School Global.

Trent Jerome has moved across from ASX listed Identitii to leading cyber security business, Sekuro.

Organisations in the market for permanent CFOs

•             Barnardos Australia – I have spoken to a number of candidates who have been in the process for this role but no one is appointed yet.

•             Symbio – Kate Denton is the interim CFO.

•             iCare – Shailendra Singh is the interim CFO.

•             3PL – search underway.

•             Standards Australia – unsure if this has been filled.

•             Knight Frank – Deb Kemp is the interim CFO.

•             QUBE – Paul Lewis expected to leave before June 2022.  Not sure who is running this search.

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.