Revolving Doors – May 2023

If I wanted to be very pessimistic, the level of CFO activity in April 2023, compared to April 2022 and compared to activity last month, would suggest the CFO market has fallen off a cliff.

Compared to the same month last year, activity is down by 39% and compared to activity in March 2023, it is down just under 35%.

Catastrophe…

However, it doesn’t feel that way when talking to clients and candidates at this level.

Yes, there has certainly been a slowdown and yes, the ‘R word’ is being used more frequently. However, I think the real factor for the large drop is more down to timing.

April had so many four-day weeks and overall there were 6 less working days in April 2023 compared to March 2023. Along with school holidays, I think some of the drop is due to timing. Year to date for 2023, activity is still 14% ahead of last year. So perhaps I will delay being so pessimistic until next month….

Of the activity that did happen in April 2023, I found the following moves of most interest:

ASX CFO Moves In

•             Lifestyle and holiday communities’ business Ingenia have appointed Justin Mitchell as their new CFO. Justin has extensive property experience and is moving across from 151 Property where he was Chief Financial and Operating Officer.

•             Susan Graney is the new CFO at Spacetalk (they provide safe smartphones apps for families). Tonderai Maenzanise was announced as the interim last month. Susan started in her role 1 May.

•             Following the takeover from Humanforce for listed Human Resources software business IntelliHR – Alex Panich will assume CFO responsibilities for IntelliHR. Alex has been the CFO of Humanforce since 2020. Suzanne Yeates the current CFO of IntelliHR will continue as Company Secretary.

ASX CFO Moves – Out

•             Rare Earth explorer, Vital Metals have announced CFO Damon Colbert has resigned to pursue other interests.

CFO’s moving in to CEO Roles

•             Insurance guru Tibor Nagy has moved into the interim CEO role at AIG Australia. Tibor has been CFO at AIG since 2019.  He has been with AIG since 1996 in an amazing career covering multiple roles across multiple countries.

Interesting Moves outside the ASX

•             Foxtel Group have announced Group CFO, Stuart Hutton, has decided to leave the company. Stuart will be replaced by Stacey Brown. Stacey was previously CFO of News Corp Australia and more recently Group CFO at Laser Clinics Group.

•             Following Stacey’s resignation from Laser Clinics Group, they have appointed Paul Stevenage as their new CFO. Paul returns to Sydney having worked in Melbourne for the last 6 years as CFO of Retail Zoo.

•             More TV moves with Sarah Alder appointed the new CFO at Fetch TV – a content aggregator of subscription television services.

•             ForHealth Group (the old Healius medical and dental group) are on the lookout for a new CFO following Lesley Kennedy’s resignation. Whilst a search is underway Aaron Chan has been appointed the interim CFO.

•             Ampol Australia have a new CFO for their Retail business with Elodie Guillaumond moving from Amart Furniture to Ampol Australia as CFO Retail.

•             Leaders in homecare mobility solutions, Independent Living Specialists have appointed Duncan Lilley as their new CFO. Duncan has a strong medical devices background and replaces Mark Dalwood who has resigned.

Author – Colin Kerr

With over 25 years’ experience, Colin is a specialist interim and contracting recruiter within Accounting and Finance. If the role requires a qualified accountant – that is Colin’s area of expertise. He focuses on the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role and the direct reports (Financial Controller, Finance Manager, Management Accountant, Financial Planning & Analysis), as well as any other finance roles that sit in a corporate head office – tax, internal audit and treasury.