StrategicCFO360 and the CFO Leadership Council, both part of Chief Executive Group, today announced the honorees of the inaugural CFO Leadership Awards, a new suite of recognitions created to showcase exemplary performance by chief financial officers helping set new standards for excellence in one of the most demanding, vital and fast-changing roles in business.
The 2023 honorees were selected by a committee of their peers, comprised of some of the most well-regarded CFOs in the world today, from firms including AWS, Bank of America, The Estée Lauder Companies, GE, Humana, Intel and Starbucks. A team from AlixPartners served as the exclusive advisor to the committee in its research and decision-making process.
The 2023 honorees:
Leeny Oberg, chief financial officer and executive vice president, development, Marriott International, is awarded the Strategic Leader of the Year honor for her visionary approach to long-term growth and dealmaking, which has solidified Marriott’s position as a global hospitality leader.
Aradhana Sarin, executive director and chief financial officer, AstraZeneca, is awarded the Team Leader of the Year honor for her work as a mentor and leader across the entire organization, helping elevate the company’s high-performance culture and experience globally.
Gary Millerchip, senior vice president and chief financial officer, The Kroger Co., is awarded the Digital Visionary of the Year honor for his innovative strategies and leadership that have placed Kroger at the vanguard of digital transformation among not only industry peers but all of business.
The Awards will be presented live on Dec. 4, 2023, at the annual Strategic CFO Forum, hosted at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City. (More about the event: StrategicCFO360.com/StrategicCFOForum)
The 2023 CFO Leadership Awards Selection Committee includes: Alastair Borthwick, CFO, Bank of America; Susan Diamond, CFO, Humana; Jeff Epstein, operating partner, Bessemer Venture Partners, former CFO, Oracle; Carolina Dybeck Happe, CFO, GE; Richard Puccio, CFO, Amazon Web Services; Rachel Ruggeri, CFO, Starbucks; Tracey Travis, EVP and CFO, The Estée Lauder Companies; Dave Zinsner, CFO, Intel Corporation.
“The role of the CFO has changed in recent years, and they have emerged as a true strategic partner to the CEO and leaders across the entire organization,” said Jack McCullough, president of the CFO Leadership Council. “We felt that the contributions to their companies, and therefore to the global economy, needed to be recognized. It is our honor to be able to do so.”
StrategicCFO360 and the CFO Leadership Council are divisions of Chief Executive Group, publishers of Chief Executive magazine (since 1977), which administers the peer-selected CEO of the Year awards, and Corporate Board Member magazine, which administers the prestigious and peer-selected Board Leadership Awards, the top honor for public company directors and others in the board community nationwide. AlixPartners serves as the exclusive advisor to the selection committee for all of these awards.
About The CFO Leadership Council
The CFO Leadership Council is a professional association whose mission is to empower senior financial executives to realize success in their careers, as well as for the people and companies they lead. Our members realize this success through the collaborative and energetic community we foster, which helps them build a professional network of their peers, as well as involves them in engaging discussions that deliver pragmatic and tangible insights on business and leadership issues. The CFOLC has a global community of over 2,000 members and hosts more than 300 events per year.
About StrategicCFO360
StrategicCFO360 is the community powered by Chief Executive Group, publishers of Chief Executive and Corporate Board Member, designed to provide senior finance executives with the tools and insights they need to succeed as strategic leaders. StrategicCFO360 delivers timely research, informative thought leadership, dynamic conferences, and exclusive peer networks including the CFO Leadership Council and CFO Network. Learn more at StrategicCFO360.com
About Chief Executive Group
Chief Executive Group, the leading community for U.S. business leaders, publishes Chief Executive magazine, ChiefExecutive.net, Corporate Board Member magazine, BoardMember.com, StrategicCFO360.com, StrategicCIO360.com and StrategicCHRO360.com, and produces conferences and roundtables that enable C-Suite leaders to discuss key subjects and share their experiences with their peers. CEG also convenes numerous peer networks including Chief Executive Network, the CFO Leadership Council and Corporate Board Member Network. Visit ChiefExecutiveGroup.com for details.
About AlixPartners
For more than 40 years, AlixPartners has helped businesses around the world respond quickly and decisively to their most critical challenges—circumstances as diverse as urgent performance improvement, accelerated transformation, complex restructuring and risk mitigation. These are the moments when everything is on the line—a sudden shift in the market, an unexpected performance decline, a time-sensitive deal, a fork-in-the-road decision. But it’s not what we do that makes a difference, it’s how we do it. Tackling situations when time is of the essence is part of our DNA—so we adopt an action-oriented approach at all times. We work in small, highly qualified teams with specific industry and functional expertise, and we operate at pace, moving quickly from analysis to implementation. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our clients until the job is done, and only measure our success in terms of the results we deliver. Our approach enables us to help our clients confront and overcome truly future-defining challenges. We partner with you to make the right decisions and take the right actions. And we are right by your side. When it really matters.
