Boards are expanding the CFO’s mandate—with COO duties increasingly in the mix

Boards are broadening the scope of the Chief Financial Officer's (CFO) responsibilities, with the Chief Operating Officer (COO) role increasingly being integrated into their duties. This trend has been observed in recent examples from Zoetis Inc., Zillow Group Inc., and Owens Corning.

At Zoetis, James "Jay" Saccaro was recently appointed to serve as both Executive Vice President, CFO and COO, effective August 17. This dual role is unprecedented for the company. Meanwhile, Jeremy Hofmann, CFO of Zillow Group Inc., has taken on the additional responsibility of COO, following a board decision to expand his role due to his extensive experience as CFO and understanding of the company's operational dependencies.

Owens Corning also announced that Todd W. Fister, who has been serving as EVP and CFO since September 2023, will assume the combined role of CFO and COO, effective August 10. Fister will be succeeded by Jonathan M. Collins, who was appointed as EVP and CFO. The trend of merging these two key executive positions seems to be a broader shift in how boards define the CFO's mandate, according to Russell Reynolds Associates.

In fact, nearly two-thirds of finance chiefs surveyed by L.E.K. Consulting reported that their responsibilities now overlap with those of the COO role, with about 10% of companies having fully merged these positions.