Photo: Jamie Tenser
At the NRF 2024: Retail's Big Show, the CFOs of Macy’s, Rothy's, and Levi Strauss shared a panel that discussed how the CFO role in retail has changed due in large part to the need to invest in technology to drive growth.
“The CFO role is very different than when I started,” said Harmit Singh, CFO and growth officer at Levi Strauss. “It was more about creating shareholder value. More about control. More about the glass half empty. Today, because we live in such an uncertain time and because things are evolving at a fast pace, I think the new CFO really needs to embrace technology and agility.”
Singh added that the CFO role must now also take into account ESG initiatives or “doing right for the world,” but particularly focus more on ways to drive growth. Singh said, “If you embrace growth, the CFO’s life is a lot easier.”
Dayna Quanbeck, COO and CFO at the sustainable-focused footwear brand Rothy's, said that while the CFO role traditionally has been “defensive” and emphasized record keeping and news reporting, the duties now include “actually informing and driving strategy,” including capital allocation and risk assessment.
Quanbeck, who last week announced that she is stepping up to the role of president, shared that the CFO role now involves “a lot of hats” that often conflict with each other.
“We're math people first and foremost, and you can't stop the rational math person from thinking rationally,” said Quanbeck. “But sometimes growth is not rational, and you have to be willing to make those calculated risks, even when returns are unknown.”
The expanding CFO role is reflected in the fact that each of the executives on the panel had dual titles.
Adrian Mitchell, Macy’s CFO who added the title of COO in March 2023, said that as CFO, he works alongside the CEO developing enterprise strategy, partners across teams to establish financial and operational targets, and focuses foremost on capital investments and shareholder needs. Adding the COO function has given him a better view of day-to-day operations to help inform capital allocation decisions, particularly technology investments.
Mitchell said, “Being in stores and distribution centers and thinking about the capital allocation decisions for technology, you just have a much greater appreciation around the magnitude of changes that are necessary.”
The panel agreed that across the C-level suite, the CFO often has the optimal holistic view of the risks and benefits of strategies and investments, particularly uncertain paybacks such as GenAI.
Rothy’s Quanbeck said, “If you think about it, we're just translating strategies into numbers, and taking those numbers and translating them back into strategies constantly every day until we retire. So, you've got to be thinking about risk as well to help the teams make the best decisions.”