The New CFO: From Financial Steward to Strategic Value Creator

By Michał Starościak, Senior Partner Poland

I recently had the pleasure of speaking at the CFO Summit in Warsaw. It was not my first time at the event, but it was the first time I felt the discussion had truly evolved. The conversation around finance leadership is no longer about efficiency or compliance. It is about influence, transformation and most importantly, value creation.

In my work advising boards and connecting them with senior finance leaders across Europe, I have seen the CFO role change faster in the past five years than in the previous twenty. The modern CFO is strategist, operator, technologist and storyteller all at once. This shift is not only changing how organisations hire; it is reshaping what leadership itself looks like.

For boards, this evolution demands a different approach to hiring senior finance leaders. Traditional selection criteria such as technical excellence and cost control are no longer enough. The CFOs driving value today combine financial acumen with digital fluency, strategic curiosity and cultural leadership. Identifying and assessing these traits requires a new kind of search lens.

From my perspective, three forces are defining the next chapter of finance leadership.

1. The CFO-to-CEO Path Has Never Been More Open

For many years, the CFO was seen as the steady hand behind the CEO, the guardian of numbers rather than the driver of vision. That view no longer holds true. Boards are increasingly turning to CFOs when appointing new CEOs because they bring exactly what is needed in today’s environment: resilience, analytical clarity and a full view of the enterprise.

This shift is particularly visible in Central and Eastern Europe. Many CFOs in the region have spent years steering their organisations through transformation, whether through mergers, restructurings, rapid digitalisation or complex regulatory change. They have learned to operate with agility and foresight in markets that evolve faster than the systems supporting them. That experience builds the kind of leadership confidence boards are looking for today.

My fellow panelist, Maja Meissner, CEO of Meissner & Partners, observed: 

One powerful trend stood out: 30 to 40 percent of CEO appointments now come from the CFO track. This marks a profound shift and a major opportunity for those ready to step beyond the financial domain into the broader arena of strategic leadership.

The conversation is no longer about whether a CFO can become CEO. It is about which CFO is ready to lead.

Hiring insight: When assessing CFO succession potential, look beyond P&L responsibility. The strongest candidates have already demonstrated enterprise-wide thinking and the ability to inspire beyond their function.

2. From CFO to Chief Value Officer: Expanding the Definition of Value

If the last decade was about financial performance, this one is about value performance. Companies are now judged not only by their earnings but also by their long-term impact on people, planet and purpose. This shift is transforming the CFO role into what many now call the Chief Value Officer.

Research from EY and ACCA shows that more than 70 percent of European CFOs now oversee sustainability, ESG reporting or innovation investment. This is more than a change in job description. It reflects a deeper shift in mindset: value is no longer defined by financial results alone but by the organisation’s ability to create sustainable outcomes that matter to all stakeholders.

Boards today ask different questions. Can this CFO link purpose with performance? Can they measure and communicate the impact of sustainability and culture in financial terms? Can they explain how the organisation creates long-term value, not only short-term results?

These are strategic questions. The CFOs who can answer them convincingly are helping redefine how companies measure and deliver success.

Hiring insight: Ask CFO candidates how they define and measure value beyond profit. Their answer will reveal how ready they are for the next era of stakeholder leadership.

3. The CFO as Transformation Leader

Transformation today almost always runs through the finance function. Whether the focus is digitalisation, sustainability or growth, the CFO is now expected to translate strategy into measurable outcomes.

The Deloitte European CFO Survey 2024 found that nearly three-quarters of CFOs report greater strategic influence at board level than five years ago. That influence comes with a new expectation: to drive change, not just track it.

The most effective CFOs I work with take full ownership of transformation. They combine financial discipline with digital fluency and use analytics, automation and scenario planning to make strategy executable. They ensure that financial rigour supports innovation rather than restrains it.

A recent example illustrates this shift in practice. In a major European retail organisation relocating its headquarters from the UK to Poland, the Group CFO has taken the lead in a far-reaching finance transformation. To deliver this change, the CFO appointed a new European Controller to oversee finance operations across multiple countries and to rebuild teams, processes and reporting frameworks from the ground up. Together, they are establishing new standards in FP&A, investor relations and financial systems to create a more agile, integrated finance function. This demonstrates how today’s CFOs are leading transformation not only through strategy but through the people and structures they put in place to sustain it.

In our region, this expectation is magnified. Polish and CEE businesses continue to experience rapid economic expansion and integration with global markets. CFOs are often the first to modernise processes, build resilience and create the financial clarity that enables transformation. Many are leading this change with limited resources but high accountability, which sharpens their leadership edge.

Hiring insight: The best CFOs are transformation architects. Look for evidence of how they have built new teams, systems or processes to turn strategy into action.

4. The Mindset Shift: From Control to Creativity

The defining skill of the new CFO is not technical knowledge but adaptive intelligence. The ability to translate financial insight into strategic direction has become the true differentiator.

Today’s CFO must think like a technologist, communicate like a marketer and decide like a CEO. They must bring curiosity to data, empathy to leadership and conviction to uncertainty.

The best CFOs are now culture carriers, shaping how their organisations think about performance and purpose. This mindset shift is perhaps the most significant evolution of all. It moves the finance function from the back office to the centre of innovation.

Hiring insight: During interviews, explore how CFO candidates have fostered creativity and agility within their teams. Their stories often reveal how they lead culture, not just capital.

What It Means Going Forward

The evolution of the CFO role is both a challenge and an opportunity. For boards, hiring a CFO can no longer be seen as a technical exercise. The right finance leader can redefine the company’s trajectory, shaping strategy, enabling transformation and preparing for future leadership.

For finance leaders, this is the most dynamic moment in a generation. The CFO role has moved from the back office to the front line of growth and innovation. Those who combine financial acumen with empathy, curiosity and adaptability will not just manage value; they will create it.

At Page Executive, my focus is on connecting these two perspectives: helping boards identify finance leaders who can deliver sustainable value and supporting those leaders as they take on new challenges. Seeing that alignment come to life is one of the most rewarding parts of my work.

Looking Ahead: Signals of the Next CFO Era

The CFO Summit reminded me how far the profession has come. The most effective CFOs today are not just number leaders. They are narrative leaders. They use data to tell the story of where the business is going and why it matters.

Looking ahead, three shifts will shape the next phase of finance leadership:

• AI-driven decision support will turn data storytelling into a core CFO capability
• Finance functions will become incubators for future CEOs, providing a training ground for strategic and transformational leadership
• CFOs will be the bridge between governance and growth, ensuring that innovation and integrity coexist

Finance has become a driving force for clarity and confidence. The CFOs who embrace this broader responsibility are not just protecting value. They are redefining what value means for the decade ahead.

If you would like to explore how these trends are shaping your organisation’s approach to senior finance hiring or your own next step as a finance leader, I would be delighted to continue the conversation. Contact me here.