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Few governance tasks are as tricky—or as consequential—as choosing a successor for a well-loved and long-tenured CEO. For Royal Caribbean Group’s board, it entailed a deliberate and measured process that began many years before Richard Fain stepped down after three-plus decades as the cruise company’s CEO. The transition itself also unfolded in carefully planned stages, with Fain first relinquishing the CEO role in 2022 to Jason Liberty, the company’s CFO, while remaining board chair before ultimately passing the chair to Liberty in late 2025. When the roles were recombined, the board counterbalanced the power dynamic by appointing veteran director John…

Forget the image of a simple toy company. Hasbro is undergoing a massive transformation, evolving from the home of Mr. Potato Head and Monopoly to a global digital IP powerhouse. As part of a new strategy unveiled in early 2026, Gina Goetter, Hasbro‘s CFO and COO, is helping the world’s fifth-largest IP licensor fuel future growth in digital games while honoring beloved legacy brands. In conversation with host Jack McCullough, she shares exactly how she is steering this multi-billion-dollar ship: strategically allocating capital, creating a trusting partnership with the CEO and experimenting with AI in the game space. Listen by…

Beauty has long been a science-based business. Chemists and formulation scientists have been central to products for skin, hair and nails. But the role of science in beauty is changing—and with it comes an opportunity to re-examine governance. Increasingly, products compete on clinical efficacy, advances in skin and hair biology, new delivery systems and ingredients, and technologies that bring beauty closer to fields once more clearly on the medical or pharmaceutical side of the line. Science matters in product differentiation and in substantiating claims that may carry regulatory and legal consequences. That raises an interesting corporate governance question: Does the…

Executives tend to ask me two questions when it comes to AI: Are we already behind, and where are we compared to our peers? Whether these are useful questions is irrelevant, as all are asking it (as are their boards). Rankings of where companies are in AI capability and adoption vary, but the lack of widespread adoption is dramatically underestimated and understood by tech evangelists. Organizations such as Gartner produce a Magic Quadrant report within specific markets for AI rather than an overall analysis (such as conversational AI platforms). Press outlets such as AI magazine have their annual top 10…

Boards are spending more time monitoring risk, but new research data suggests that increased attention does not necessarily entail changes in how risk is tied to strategy, reporting, or management. This is a photo from corporate directorThe second quarter survey was conducted in collaboration with the EY Center for Board Matters and surveyed approximately 150 U.S. public company directors. 60% of directors surveyed said their board has increased the amount of time it devotes to risk oversight across the board's agenda in the past two years. Small caps reported related changes, with 39% saying risk discussions were more closely integrated…

The landscape of finance is undergoing a radical shift as blockchain capital markets begin to redefine how lending and capital infrastructure operate. Macrina Kgil is at the forefront as CFO of Figure Technology Solutions, a company using blockchain technology to provide a capital marketplace for businesses and also for loan buyers on the other side. She joins the show to discuss her unique path from engineering to becoming a five-time CFO, her leadership strategies at a high-growth public company and how she’s keeping pace with rapid technological change. Listen by clicking below. The Q&A, lightly trimmed and edited for clarity,…

For CEOs, the initial response to cash flow shocks is often easy. The more difficult question is how long the balance sheet can absorb it. In a survey of 321 U.S. CEOs conducted in early July, respondents were asked how they would respond if they were randomly assigned an unexpected one-time change in cash flow (increase or decrease) equal to 5 percent, 10 percent, or 20 percent of annual revenue. This scenario did not reflect any real changes in performance. It was a test of instinct. While this question may have been hypothetical, the importance of understanding this important and…

CFOs have gotten a better feel for the business over the past year. In CFO Leadership's Q3 CFO Confidence Index, financial leaders rated current operating conditions at 6.0 out of 10, up 8% from 5.5 in the second quarter and returning to confidence levels at the end of 2025. This is the highest level since Q1 2025 (6.7) and returns to 'good' territory according to our 10-point scale. Looking ahead 12 months, CFOs expect this to continue, with the situation remaining at 6.0. While not an improvement from the current situation, it was still 4% better than CFOs' expectations for…

As CFO of Protos Security, Anthony Escamilla oversees the financial infrastructure that supports one of the nation's largest security services networks. Its responsibilities go far beyond traditional accounting and reporting to include provider performance, operational management, and technology investments. Rather than directly employing all of its security personnel, Protos Security manages and coordinates thousands of local owner-operator security vendors, adding to the workforce volatility of a highly distributed workforce. In a conversation with CFO leadership, Escamilla discusses hidden cost drivers, the metrics that matter most in a third-party provider network, and how he thinks about Protos' financial readiness as it…

CEOs are being replaced on boards at a faster rate than at any time in the last 20 years, many of which can set off a chain reaction that can ripple through the C-suite for months or even years. CEO tenures continue to shrink, activist campaigns increasingly target top executives, and boards become less willing to wait for turnaround plans to bear fruit. What appears to be a single leadership change often begins a much larger reshuffle across the organization. Global CEO departures will reach 234 in 2025, the highest level Russell Reynolds has tracked in the index's past eight…