Welcome to CFO Briefing, a newsletter dedicated to corporate finance and what leaders need to know. This week we have an interview with Johnson & Johnson's Joe Wolk. But first, a look at the gender mix in the CFO role.
Gender gap
Melissa Howatson paints a pretty disheartening picture for women aspiring to become chief financial officers. Without more support, she worries many won't make it beyond junior roles.
Mentorship and promotion opportunities available to women still lag behind what's available to men, she says, while the pressures they commonly face outside of work make it even harder to advance. And those challenges don't go away once women land in the C-suite.
Among the more telling statistics, Howatson cites a study from Vestd Ltd. showing that female CFOs at FTSE 100 companies last about half as long in the role as men do, with the average tenure for women at two years, versus four and a half years for men.
The gap is at least partly tied to the burdens many women still face balancing work and home life, says Howatson, who is the CFO at software company Vena Solutions and host of the biweekly CFO Show podcast.
"I don't have men coming and having those conversations" on the podcast, she noted. But the women she interviews often mention the issue.
The advancement of artificial intelligence may further disadvantage women, Howatson said. She's concerned that rising job insecurity stemming from the technology, amid the ongoing shortage of mentorship, will make women even less likely to seek support.
Data increasingly suggests the outlook for female CFOs is already getting bleaker. Their share peaked at almost 19% of CFOs across the Fortune 500 and S&P 500 in 2023, before slipping below 17% in 2025, according to research from executive recruiting firm Crist/Kolder Associates.
Hiring trends also have shifted -- drastically. New appointments of S&P 500 CFOs were evenly split between men and women in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to recruiter Russell Reynolds Associates' Global CFO Turnover Index. That was the high point. Women's representation among incoming CFOs in any quarter since then has been no higher than 35%, and in last year's fourth quarter, 95% of incoming CFOs were men.
-- Jeff Green
The number
-57%
The net balance of business optimism among UK CFOs (calculated by subtracting the percentage of those feeling less optimistic from those feeling more optimistic) is at a six-year low, according to a Deloitte survey of 79 finance executives at large UK companies. The survey was conducted in late March, as concerns over energy prices, inflation and interest rates rose due to conflict in the Middle East.
The interview with Johnson & Johnson's Joe Wolk
In an interview with Bloomberg Television after the company posted first-quarter earnings, Wolk discussed J&J's dealmaking, patent challenges, tariffs and Icotyde, the company's new psoriasis pill offering an alternative to injectable treatments.
There's strong early interest in Icotyde. What are your expectations for the next few quarters, and how big do you think this will be for J&J?
We think it is one of those key brands that supports our current portfolio. This drug was approved only about 10 days ago and there are already 1,500 patients on the drug, including about 1,000 unique prescribers, so the demand is already there.
In terms of an overall number, I couldn't give you that today. We think it will be one of our largest drugs ever.
When you look at the overall portfolio, are there are any gaps you want to fill as you approach upcoming patent expirations?
That's what I love about our portfolio. We encountered an $11 billion headwind and are still growing through a patent cliff of that size. The portfolio continues to expand. The products we have in-house aren't anywhere near that size individually, and that is what gives me comfort in my role as CFO.
We don't have to do deals out of desperation to make up for patent cliffs. We started planning for those losses in the middle of the last decade to make sure we had products in the pipeline.
Are mergers and acquisitions now in the rearview mirror?
People ask, 'what do you think about the M&A market?' To Johnson & Johnson, it doesn't matter. Is there a strategic fit? Is there scientific expertise or insight we have, or commercial capabilities we can bring to improve patient access? That is 80% of the discussion with the board. The other 20% is making sure we compensate shareholders. If it is a marketable product, you can get closer to the cost of capital because there is less commercial risk. Earlier-stage assets require higher returns.
Over the last three-and-a-half years, we have deployed $60 billion in capital -- $45 billion into three deals, and about $15 billion into smaller ones. We like those smaller deals as an integral part of our playbook, but when a strategic asset makes sense, as in last year's case with Intra-Cellular and the addition of Caplyta, it fits into our neuroscience strategy.
Do you anticipate further spinoffs, particularly in devices?
Part of our responsibility as an executive team and board is to ensure we manage our portfolio with rigor. If we don't have a right to be No. 1 or No. 2 in a market with strong innovation ahead, we can create more value elsewhere.
I like where the portfolio is now -- focused on pharmaceuticals (oncology, immunology, neuroscience) and med-tech (surgery, vision, cardiovascular). We are now a leading growth company in cardiovascular where we weren't a major player a few years ago.
Along with Icotyd, you're boosting marketing for Tremfya shots for psoriasis. You've said you'll front-load expenses. How does that develop through the year?
We set expectations slightly higher than the Street expected in January, and here we are already raising guidance. That’s not common this early in the year. We feel good about the business.
Investment is front-loaded to align with product launches and R&D trials. We expect margins to improve through the year and have reaffirmed at least 50 basis points of improvement through 2026. As sales grow, margins should improve further in the outer years. We’ll provide more detail at our investor day in December. We’re also positioned to increase our dividend for the 64th consecutive year.
One of the big industrywide pressures is tariffs. Given J&J’s deal with the Trump administration, will you avoid Section 232 pharma tariffs?
Based on discussions with the administration, it appears our structure would avoid those tariffs. We currently have about $500 million built into this year’s projections. We’ll see how it plays out in the courts. There may be some upside if tariff decisions are reversed.
-- Compiled and lightly edited by Tim Quinson
Quotable
"People are certainly spending more on gas than they were before the conflict started earlier in March. But if you look in aggregate, it's about 3% of spend -- for lower-wage earners, closer to 6% or 7% of spend. It's not insignificant, but it is something people can sort of manage around."
Michael Santomassimo
CFO, Wells Fargo
The bank executive was interviewed on Bloomberg Television about the surge in gas prices triggered by the war in Iran.
Revolving door
- FedEx CFO John Dietrich will step down following the planned spinoff of the courier's freight division. Claude Russ, FedEx's enterprise vice president of finance, will serve as interim CFO while a replacement is sought.
- Julius Baer CFO Evie Kostakis is departing in the latest change at the Swiss investment firm after a period of turmoil. A search for her successor is underway.
- Mark McGivney, Marsh & McLennan's CFO since 2016, will take on the additional role of chief operating officer and adds an executive vice president title.
- Commvault Systems said Gary Merrill will return to the role of CFO after serving as chief commercial officer since 2024.