Dive Brief:

• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based CNX Resources promoted its president and CFO Alan K. Shepard to replace the natural gas company’s current CEO, Nick Deiuliis, after he retires at the end of the year, effective Jan. 1, according to a Monday press release. The company did not name a new CFO but said it expects to do so by the end of the year.
• The natural gas driller’s board moved quickly, appointing Shepard, 44, to the role on Sept. 17, the same day DeIuliis told the company of his plans, according to a securities filing. Deiuliis, who has served the company for 35 years and will remain on the board of directors, will step down from the CEO role on Dec. 31 and retire as an employee of the company on Feb. 2.
• "It has been an honor to work alongside such a talented team here at CNX. Alan has earned the trust and confidence of our Board, employees, and shareholders,” Deiuliis said in a statement in the release. “I am excited to watch him lead CNX to great things in the years ahead, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to continue to contribute to the team as a director.”

Dive Insight:

Shepard is joining a relatively small but growing cohort of former CFOs who have jumped to the CEO position. In the first half of 2025 there has been an uptick in finance leaders following the CFO-turned-CEO career path, according to a recent report from executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates. 

About 7.5% of the sitting CEOs at Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies came directly from a CFO chair, up from 7.1% in 2024 and 6.5% in 2015, according to the report. In contrast, nearly half of sitting CEOs came directly from COO or president positions, the report found.

Shepard rejoined CNX in 2020 and has served as CFO since June of 2022, the company said in the release. He has more than 20 years of experience in the energy sector, including in such senior finance roles as CFO, finance director, controller and treasurer at EdgeMarc Energy Holdings, according to his LinkedIn profile. Early in his career, he also worked for PwC and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and administration from Thiel College and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. 

Shepard will step into the shoes of a high profile CEO. In a report on his retirement, The Pittsburgh Post dubbed Deiuliis a “firebrand” and described him as a “fierce defender of fossil fields and a critic of renewable energy.” Deiuliis, an engineer and author of "Precipice: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy America,” also hosts “The Far Middle” podcast, according to his website.

Last year, the company reached an agreement with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration that calls for CNX to expand its air monitoring to nine of its sites in Western Pennsylvania, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania governor’s office. At the same time, when Shapiro was shortlisted to be the Democratic vice presidential nominee, his record with the fracking industry and work with CNX came under scrutiny from environmentalists, according to a report from WTAE-TV, a Pittsburgh television station.  

During the fiscal quarter ended June 30, the company reported net income of $432.5 million, up from a loss of $18.26 million in the year-earlier quarter.