Dive Brief:

• The share of major public companies that plucked executives from their own ranks and appointed them as CFOs jumped to nearly 71.8% in the first half of 2025 from 52.9% last year, according to executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates’ latest Volatility Report, which tracks C-suite hiring trends. That’s well above the historical average of 62%, according to the report’s summer 2025 edition released Friday. 
• Of the 71 Fortune 500 and S&P 500 CFO spots that turned over in the first half of the year, 51 were internal hires and 20 were external hires, Crist Kolder told CFO Dive. Big name companies which have filled their CFO seats with insiders included the San Diego, California-based restaurant chain Jack in the Box, the Bethesda, Maryland-based company defense contractor Lockheed Martin, and the Roseland, New Jersey based payroll processor Automatic Data Processing. 
• Josh Crist, co-managing partner at Crist Kolder, said the shift toward known veterans may in part be a reaction to broader economic uncertainty. “There does seem to be a belief that, with uncertain market conditions, picking the steady hand, one that brings institutional knowledge to the fold, is the safe pick,” Crist said in an email. “We receive many ‘bench building’ calls, meaning companies are consciously thinking about future succession planning.” 

Dive Insight:

The move marks something of a reversal from last year, when external CFO hires hit a 10-year high. At the time, Crist told CFO Dive that the pandemic may have stymied some talent development initiatives, as strong chief accounting officers or controllers need to move to different divisions to obtain the business experience typically required to move up to CFO.  

In addition to evidence of improved succession planning for CFOs, Crist said the company has also been seeing more internal talent development efforts at companies when it comes to the CEO seat as well. Of the 52 CEO turnovers in the first half of the year, only 15.1% were external hires, down from 21% in 2024 and below the historical average of 22%, according to the midyear report. 

Separately, the latest report also shows a very slight downward shift in diversity of finance executives in the makeup of public company C-suites, even as diverse and female CFOs have made gains in the last 10 years. 

At the midpoint of 2025, the percentage of female CFOs stood nearly flat at 17.5%, slightly off of the 17.6% seen in 2024 while still well above the 12.2% share they had 10 years ago, according to the report. Likewise, the share of racially and ethnically diverse CFOs ticked down to 14.5% in H1 from 14.9% last year, but still well above the 5.9% share they comprised in 2015.

It’s not clear whether the small dip in public company CFO diversity might be evidence that companies are responding to the Trump administration’s opposition to diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, Crist said. But he did not rule the connection out. 

“While the diversity numbers are down, they are only down a very minuscule amount,” Crist said. “I’d want to see the full year play out to make a statement as to the effect of DEI crackdown. Could be the case though.”