Dive Brief:

• Southwest Gas Holdings said Wednesday that its CFO Robert Stefani would “by mutual agreement” be leaving the company Dec. 1 to pursue other unspecified opportunities after three years in the role, according to a Wednesday release.
• The Las Vegas, Nevada-based natural gas company board launched an internal and external search for a successor, with CEO and President Karen Haller saying on the company’s Q3 earnings call that there was no set timeline for finding a new finance chief. 
• Asked who would fill the vacant finance role during the transition period, Haller said the company’s focus was on getting the right person with the right skill set in the job and that a decision on an interim would be up to the board. “Otherwise we have a very strong bench within the finance and controllers group and they would be able to function without any problem in handling those duties,” Haller said on the call.

Dive Insight:

Global CFO turnover rose during the first half of this year to a seven-year high, driven in part by increased retirement rates, CFO Dive previously reported, citing data from leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates.  

Stefani has been the company’s finance chief since November 2022. He joined from Chicago-based Exelon, one of the country’s largest utility companies. He worked for over a decade at Exelon, serving his last four years as SVP, CFO and treasurer of its electric and gas utility subsidiary PECO, according to Stefani’s LinkedIn account. 

In a statement in the release, Haller thanked Stefani for “the contributions he has made to the Company over the past three years as we executed on our strategy to become a pure play, fully regulated natural gas utility business.” 

In a Wednesday securities filing, the company stated Stefani entered into a transition, separation and general release agreement on Oct. 31 effective Nov. 8. The agreement provides cash payments of $1.56 million, and vesting of his performance-based restricted stock units will be prorated through Dec.1. The filing also states Stefani’s departure is not a result of any disagreement with Southwest or its auditors on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or internal controls.

The company declined to comment beyond the release and a securities filing.

Last year Stefani, 50, received compensation totaling $2.56 million, including $593,601 in salary, up from $2.27 million in the year earlier that included a salary of $560,548, according to the company’s March proxy filing. 

On Wednesday, the company reported consolidated financial results with Q3 net income of $270.5 million, up from 0.3 million in the year earlier period, with basic earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.06 compared to a loss of $0.13 in Q3 2024.