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a day ago
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KPMG's Atif Zaim on taking his biggest role yet
This story was originally published on To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily newsletter. Atif Zaim, KPMG's newly appointed U.S. managing principal and deputy chair, is preparing to take on one of the firm's most visible leadership roles. Zaim, who has been with the company for over 30 years, sat down with shortly after the start of his five-year term to share how the advisory business has evolved, what clients expect from firm leaders today and how his career shaped his approach to leading in the rapidly changing marketplace of public accounting. As he steps into this new role, he is still laser-focused on helping partners and clients while now tasked with leading KPMG's operations. In the first of a two-part series, Zaim explains how professional services firms are balancing growth ambitions with talent pressures, private equity's growing impact on services at the firm and KPMG's approach to technology implementation. Atif Zaim Deputy chair and U.S. managing principal, KPMG Notable previous positions: U.S. consulting leader, KPMG National managing principal, advisory, KPMG Principal, management consulting, customer and operations service line leader, KPMG This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. ATIF ZAIM: The day-to-day is going to change in a very significant way. The scope of responsibilities shifts quite a bit. At the highest level, the role requires being in front of clients, managing internal stakeholders, setting priorities and strategy and motivating the team — so those things I have done and will continue to do. At that level, it stays the same. But when considering my scope — from the consulting business to the entirety of the firm — it's a very different picture. Moving from one revenue-producing division in advisory to building relationships across the full firm, including audit and tax. Many of those partners I already know and have worked with for decades, but the nature of those relationships will change. There are also the operations of the firm, which weren't previously part of the scope. Then, setting strategy at a business unit level versus setting it at the firm level, that's a different goal and new for me. The audience is much larger, and the way to reach that audience must evolve. Each step I've taken over my career was part of a natural progression — expanding the audience and evolving how to engage them. Yes, we have a lot of in-house development we do on our platforms. And yes, we partner with technology providers significantly. It's a mix, and it'll stay that way. There's no reason to swing to one side. There are certain things where I don't know if you really gain a competitive advantage by building something someone else already created. There are lots of credible solutions on the market that are made by companies that specialize in that product or service. This is one of those things where we have the same conversation internally as we do with our clients. There wasn't always a credible alternative. In some cases, based on your industry or your unique situation, you need to build it yourself. But in others, like a video conferencing platform, for example, why would you build it? That's not your core. You can license it at a reasonable cost and focus your effort on what matters. It's the same for us. There are areas where there isn't a platform on the market that functions the way we want, so we're going to build that internally. But for the core technologies that feed into that platform, we'll use what's available and partner with tech firms. We've never felt we must invent everything to feel like we're innovating. If we must, we will. But it's about being intentional, not reinventing the wheel just because we can. The biggest and most obvious priority is selecting the right team. Alongside [CEO Tim Walsh], we've focused on cementing our leadership group. We're very excited. The core management committee — a group of 10 — has already been announced. That's one of the major shifts we're making. As part of that, we've reorganized certain areas to help us execute more effectively. One of the early but important changes is moving toward a more industry-focused structure. The goal is to ensure clients experience audit, tax and advisory as an integrated offering tailored to their industry. We've also made organizational adjustments to improve agility and responsiveness. That includes efforts to streamline processes and remove friction that slows down execution. Engaging with partners remains essential. Tim and I have traveled across the country and met with roughly half of our partners in person so far. We're also building on that with a new internal social platform where both of us are active, alongside many partners, to keep the dialogue going. Unlike many companies, our shareholders are also our partners — we work with them every day. That makes continuous engagement even more important. Not necessarily in our offerings or services to clients, but I think it's certainly influencing our mindset, the way we operate, and the manner in which we serve our PE clients. When you look at the economy overall, the shift is clear. The number of publicly listed companies is declining. Meanwhile, the number of privately owned firms, including those backed by private equity, is growing significantly. It doesn't necessarily change the types of services we provide. You're still going to have due diligence, finance transformation, audit, tax, technology, customer — all of it. However, PE's growing influence is fundamentally reshaping the market, and we've been evolving our service model in response. Historically, firms like ours were organized around functional services — audit, tax, advisory — but PE clients need something different: integrated, industry-focused, lifecycle-driven solutions that support value creation from due diligence through exit. Often, you're not just dealing with the portfolio company, you're also working with the fund or the private equity firm that owns it. That's a different dynamic. You've got to think about their hold period, what they care about during that window and what their exit strategy is. In response, we're shifting to a more connected service model, focused less on traditional lines and more on solving for outcomes across the investment lifecycle. We're embedding sector specialists, leveraging data and AI more aggressively and training our teams to think like investors, not just advisers. One of our biggest areas of focus right now is improving operational performance between entry and exit for these types of companies; helping clients manage cash better, drive growth, improve efficiency, optimize pricing and take out costs. Those are the things private equity sponsors care about, and it's where we can bring value. We are also enhancing our relationship approach, moving from transactional engagement to becoming strategic partners who anticipate needs, not just respond to them. Ultimately, our goal is to help PE firms move faster, de-risk decisions and unlock value across their portfolios, and that requires a very different way of showing up. Three things come to mind. One of them is people and the relationships you make. We're all together on our professional journeys. We're developing together, learning together and serving clients together. The people I've worked with, that I've been in the trenches with, we've forged ties and friendships that are meaningful, powerful and long-lasting. The other is that with this skill set, there are only a few places where you could have this impact with clients. And this excites me — being in the front of it, being in front of clients and delivering for our clients. The third thing is that the work is still interesting because it keeps evolving. After governance, risk and compliance, I started getting into business performance improvement work, helping clients run their businesses better. Then, business transformation became my focus. A few years later, we started the consulting business again. More recently, we've been leaning into technology and generative AI. So every few years, the work looks different. The problems have changed, the clients have changed and the tools have changed. This is what has kept me engaged. I never felt like I was doing the same thing over and over. That's probably why I've stayed as long as I have; I've never been bored. This is part one of two-part series. Read part two here. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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a day ago
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CFOs On the Move: Week ending July 18
This story was originally published on To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily newsletter. Leeny Oberg | Marriott International , Marriott International's CFO and executive vice president of development, will retire on March 31, 2026. Oberg, who was named CFO in 2016, first joined Marriott in 1999 as part of its investor relations group and held several leadership roles, including SVP, corporate and development finance and SVP, international project finance and asset management for Europe and the Middle East and Africa. Before rejoining Marriott in 2016, she was the finance chief of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company for over two years. Oberg will be succeeded by as chief financial officer and executive vice president, and by Shawn Hill as chief development officer. Mason, who is currently global officer, treasurer and risk management, joined Marriott in 1992 and has held several positions during her tenure, including CFO of the U.S. & Canada division — the company's largest segment. Nick Bowes | Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference named as chief financial officer. Bowes joins the collegiate athletic conference from the University of Louisville, where he was CFO and deputy athletic director. He earlier held senior leadership roles at the University of Southern California as chief operating officer and senior associate athletic director and at the University of Cincinnati as chief financial officer and senior associate athletic director. Bowes succeeds Catrina Gibson, who is transitioning into a consulting role after eight years as CFO, effective Aug. 1. Kelly Dilts | Dollar General Dollar General's CFO, , will resign on Aug. 28 to take over the top finance spot at Nordstrom on Aug. 29. The company has started searching for her successor, according to a regulatory filing. Dilts joined Dollar General in 2019 as senior vice president of finance and was promoted to finance chief in May 2023. She previously held the CFO role at women's fashion retailer Francesca's and spent over 18 years at men's clothing retailer Men's Wearhouse, where she most recently served as senior vice president of finance and investor relations. Duncan Minto | Renault Renault's CFO, , was appointed interim chief executive officer of the French carmaker while it looks for outgoing CEO Luca de Meo's permanent successor. De Meo announced his resignation last month after five years in the role to become CEO of luxury group Kering. Minto, who joined Renault in 1997, took over as CFO in March. Earlier roles at the company include chief financial officer of Renault Group sports car maker Alpine and CFO of its Dacia brand. Brandy Richardson | Saks Global Saks Global appointed as finance chief of the multi-brand luxury retailer, effective Aug. 18. Richardson succeeds interim CFO Mark Weinsten, who joined the retailer to lead its finance organization through the initial stages of its transformation after its December 2014 acquisition of Neiman Marcus Group. Since 2021, Richardson has been chief financial officer and executive vice president of Tailored Brands, the parent company of menswear retailers Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank. Richardson spent the majority of her career at Neiman Marcus Group, where she held several finance leadership roles over her 15-year tenure, including CFO. Karyn Ovelmen | Newmont Gold miner Newmont's CFO, , resigned on July 11. Ovelmen, who was named finance chief in May 2023, did not leave due to any disagreement with the company on operations, financial statements or accounting policies or practices or disclosures. was named interim chief financial officer while the company looks for Ovelmen's permanent replacement. Wexler joined Newmont in March 2024 as executive vice president and chief legal officer. Before joining the company, he spent 15 years as chief legal officer of Schneider Electric. Sarah Young | Bell Partners Bell Partners, an apartment investment and management company, appointed as chief financial officer. Young joins Bell Partners from real estate investment and development firm Quarterra Group, where she has worked for the last 10 years. She has been CFO and senior managing director since May 2024. Before Quarterra, she was part of the finance group at Walton Street Capital, where she managed equity commitments across several funds. She began her career at Ernst & Young. Young succeeds John Tomlinson, who will retire as CFO on Aug. 22. Tomlinson will remain as an adviser to the company through the end of 2025. Steve Song | Luke's Lobster Luke's Lobster's longtime CFO, Steve Song, has left the company. Song was the CFO of the global seafood manufacturer and restaurant operator for nearly 10 years. Before taking on his first CFO position at Luke's, he was the managing director at Eden Capital Partners, vice president at Altpoint Capital Partners and vice president of Magnetar Capital. The company has not yet named his replacement, and Song's next role has not been announced. Bob McMahon | Agilent Technologies , chief financial officer of California-based Agilent Technologies, will step down on July 31 to relocate to the East Coast for family reasons. McMahon joined Agilent as CFO in August 2018 from medical technology company Hologic, where he held the same role. He earlier spent 20 years at Johnson & Johnson, most recently as worldwide vice president of finance within its medical device and diagnostics group. Rodney Gonsalves, Agilent's corporate controller and principal accounting officer, will gain the role of interim CFO until McMahon's successor is named.
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2 days ago
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Agilent CFO Bob McMahon resigns
This story was originally published on MedTech Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily MedTech Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: Agilent Technologies CFO Bob McMahon will step down July 31 and relocate to the East Coast for family reasons while preparing for the next chapter of his career. The CFO told the company on July 11 of his intent to resign. Rodney Gonsalves, corporate controller and principal accounting officer, was appointed to the additional role of interim CFO until a successor is named, the maker of laboratory instruments said Tuesday. The company will conduct a global search for its next CFO. McMahon's departure is not related to any disagreement about accounting practices, financial statements, internal controls or operations, Agilent said in a securities filing. The Santa Clara, California-based firm expects third-quarter financial results to be within the range previously provided and remains confident in its long-term plans. Dive Insight: McMahon joined Agilent in 2018 from Hologic, where he was CFO, and before that held a series of financial leadership positions during 20 years with Johnson & Johnson. The CFO is liked by the investment community, and his resignation comes as a surprise, said Leerink Partners analyst Puneet Souda. McMahon 'continued the strength of financial discipline at Agilent,' Souda told clients in a Tuesday note. The company's reaffirmed financial guidance, however, 'should provide some comfort to investors,' Souda wrote. Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Kumar said the reiterated third-quarter forecast 'should allay any concerns around the business performance.' Meanwhile, TD Cowen analyst Dan Brennan noted Agilent did not reiterate full-year guidance, 'which we would have preferred, but our sense is confidence in [the third quarter] suggests things are on track for [2025] too … and they also expressed confidence in their long term plans.' Gonsalves has held a variety of senior management roles in business and corporate finance at Agilent and most recently was vice president and operational CFO of the company's life sciences and applied markets group. Agilent plans to report third-quarter results on Aug. 27. Recommended Reading Agilent to cut 3% of employees as sluggish lab equipment market persists Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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2 days ago
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Atrium Mortgage Investment Corporation Announces Change in Finance Department Leadership
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - July 18, 2025) - Atrium Mortgage Investment Corporation (TSX: AI) announces the resignation of Gigi Wong as CFO of the company. We are pleased to announce that Jeffrey D. Sherman is rejoining Atrium as Interim Chief Financial Officer effective July 21, 2025. He was previously chief financial officer of Atrium from 2012 to 2017 where he helped transition the company to a listing on the TSX, and helped manage its growth. He has also been CFO of several other public companies including Sun Residential REIT (TSXV), Pure Nickel Inc. (TSX), and has been a director and chair of the audit committee at Acerus Pharmaceuticals Corporation (TSX), and Cleanfield Alternative Energy (TSXV). During his career, Mr. Sherman has also been a course director and course author for many organizations including provincial associations of chartered professional accountants across Canada and was an adjunct professor at York University. Mr. Sherman has a from Rotman Commerce (University of Toronto), an M.B.A. from the Schulich School of Business (York University) and is an FCPA, FCA (Ontario). Robert Goodall, CEO of Atrium, stated, "I would like to thank Jeffrey for assuming the role of Interim CFO while a thorough search is undertaken and a replacement is appointed. We worked closely for 5 years from 2012 to 2017 and I have the utmost respect for Jeffrey's knowledge and experience." About Atrium Canada's Premier Non-Bank Lender™ Atrium is a non-bank provider of residential and commercial mortgages that lends in major urban centres in Canada where the stability and liquidity of real estate are high. Atrium's objectives are to provide its shareholders with stable and secure dividends and preserve shareholders' equity by lending within conservative risk parameters. Atrium is a Mortgage Investment Corporation (MIC) as defined in the Canada Income Tax Act, so is not taxed on income provided that its taxable income is paid to its shareholders in the form of dividends within 90 days after December 31 each year. Such dividends are generally treated by shareholders as interest income, so that each shareholder is in the same position as if the mortgage investments made by the company had been made directly by the shareholder. For further information, please refer to regulatory filings available at or Atrium's website at For further information, please contact Robert G. GoodallChief Executive Officer (416) 867-1053info@ THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. To view the source version of this press release, please visit
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2 days ago
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US firms' cash conversion cycle improved in 2024: Hackett
This story was originally published on To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily newsletter. 'Uncertainty' may well be on track to become the most uttered word in business circles this year. Between ongoing trade tensions and geopolitical crises, there are certainly many volatile moving parts for finance chiefs and businesses to contend with in 2025. Still, if 'past is prologue,' then a look backward may offer some potentially hopeful hints for how the rest of this year could turn out. Annual working capital research by The Hackett Group, provided exclusively to called out a few promising trends in 2024. The firm found that, among the 1,000 largest nonfinancial publicly traded companies in the U.S., there was a 4% improvement in cash conversion cycle in 2024. Last year, the time it took to convert investments to cash averaged 37 days, down from 38.3 days in 2023. The improvement came after what Hackett researchers described as a 'turbulent' year in 2023. 'After a turbulent 2023 characterized as the 'triple down' year when all working capital metrics trended negatively, 2024 was marked by a positive course correction of the aggregate working capital performance of the top 1,000 U.S. publicly traded companies,' they wrote in the report. By the numbers -1.3 days Change in cash conversion cycle in 2024, a decrease to 37 days from 38.3 days in the prior year +0.3 days Change in days sales outstanding +0.2 days Change in days inventory outstanding +1.8 days Change in days payable outstanding Hackett researchers found a notable improvement in days payable outstanding, which clocked in at 59 days compared to 57.2 days in 2023. 'The historic DPO deterioration ended in 2024 as the metric improved by 3% or 1.8 days compared to 2023,' researchers wrote in the report. In an interview, Hackett Group Senior Director Istvan Bodo highlighted the importance of DPO recovery in a post-pandemic world. He noted that it's metric of working capital that had been considered the 'low-hanging fruit for many years, before and even shortly after COVID.' 'But then in 2020, we saw that the DPO performance started to deteriorate,' he said. 'Now 2024 is really the first year we see this start to turn around, but it's still not close to the best performance achieved in the past 10 years, so there's still a way to go.' Meanwhile, revenue across the companies ticked up 4% in 2024. That came after a 'year of stalling' in 2023, Hackett researchers said. At the same time, not every working capital metric improved. In fact, days sales outstanding and days inventory outstanding both deteriorated. What's more, Hackett researchers found a decline in overall excess working capital, which slid $32 billion in 2024 to $1.73 trillion, marking a 2% year-over-year decline. 'This was actually one of the first times in the past five years we've seen a decline in the working capital opportunity overall,' Bodo said. The report also showed an increasing divide between middle-performing companies and the highest achievers. Bodo noted median companies 'continue to lag while top-performing, upper quartile organizations continue to improve their working capital opportunity.' 'Unfortunately, the gap between the median and the top-performing organizations is increasing,' he added. Mileage may vary Metrics didn't trend positively for every industry, either. The computer hardware and peripherals sector, for instance, endured a staggering 182% deterioration in CCC, driven in part by companies stocking up on inventory to prepare for AI-related demands. The beverage industry, which encompasses both soft drink makers like Keurig Dr Pepper and alcohol producers like Molson Coors, came in second worst, with a 159% degradation in CCC. The airline industry saw a 52% worsening. Though the AI boom may have created a few bumps in the road for hardware, it had the opposite effect on software. Hackett researchers found an 80% improvement in CCC for the internet software and services sector. 'AI has been the dominant market narrative for some time, so it's no surprise that the industries responsible for running, hosting and powering the technology have benefited from the unprecedented surge in demand,' Hackett researchers explained in the report. The firm found one particularly strong-performing industry: the household and personal care sector, which saw its CCC improve by a whopping 330%. There was also a notable CCC improvement in food and staples retail (119%). What were some commonalities among companies with CCC improvements? Organizations with better cash conversion cycles had a strong 'understanding of the importance of cash,' Bodo said. 'That was well understood across the organization, not just in the finance department.' Hackett's report was based on the latest publicly available annual filings for 2024, so it predates President Donald Trump's official return to the White House and the aggressive tariffs he's introduced since. However, the report's findings showed that businesses were already preparing for the prospect of tariffs at the end of last year. 'In an economic environment where the only certainty is uncertainty, businesses must take a proactive approach to mitigate the unpredictable impact of tariffs and supply chain disruptions on working capital,' Hackett researchers said in the report. In the meantime, how can CFOs get a piece of that $1.7 trillion working capital opportunity? Bodo said it will likely involve a mix of technological improvements and better governance. But, he cautioned, it's not 'just a tech question.' 'If you do not have the right processes in place and do not have the right governance in place, you might not get maximum benefits,' Bodo said. Recommended Reading Hackett Working Capital Survey: All cash conversion cycle elements degraded last year Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
