With CEO turnover reaching a seven-year high in the first three quarters of 2025, many CFOs can expect to help shepherd their organizations through changes at the top spot. CEO transitions can be stressful and confusing, and while they’re happening, boards and employees often look to CFOs for direction and a sense of stability.
At a session at the 2026 AICPA CFO Conference in Miami on Monday, CFOs who’ve been through multiple CEO changes shared their best advice for handling the changeover with grace.
Expect turmoil. The emotional impact of a CEO change should not be underestimated, panelists said. “People are afraid,” Jessica McClain, who worked under three CEOs in less than four years in her tenure as CFO of Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital, said. “They may have anxiety, they may be angry.” They’re concerned about what will change or be done differently, or whether their jobs are safe, she said.
At such junctures, “people are going to look to you as a CFO, because you represent some level of continuity,” McClain, now CFO at the American Staffing Association, said. “They’re looking for you to be steady.”
Give boards and new CEOs a clear narrative. During a CEO change, boards and leaders are looking for clarity, according to Nike Ajao, a fractional CFO specializing in leadership transitions. “They need more context to understand ‘Why are we doing this? What did we do in the past? Why are we changing things?’,” Ajao said, adding, “the CFO also becomes the bridge between what was and what is next.”
Present boards and leadership with multiple scenarios, Ajao suggested. “A single forecast just creates rigidity,” she said, whereas offering more than one “creates a lot of flexibility.”
“Always present different options, different scenarios of different things that could possibly happen,” she said, “because the new CEO does not yet know the organization well enough to say, this is the right path.”
Avoid an information vacuum. Honest communication with staff is vital as well, McClain said. Even if you don’t have all the answers, it’s important to say something. “We have to acknowledge reality. People know something is different,” she said. “It’s okay to say, ‘I don’t know, but this is where we are.’” Make sure to keep middle managers informed, she said, because otherwise they may feel compelled to fill the information gap with their teams, and might pass on inconsistent or incorrect messages.
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Take care of yourself. When CEOs change, CFOs may be tempted to take on too much, Janice Stucke, CFO of women’s real estate association CREW, said. She has had three CEOs in two years. Look at your job description, she suggested, to remind yourself what’s your responsibility and what should be the board’s, or what can be “pivoted out to another senior leader, so you’re not left holding the whole bag.”
In the middle of a CEO transition, with the chief executive slot still open, the CFO may want to be up-front with the board about what they can expect from them, and whether they should consider additional resources, such as an interim CEO, Stucke said. “Usually the board is open to that,” she said. “They want that additional oversight, but they’re looking to you to suggest it.”
See it as an opportunity. CEO changes can cause you to see yourself in a different light, Stucke said. “I didn’t think so much about what was my persona as a leader until we were in the middle of those CEO transitions,” she said. “But when the CEO is gone and they’re all looking to you for answers, you have to really be able to present as a leader.”
During those pivotal times, she said, she started asking herself, “Could I see myself as a CEO?’” and “‘Do I want that role for myself in the future?,’” she said. “It can be a growth moment if you choose to lean into it.”