Dive Brief:

• Moody’s — a global risk assessment company and parent of the credit rating giant Moody’s Investors Service — named Noémie C. Heuland, 46, as its new CFO effective April 1, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The announcement comes about six months after the New York-based financial services firm kicked off an internal and external search for a permanent finance chief.
• The search followed the departure last year of CFO Mark Kaye. He held the finance reins at Moody’s for more than five years before leaving to take the top finance post at Indianapolis, Indiana-based health insurance provider Elevance Health. Caroline Sullivan, who has served as interim principal financial officer since Kaye exited, will continue at the firm in her role as senior vice president, controller and chief accounting officer.
• A veteran of software provider SAP and a certified public accountant who spent eight years at PricewaterhouseCooper earlier in her career, Heuland most recently served as CFO of human capital management techfirm Ceridian HCM Holding, now Dayforce. Moody’s CEO Rob Fauber said Heuland’s nearly 25 years in finance leadership roles and her experience with software-as-a-service businesses are among the attributes that “make her the ideal CFO", according to a statement in the release. 

Dive Insight:

The CFO swap came on the same day Moody’s released its fourth quarter earnings, a messaging strategy some companies use to signal an orderly succession, CFO Dive previously reported. 

The company reported revenue surged 15% to $1.5 billion year-over-year in the fourth quarter, citing debt capital markets continued recovery and the improved outlook for macro economic conditions. Still, Moody’s fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.19 per share fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.34. The company’s shares were down about 8.74% in late afternoon trading Tuesday as concerns about persistent inflation battered stocks.  

Heuland’s compensation will include an initial annual base salary of $750,000 and a 2024 target bonus opportunity of $1 million. After she joins Moody’s she will also receive a one-time equity grant of $2 million, including a mix of 60% Performance Share Units, 20% Restricted Stock Units and 20% Options, with the RSUs and Options vesting within four years, according to the SEC filing. 

She joins a small and slowly growing cohort of female finance leaders at major companies. According to a survey from executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates, women comprised 18.8% of the CFOs at the Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies tracked, up from 16.3% in 2022. Earlier this month Kate Thomson became the permanent CFO of London-based oil giant BP.

Heuland is not the first woman to hold the company's permanent CFO seat.  The most recent female CFO was Linda S. Huber, who served as Moody's CFO from May 2005 through January 2018, according to a company spokesperson.