Dive Brief:

• Salesforce and Stitch Fix alum Jessica Ross will move to the top financial seat for home service provider Frontdoor effective Dec. 30, the company announced Monday in a press release.  
• Ross will succeed CFO Brian Turcotte, who has served at the company’s financial helm for four years beginning in October 2018. Turcotte will step down Dec. 30 but will remain with the company through Mar. 31, 2023 as a VP and advisor in order to ensure a smooth transition, according to the Monday release.
• The move by Ross coincides with recent end-of-year CFO turnover at several other companies, including WW International, Foot Locker and WHSmith.

Dive Insight:

Ross, 46, will receive an annual base salary of $600,000 as CFO for Frontdoor, according to a Dec. 5 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as a target annual cash incentive award equal to 90% of her base salary. Beginning in calendar year 2023, Ross will also receive equity awards including restricted stock units with a value of $850,000, as well as a sign-on bonus of $775,000 and sign-on RSUs with a fair value of $100,000, according to the filing.

Prior to joining the home service firm, Ross served as EVP, enterprise strategy and operational excellence for software company Salesforce. During her three-year tenure with the software company, Ross held a variety of executive positions, including serving as EVP, finance and chief transformation officer for a 10-month period ending in July, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Ross is also an alum of online personal style website Stitch Fix, serving as the company’s VP and Chief Accounting Officer between September 2017 and March 2019 and helping to take the company public during its initial public offering (IPO) in November 2017. Her professional background also includes accounting roles at Arthur Andersen as well as Deloitte.

Frontdoor operates under the American Home Shield, HSA, OneGuard, and Landmark brands, according to its website, and provides service such as home maintenance and repairs. The company reported revenue of $484 million according to its Q3 2022 earnings release, a 3% increase year-on-year. It raised its full-year guidance to $1.65 billion to $1.66 billion, according to the company’s earnings results. Frontdoor’s Q3 earnings followed a 7% reduction in the company’s workforce in September.

Ross is one of several financial executive moves that have occurred over recent weeks: Amy O’Keefe, CFO of WW International, formerly known as Weight Watchers, stepped down from her role as of Dec. 2, the company announced on Nov. 30, with the company’s former head of North American Finance, Heather Stark, stepping in as interim.

Meanwhile, British retailer WHSmith announced Neiman Marcus CFO Kevin Gotthard will be taking on the top financial seat at their company, after having served as the luxury retailers’ CFO for his final year of three with the retailer, while Foot Locker’s series of executive changes continued with CFO Andrew Page stepping down in the last week of November.

CFO turnover in S&P 500 companies during the first three quarters of 2022 slowed to 14% compared with 16% during the same period last year. During the current quarter, volatility in the stock market and the first increase in the CFO retirement rate in three years may foreshadow an increase in CFO turnover, according to data from executive search firm Russell Reynolds.

Companies are also implementing better succession planning, Russell Reynolds said, leading to a jump in both internal and first-time CFO appointments. As of the third quarter, 63% of newly appointed financial leaders were promoted internally, according to the executive search firm, while 77% of freshly minted CFOs were first-timers.

Frontdoor declined to comment.