Dive Brief:

• Sysco Corporation CFO Aaron Alt will take on the top financial seat for healthcare and pharmaceutical distributor Cardinal Health effective Feb. 10, 2023, the company announced Monday in a press release.  
• Alt, an alum of Target and Sally Beauty, will take the Dublin, Ohio-based company’s financial reins from interim CFO Patricia English, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
• English, the company’s chief accounting officer, was appointed to the interim seat in August after Cardinal’s CFO, Jason Hollar, was promoted to CEO effective Sept. 1, according to an August press release.

Dive Insight:

Alt will step down as CFO for Sysco — a wholesale food distributor — effective Jan. 23, the company announced in a Dec. 15 press release, which noted that Alt was departing for another opportunity. The company’s VP of Corporate Affairs and Chief Communication Officer, Neil Russell, will take over as interim CFO, and Sysco has begun a search for a permanent successor via an independent recruitment firm, according to the release.  

Alt served as Sysco’s financial head for just over two years, beginning in December 2020. Prior to joining Sysco, Alt held various executive positions for both beauty retailer Sally Beauty as well as general retailer Target, serving as Sally’s President & CFO for two years starting October 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile. He acted as Target’s SVP of operations, the CEO of Target Canada and SVP of grocery transformation, among other roles during his six-year tenure at the retailer.

As CFO for Cardinal Health, Alt will receive an annual base salary of $825,000, according to the company filing, as well as a target annual bonus of 110% of his base and target long-term incentive awards of $3.5 million. He will also receive a $1 million cash sign-on bonus to address compensation forfeited at his former employer, according to the SEC filing.

Cardinal saw a 13% jump in revenue year-over-year for its most recent quarter, reporting $49.6 billion in revenue for Q1 fiscal year 2023 on Nov. 4, according to its earnings results. However, supply chain costs are still rising, with the healthcare industry still facing inflationary pressures especially in transportation and labor, English said during the Q1 earnings call.

“We saw an approximate $20 million dollar year-over-year headwind from these areas, which was consistent with our expectations,” English said according to a transcript of the call. “This headwind was effectively offset by year-over-year tailwinds from our completed ERP technology enhancements and lower opioid-related legal costs.”

The healthcare company reported $181 billion in revenue for the full year, it reported Nov. 9 during its annual shareholders meeting, a 12% increase year-over-year.

Cardinal Health declined to comment.