Fortune just named its first female CEO. Here’s how serving as CFO at the 95-year-old media titan helped her prepare
Good morning. Fortune announced on Tuesday that Anastasia Nyrkovskaya would take over as CEO, becoming the first woman to lead the media brand, and continuing a trend of talented CFOs ascending to a firm's top job.
Anastasia joined Fortune in 2019 as finance chief and later added the role of chief strategy officer. She's succeeding Fortune mainstay Alan Murray, who's CEO stint began in 2018 and who announced in October that he planned to step down in April.
After beginning her career at KPMG in Russia, Anastasia continued her work for the firm in New York City before joining NBCUniversal, where she held senior roles in finance and accounting. She was part of the corporate strategy team handling M&A—she oversaw major acquisitions such as MSNBC.com and The Weather Channel—and helped with the formation of Hulu.
In our conversation on Tuesday, Anastasia shared, from an executive perspective, what's distinct about leading a media brand: “The complexity of the business—understanding what drives each of the individual businesses within a media brand is very important.”
The company is editorially driven, but how it markets itself to consumers can take on many different forms. But each of those forms relies on the same key dynamic: reputation. “We are viewed as a trusted source,” she added.
After her time at NBCUniversal, she served as CFO at companies including XpresSpa Group. “A mix of experience between public and private companies is very important for people in the finance and accounting profession for their career advancement,” she said.
Anastasia returned to the media industry and worked to maintain Fortune's trusted relationship with readers. As finance chief and chief strategy officer, she has played key roles in the 95-year-old magazine's digital transformation as it diversified revenue streams and expanded globally.
'Probably the biggest skill'
Her ascension to the CEO spot is part of a larger trend: Looking solely at the S&P 500, a study by Russell Reynolds Associates found that CFOs were three times more likely to transition into the top seat in 2023 than they were in 2021. And according to the most recent volatility report from Crist Kolder Associates, based on data from 674 Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies, last year 8.4% percent of CEO roles were filled by CFOs. In 2013, that figure was 5.8%.
As CFO, and as chief strategy officer, experience Anastasia shares with other finance chiefs making the same leap to chief executive is broadening skill sets, being a strategic partner to the CEO and board, understanding the stakeholder landscape, and looking into the future of the industry. But also the ability to focus on longer-term organizational goals and make decisions sometimes with incomplete information when the data isn't yet available.
“Operating in that universe of unknowns is probably the biggest skill,” Anastasia said. “It's not enough just to look forward or just to look backward, you actually have to look at today, the past, and the future, and then try to make the best guess based on that.”
As CEO, she said she's looking forward to “everything,” adding, “but probably what I'm most excited about is really to see what we're going to do journalistically.”
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
María Soledad Davila Calero curated the Leaderboard and Overheard sections of today’s newsletter.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
