CFOs are central to AI mindset shift, says Google veteran

At Fortune’s CFO Collaborative dinner on Wednesday night, sponsored by Deloitte, Ted Souder—CEO and co-founder of Quoin, a startup developing AI-powered infrastructure for private capital markets—drew on his decades-long career, including more than 20 years at Google and his role in founding the Google CFO Forum, to share his perspective on AI’s impact across organizations.

Now an adviser to startups and venture capital funds on AI and business transformation, Souder spoke with Fortune’s Diane Brady before an audience of leading CFOs from Chicago and beyond, sharing observations from his global travels. Everywhere he goes, he finds businesses asking similar questions: How do we implement AI? How do we measure ROI? What does it mean for our workforce? And how do we build strategies for long-term success?

Whether at intimate gatherings or major summits, one thing stands out: no company feels far ahead or behind in its AI journey. “We’re all in this unknown together,” Souder said. He noted that this shared sense of challenge makes events like these invaluable for learning and connection—even as competitive pressures lead some leaders to withhold lessons or setbacks.

“For many businesses, if they have big AI wins, they don’t necessarily want to share them—perhaps because it’s a competitive advantage,” he said. “And if they’re not having AI wins, they don’t really want to share that either. So we’re all in the same boat.”

Why success requires a long-term vision

AI will impact every job, industry, and country, Souder told the CFOs. “We need to start thinking about how we’re embracing this today,” he explained. “We can’t wait and see how this pans out.” He cautioned against postponing AI initiatives simply because other projects take priority.

Souder emphasized that effective AI adoption demands collaboration across the C-suite. “This is a mindset shift,” he said. “This isn’t a tech project. This isn’t an ERP implementation.” 

Finance chiefs have unique visibility across the organization; CFOs can be central to driving an AI “mindset shift,” Souder said. He added that C-suite leaders—including CMOs, CIOs, and CEOs—should break down silos and work together.

To foster real change, Souder recommends that leaders visibly commit to AI, set clear policies, allocate resources, and focus on talent by investing in workforce training. He suggested practices such as tying AI proficiency to performance reviews, which help connect employee development to organizational transformation.

Souder also advocated forming AI councils or “tiger teams” to oversee strategy, implementation, and governance—including privacy and ethics. With the right structures, companies can create a culture of experimentation and learning, rather than expecting overnight success, he said.

Success with AI adoption, Souder said, requires a willingness to embrace incremental impact and “shake out some of the bad decisions.” Boards, he added, must get comfortable with long-term visions, not just quarterly results or instant ROI. “From the CFO perspective, having that board exposure is really important,” Souder said.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

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Fortune 500 Power Moves

Todd Cunfer was appointed EVP and CFO of The Campbell’s Company (No. 425), effective Oct. 20. Cunfer succeeds Carrie Anderson, who is leaving the company to pursue new opportunities. Cunfer brings over 25 years of experience. He joins Campbell’s from Freshpet, where he served as CFO since 2022. Before that, he was CFO at Simply Good Foods Company, a nutritional foods and snacking products company. Previously, Cunfer spent over 20 years in senior finance roles at The Hershey Company, including VP of international finance, VP of global supply chain finance and VP of North America finance.

Every Friday morning, the weekly Fortune 500 Power Moves column tracks Fortune 500 company C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition. 

More notable moves

Brent Wahl, CFO of NextDecade Corporation (Nasdaq: NEXT), has resigned from his position, effective Oct. 20. The company has appointed Mike Mott, SVP of enterprise transformation, as interim CFO. Wahl is leaving NextDecade to join a digital infrastructure company, and he has agreed to serve in a consultant capacity through Dec. 31, 2025. The company will initiate a search process to find a permanent successor.

Mark Schmitz was appointed CFO of Deep Fission, Inc., a nuclear energy company. Schmitz brings more than 40 years of global finance leadership experience. He has served as CFO for companies, including Goodyear, Itron, Plug Power, and Alghanim Industries, and has held senior finance positions in China, Brazil, the U.K., and the Middle East.

Big Deal

The startup Zip’s inaugural “State of Spend” report finds that 75% of companies now factor AI into hiring decisions, with 17% requiring proof that AI cannot perform the role before approving new positions.

Technology spending is increasing despite workforce reductions, with 37% of organizations planning to add new vendors—particularly for AI tools. The data is based on a global survey of 1,030 C-suite and senior decision-makers who control corporate spending across procurement, finance, IT, and operations.

“For the first time in history, companies are looking at everything through the lens of AI,” according to Nick Heinzmann, head of research at Zip.

AI fluency topped the list of most valued skills in new hires, with 56% of those surveyed placing it above all other skills, followed by data analysis at 43%, according to the report.

Going deeper

“Battle over Elon Musk’s trillionaire pay package builds as pension funds face off against Tesla” is a Fortune report by Amanda Gerut.

From the report: “Tesla is weeks away from a monumental shareholder vote on CEO Elon Musk’s potential $1 trillion pay package at its annual investor meeting, and the EV-maker is pulling out all the stops to push the measure through. 

Last year, Tesla rallied thousands of mom-and-pop retail investors to vote their shares of stock in favor of Musk’s billions in pay. Now, Tesla is teeing up retail holders for another vote on Nov. 6 that would set Musk on the path to becoming the world’s first trillionaire by granting him up to 12% of Tesla’s outstanding shares divided into 12 tranches through a restricted stock grant.”  You can read the complete report here.

Overheard

“I’m envious of the current generation of 20-year-old dropouts, because the amount of stuff you can build… the opportunity space is so incredibly wide.”

—OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told Rowan Cheung during an interview at the DevDay conference on Monday, Fortune reported. Altman said he envies Gen Z college dropouts, as he hasn’t had a “real chunk of free mental space” in the past couple of years to think about what he’d build now. “But I know that there would be a lot of cool stuff to build,” he added.