companies by revenue, and just one of them has a Black chief financial officer. W. Dave Dowrich became CFO at TIAA in 2021 after CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett was named to lead the company.
Kickstarter is far smaller—a spokesperson says the company does not disclose its number of employees or revenue—but adds another example that could help normalize more diverse top leadership teams. “My prayer is it becomes a non-issue and it’s not a thing anymore,” says Michael Hyter, president and CEO of the Executive Leadership Council, an advocacy group for Black executives.
More companies have named Black CFOs in recent years, but they are still a relative rarity. Executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates500, which creates a universe of 675 sitting CFOs, there were just 18 who were Black in 2022, with a high of 20 in 2021. Finding Black women in the top finance job is even rarer, says Taylor. “You're not going to see too many Black women CFOs at the helm of household names, or larger tech companies or brands,” he says. Among Kickstarter’s eight most senior leaders, five are women and five are people of color, the company says.
Taylor says Wilson, who will fill a CFO job that’s been open at Kickstarter for a couple of years, stood apart from the many candidates he interviewed for the strength of her resume and experience with platforms that bring together buyers and sellers. That’s especially important, he says, as Kickstarter launches its first new business lines: