CFO DIVE Asks Cowen Partners About Blended COO & CFO Roles
Salesforce director named chief of operations, finance: The software giant is among a growing list of companies that have decided to merge the CFO and COO roles.
“CFOs who focus purely on financial reporting and compliance risk being overshadowed by those who can directly impact operations and growth… The modern CFO must now demonstrate strategic, operational, and leadership capabilities beyond traditional finance.” — Shawn Cole, President & Founder of Cowen Partners
While the move signals confidence in integrated leadership, it could create long-term succession risks, he said. “A blended CFO-COO role means fewer specialized C-suite executives, which may limit the bench strength for future CEO transitions.”
Read more HERE
About CFO Dive
CFO Dive provides in-depth journalism and insight into the most impactful news and trends shaping finance. The newsletters and website cover topics such as financial reporting, compliance, technology, risk management, leadership, and more.
CFO Dive is a leading publication operated by Industry Dive. Our business journalists spark ideas and shape agendas for 10+ million decision makers in competitive industries.
About Cowen Partners Executive Search
SCowen Partners Executive Search is a leading national executive search firm, known for placing world-class C-suite leaders, board members, and senior executives across industries.
Specializing in finding and recruiting top talent, we provide clients with comprehensive access to the executive marketplace, ensuring that each search is tailored to the unique needs of the organization. Our clients benefit from a proven track record of delivering high-impact leaders who drive growth, innovation, and performance.
At Cowen Partners, we go beyond traditional executive search by offering strategic insights and expertise that help companies build high-performing teams and navigate complex market challenges. Whether it’s sourcing transformative CEOs, CFOs, or board directors, we are committed to excellence, transparency, and results-driven solutions, making us the trusted partner for businesses looking to thrive in today’s competitive landscape.
About Shawn Cole, President & Cofounder
Shawn Cole is a serial entrepreneur and executive leader with over 15 years’ experience founding and running successful companies. Shawn’s business career has been centered on value creation for both turnarounds and startups.
Shawn is President and Co-Founder of Cowen Partners, a national CFO executive search firm focused on the key elements of a successful business: sales, marketing, and finance. Business clients across the country trust Cowen Partners to take their companies to the next level by finding them executive talent, such as a CEO, CFO, COO, Chief Revenue Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer. Clients are both small and large, publicly traded, pre-IPO, private, and non-profit organizations, typically $50 million to multi-billion dollar revenue Fortune 1000 companies or have assets between $1 billion and $15 billion.
An active participant in the business community and startup space, Shawn Co-Chairs The Cowen Partners Venture Fund which provides seed funding and early stage investments, focusing on market disruptors in niche markets, community businesses, and minority entrepreneurs.
Shawn attended Oregon State University’s College of Business Austin Entrepreneurship Program and participated in a first-of-its-kind experiential entrepreneurship experiment at Weatherford Hall. He was also a Founding Member and President of Oregon State University’s Students in Free Enterprise, an international non-profit organization working with university students who want to positively change their communities and learn practical knowledge to become socially responsible business leaders.
At the age of 16 Shawn became a volunteer firefighter and EMT, eventually founding and managing a half marathon to raise funds for the community. To date, the marathon is still a success and has raised over one million dollars benefiting the community.
As trailblazing leaders in executive search, Cowen Partners is also an innovator that routinely develops groundbreaking resources to empower better insights, decisions, and understandings of what it takes to recruit and retain top talent in today’s C-suites. Explore some of our elite resources below to see why Cowen Partners continues to be a top executive search firm nationwide.
Schedule a Call.
Fill out the email request form to learn more about our approach.