Why companies are paying a premium for battle-tested CFOs—and Nike’s struggling turnaround shows what that costs

(Credit: Courtesy of Nike, Inc.)

Good morning. Proven public-company CFOs are scarce enough that companies increasingly offer pre-paid packages when recruiting them away from other organizations, especially at companies that need a boost to their turnaround strategy.

That’s what Shawn Cole, president and co-founder of Cowen Partners, an executive search firm, told me he’s seeing. The most recent example is Nike, he said.