Good morning. A finance chief making the leap from the automotive industry to the health care industry may seem unusual. But the career experience of Thierry Piéton, who will wrap up his CFO tenure at French automaker Renault Group on Feb. 28, shows how it’s possible.
Piéton will join medical device maker Medtronic, No. 125 in the Fortune 500 Europe, on March 3 as EVP and CFO. He will be based in Minneapolis with an annual base salary of $850,000 and is set to receive a $3 million cash bonus, according to an SEC filing.
He succeeds Karen Parkhill, the CFO since 2016 who officially ended her tenure on Aug. 2 to join the tech giant HP as finance chief. Gary Corona will continue as interim CFO until Piéton joins Medtronic.
Since 2022, Piéton has served as CFO of Renault, No. 60 in the Fortune 500 Europe, one of the oldest and most prominent car manufacturers globally. He joined the company as SVP and group controller in June 2016.
Piéton’s almost nine years at Renault have been “among the most stimulating and rewarding of my career,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday. He’s “deeply impressed” by the breadth of Medtronic’s portfolio, along with its “incredible technology and the talent and diversity of its teams,” according to the post.
‘Intentional development’
Before joining Renault, Piéton worked at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. as SVP and CFO of Nissan Europe. He’s also held several divisional CFO roles at General Electric and GE Healthcare.
This diversified experience was appealing to Medtronic. “His career path to CFO demonstrates intentional development through accretive experiences across several industries, geographies, companies, and all facets of a global finance function,” the company said of Piéton in its announcement on Tuesday. Under his leadership, Renault achieved its highest-ever operating margins and improved free cash flow, according to Medtronic.
For some further insight, I had a conversation with Scott W. Simmons, co-managing partner of the executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates. There are commonalities between the auto and health care industries, Simmons said. Success in both industries depends on a healthy relationship among research and development, operations, and sales and marketing, he explained.
“In addition, both industries operate under significant regulatory scrutiny; it is critical to have a CFO who understands this complete picture,” Simmons said.
Also, what companies foremost look for in a CFO is someone with financial acumen and leadership capabilities honed through experience.
“Thierry is a strategic, creative, operationally focused, experienced CFO with a proven track record of delivering innovation-driven growth, margin improvement, and earnings power,” Geoff Martha, Medtronic chair and CEO said in a statement.
After a comprehensive internal and external search, Medtronic, an S&P 500 company, chose Piéton, an external hire. That coincides with a trend revealed in Crist Kolder’s annual report that found external hiring of finance chiefs at S&P 500 and Fortune 500 companies hit a 10-year high in 2024.
In considering Piéton’s background, it would suggest Medtronic wanted a CFO with deep international experience, Simmons said. “Given that half of the company’s revenue is generated outside the U.S., this is not a surprise,” he said.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
The following sections of CFO Daily were curated by Greg McKenna.
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