Brandon Sink, CFO of Lowe's, values the interactions he has with employees across all levels of the company. His extensive career in home improvement began with Deloitte, where he first served as Lowe's external auditor. He later joined Lowe's as the Director of Corporate Accounting and eventually took on the role of Vice President and Corporate Controller. Brandon and I sat down for a conversation about his journey to CFO, what he's learned along the way and how he builds and mentors the finance team. He shares practical advice for balancing a demanding job with his family and offers guidance for aspiring CFOs.

An assertive hiring process doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s crucial to analyze where the organization currently stands, where it wants to go, and how the CFO fits into this puzzle. When hiring for this position, considering potential is just as important as technical skills.

China is already the world’s largest e-commerce market— and is projected to command more than half of global e-commerce revenue by 2021.

As private equity firms look to maximize value from their investments, it is critical to ensure that portfolio company management teams have the right capabilities to execute against their investment theses. Though in many cases the underlying premise will lie in backing an existing management team, it is increasingly common for private equity firms to bring in a new CFO early in the lifespan of an investment.

At the Forbes Leadership Forum on Private Equity, Charles Gray, co-leader of Egon Zehnder’s US Diversity Practice with a special focus on Private Equity, recently contributed to the discussion on diversity, arguing that while Private Equity does not have the best record on diverse hiring, it does have a type of “evergreen hiring” that we can all learn from: Building great talent pipelines by forging strong relationships with promising candidates – before they’re even candidates.

With attacks from financial activists on the rise, companies are starting to beef up their boards with experienced experts, reports the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Both major concerns and smaller, family-run firms in Switzerland have launched board-level recruitment drives over the last 6 months, confirms Philippe Hertig, partner at Egon Zehnder in Zurich.

The days when the main function of Audit Committees was to put a “stamp of approval” on companies’ financials are long gone. Heightened risk awareness and increased regulation means that Audit Committees must now take on a much more proactive role in detecting, understanding and acting on risk – be it financial, macroeconomic, regulatory, legal or cybersecurity-related.

Within the executive committee, there is no relationship more important than that between the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer. Because of this, when hiring a CFO, particular attention must be paid to the fit between the candidate and the chief executive. In our experience working with boards and CEOs making CFO appointments, strong CEO-CFO relationships exhibit three qualities.

Pay for Performance traditionally means that CEO compensation is tied to a company’s fortunes, reports the Swiss financial daily Finanz und Wirtschaft.

A strong relationship between a public company’s chief financial officer and its audit committee is critical if the board is to provide appropriate risk management and compliance oversight.