Chief Financial Officer Program: Elevate Your Strategic Impact
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Driving Financial Excellence
The Chief Financial Officer Program from Columbia Business School Executive Education helps financial leaders like you take the next step in your career. Through a rigorous, research-driven curriculum led by world-class faculty, you will gain insights to design financial frameworks that align with global business strategies while managing investors, analysts, and the board to optimize business performance.
Spanning 9 to 12 months, this multimodal learning journey integrates core themes such as value creation, capital markets, risk management, and leadership essentials for the CFO role. By the end of the program, you will be equipped with the skills, strategies, and frameworks needed to lead financial transformation, address increasingly complex challenges, and explore the AI frontier in finance, using it to manage risk, drive innovation, and build stakeholder trust.
What You Will Learn
The Chief Financial Officer Program will enable you to:
Establish a long-term vision that balances fiscal outcomes with performance goals, ensuring alignment with overarching business strategies and objectives
Identify and drive the implementation of strategic choices that lead to sustainable value creation and organizational growth
Acquire and utilize effective strategies to improve communication, increase influence, and exert a more significant personal impact on both internal and external stakeholders
Lead change and transformation efforts that create lasting value for the finance function and the wider organization
Transform culture across the organization to ensure it is risk aware and financially aligned
AI Live Online Series
AI for Finance
Discover how finance leaders use AI and automation to enhance efficiency, manage risk, and elevate their strategic role within the organization.
AI for Decision-Making
Learn how AI-driven modeling and KPI frameworks turn data into actionable insights, improving agility and guiding enterprise-wide decisions.
AI, Governance, and Responsible Innovation
Learn how digital-era CFOs integrate analytics, generative AI, and robust data governance to align finance strategy with enterprise goals and ethical standards.
AI for Value Creation
Explore how global organizations use AI for scenario analysis, cost and capacity modeling, and capital allocation to strengthen long-term value and resilience.
Participant Learning Journey
Program Curriculum
The Chief Financial Officer Program is a flexible learning journey designed for senior leaders in finance. You will learn through online and interactive sessions, fireside chats, and guest lectures led by Columbia Business School faculty, and global industry leaders. The CFO executive program offers an expertly developed curriculum that spans three key phases that will equip you with the necessary tools to drive financial strategy and lead digital transformation at your organization.
Live Online Series with the Faculty Director
As part of the mandatory live online series outlined in this CFO executive program’s curriculum, you will participate in exclusive faculty-led sessions designed to deepen your understanding of real-world financial leadership. These sessions are integrated into the overall learning journey and highlight the application of core concepts in dynamic, high-impact formats. You will gain strategic insights through:
AI in Accounting & Finance: What’s Working, What’s Hard, What’s Next
Explore how CFOs are evolving from traditional stewards to strategic leaders by applying AI and automation to enhance financial operations, address emerging risks, and strengthen stakeholder confidence.
Whole Foods Case: Building AI-Assisted KPIs and Store Operations Scenarios
Learn how AI-driven scenario modeling and KPI development enable finance leaders to generate real-time insights, improve operational agility, and deliver strategic value for business units.
Fireside Chat: The Digital CFO – Strategy, Tools & Governance
Gain perspective on how digital-era CFOs use analytics, generative AI, and robust data governance frameworks to align finance strategy with enterprise goals and responsible innovation.
Tesla vs. BYD Case: AI-Driven Capacity, Cost & Competition Modeling
Examine how leading organizations employ AI and data platforms for capacity and cost modeling, empowering CFOs to enhance their strategic foresight and drive value creation.
Fireside Chat: Implementing AI in Finance – Wins, Pitfalls & Controls
Explore real-world experiences in AI adoption, focusing on governance, compliance, and the CFO’s expanding role in building reliable, resilient finance ecosystems.
Aramco Case: AI for Commodity Scenarios, Capex & Risk Dashboards
Understand how CFOs leverage AI-based dashboards and scenario analysis to improve capital allocation, strengthen board-level communication, and manage risk in volatile markets.
Executive Peer Group and Networking Event
The enriching environment of the networking event provides participants with the invaluable opportunity to build a robust network with global executives who bring diverse experiences, cultures, and perspectives. Engaging in thoughtful discussions, they can exchange cutting-edge insights and knowledge that are integral in staying abreast of industry trends. The networking event showcases the vibrant community that participants of the Chief Financial Officer Program become an invaluable part of.
Meet the Faculty Director
Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing, Faculty Director of the Chief Financial Officer Program
Guest Speakers
Group CFO, Etisalat
Executive in Residence, Columbia Business School
Executive in Residence, Columbia Business School
Executive in Residence, Columbia Business School
CFO, First Hawaiian Bank
Managing Director of Marcusa Global Advisors
CFO of Raymond James Financial, Inc.
Certificate in Business Excellence
Upon completion of the Chief Financial Officer Program, participants are awarded the Certificate in Business Excellence from Columbia Business School Executive Education. The certificate is a recognition of their achievement and the investment they and their organization have made in their education and development.
As a Certificate in Business Excellence holder, you will receive a 25 percent tuition benefit for full-price Executive Education in-person programs lasting three and four days and all full-price online programs. Exclusions apply
Certificate holders will also be awarded select Columbia Business School Alumni benefits.
Your digitally verified certificate will be issued in your legal name and emailed to you, at no additional cost, upon completion of the program, including all modules of the program (online, in person, or live online, inter-module). All certificate images are for illustrative purposes only and may be subject to change at the discretion of Columbia Business School Executive Education.
CIBE Holder Benefits
As a Certificate in Business Excellence holder upon completion of this program, you will be awarded select Columbia Business School alumni benefits.
Access to Columbia Business School Alumni Career Services resources, including unique career content, a job board, an online networking platform, the alumni directory, and more
Invitations to alumni events and programs around the world
Eligibility to join Columbia Business School alumni clubs
Global networking opportunities
Lifetime Columbia Business School forwarding email address
Subscription to our alumni publication Columbia Business
Your digitally verified certificate will be issued in your legal name and emailed to you, at no additional cost, upon completion of the program, including all modules of the program (online, in person, or live online, inter-module). All certificate images are for illustrative purposes only and may be subject to change at the discretion of Columbia Business School Executive Education.
Hear from Our Participants
"The program has provided me with frameworks to assess matters related to the CFO role, drive financial transformation, and become a true strategic partner to the CEO."
— Lionel De Cuba, Chief Financial Officer at Maduro & Curiel’s Bank
General Manager, Global Finance Department, MISUMI
"The core curriculum touched on many aspects of being a CFO and provided me with valuable insights into topics not accessible daily in my current role."
President/CFO, Mamsys
"Listening to the experiences of various CFOs has been so knowledgeable and provided a great learning opportunity."
Chief Financial Officer
"Completing the program boosted my confidence that I was ready to lead as CFO. Within two months of looking for opportunities, I accepted a CFO role. The Columbia [Business Sc...
Finance Leader
"The best part of the core curriculum were the interviews with CFOs and the availability of the program managers to interact with regarding program materials and providing sup...
Finance Leader
"Having very structured weekly topics helped maintain clear and concise learning outcomes and continued to keep us engaged with a new topic every week."
Finance Leader
"The weekly live group sessions provided great networking opportunities and an improved understanding of the module material."
CPA, Finance Leader
"I liked exploring the myriad of topics that could affect CFOs and getting perspectives from around the world and across many industries."
Finance Leader
"The all-encompassing nature of the core modules and being able to learn from the experience of others and their expertise was immensely helpful."
Finance Leader
"The flow of topics was well-structured and coherent. It also helped to have consecutive assignments on the same company to progressively deepen the analysis in various aspect...
Finance Leader
"The best parts of the program were idea stimulation, networking, and the application of concepts to my current role."
Past Participant Profile
Work Experience
Top Countries
Top Industries
Where Past Participants Come From
Who Is It For?
The Chief Financial Officer Program is uniquely designed to suit professionals with a strong financial background from diverse industries. Individuals new to the CFO role or stepping into a financial leadership role will benefit from this CFO executive program’s in-depth curriculum, expert faculty, and invaluable networking opportunities.
Participants should have:
A minimum of ten years of work experience in finance
Fluency in written and spoken English
FAQs
Questions? Connect with a Program Advisor
Our program advisors have helped senior executives across the world choose the right program for their career goals. Schedule a 1:1 to get a deeper understanding on why the Chief Financial Officer Program is the right fit for you.
Email: columbia_cfo@emeritus.org
Phone: +1 567 587 1669 (U.S.) / +44 1156 471398 (U.K.) / +971 80 0035703759 (U.A.E.) / +52 55966 08595(LATAM)
The program will observe a scheduled holiday break from December 24, 2025 through January 1, 2026.
Early applications are encouraged. Admissions are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Flexible payment options available.
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