Good morning. At Exelon, one of the nation’s largest utility companies, finance is getting a bigger seat at the strategy table. Jeanne Jones, the finance chief since 2022 and an almost 20-year veteran of the company, will take on the newly created role of EVP of finance and strategy on Oct. 5, putting her at the center of corporate strategy as electricity demand surges and utilities face mounting pressure to invest without driving up customer bills. Jones will continue to report to Exelon President and CEO Calvin Butler. Robert Kleczynski will succeed Jones as CFO and become her direct report. Kleczynski currently serves as SVP, controller and head of tax. “Jeanne’s leadership has been instrumental in helping Exelon deliver strong financial performance while maintaining our focus on delivering safe, reliable and affordable service for our customers,” Butler said in a statement. In her new role, Jones will continue to work “across the business and the energy sector to identify opportunities to deliver value for our customers and shareholders,” he said. A shift in the CFO’s mandate The move reflects a broader shift in the CFO’s role. The corporate strategy playbook is increasingly landing on the CFO’s desk. While finance chiefs have long led capital allocation and investor communication, they’re increasingly expected to help determine where the company places its biggest long-term bets alongside the CEO, Andy West, a senior partner at McKinsey and global co-leader of the firm’s Strategy and Corporate Finance practice, recently told me. That evolution is particularly relevant in the utility industry, where electricity demand is growing, grids need modernization and companies face mounting pressure to invest while keeping customer bills affordable. At Exelon, Jones will continue to oversee the company’s financial activities while helping lead integrated strategy efforts focused on trends affecting Exelon, its operating companies and the broader energy industry. The structure is designed to strengthen alignment between long-term strategy, capital allocation and operational execution, according to a company spokesperson. A pure-play utility investing in the future Chicago-based Exelon (No. 189 on the Fortune 500) serves 11 million customers through six regulated transmission and distribution utilities. Since spinning off its power generation business, Constellation Energy, in 2022, Exelon has focused solely on regulated utility operations. It doesn’t own power plants; instead, it manages the infrastructure that delivers electricity and gas to end users. That makes capital allocation especially consequential. Exelon has to determine where and how aggressively to invest in its networks as demand rises, while balancing the costs ultimately borne by customers against the need to build infrastructure for the future. Jones has been at Exelon for almost two decades, with experience across utility operations, corporate finance and the company’s former generation business. She served as CFO of ComEd, one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, then as Exelon’s CFO, guiding the company through a period of consistent operational and financial performance following the separation. Her experience gives a perspective that crosses different parts of the energy value chain. Now she’ll be asked to apply that experience to questions that increasingly blur the line between finance and strategy: how much to invest, where to invest it and how to do so while keeping costs under control. Exelon reported second-quarter earnings on July 30 and revenues totaled $5.97 billion, beating estimates. The top line increased 10% from the year-ago figure of $5.43 billion. Adjusted operating earnings increased 10.3% to 43 cents per share from 39 cents in the year-ago quarter.  Reflecting on her journey, Jones told me last year that her best career advice is to stay open to new experiences and not get overwhelmed by distant goals. Don’t let the pressure of a specific end goal cloud your enjoyment of the ride. “Keep going for the next thing that’s going to develop you,” she said. Have a good weekend.Sheryl [email protected] This story was originally featured on Fortune.com ...read more read less