What’s it like to have the fastest-growing job in the U.S.? A Levi’s exec shares his experience from the C-suite

Chief growth officer took the top spot on LinkedIn’s latest Jobs on the Rise list, a ranking of the 25 fastest-growing jobs in the U.S. over the past five years. More than two-thirds of the jobs on this year’s list didn’t exist two decades ago, including seven of the top 10, according to LinkedIn.

I had a conversation earlier this week with Harmit Singh, chief financial and growth officer at Levi Strauss & Co., to get his take on the hot new job. Singh joined as CFO in 2013, and in January 2023 expanded his role to include growth officer.

“I truly believe no one person owns growth,” Singh told me, adding that it’s a combined responsibility of the executive team, the CEO, and the board. Michelle Gass, currently president at Levi’s and the former CEO of Kohl’s, is set to succeed Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh on Jan. 29. Bergh will stay on as executive vice chair of the board until he officially retires on April 26. “The areas we are focused on growing are broadly under-penetrated and have higher gross margin,” Singh said.

Though growing a company may be a group effort, he was tasked with taking ownership of the corporate strategy as well as global retail real estate. A big focus for Singh is growing Levi’s direct-to-consumer business via the company’s own stores and e-commerce, he explained.

“Opening new doors is critical to grow the DTC business,” he said. And that includes M&A. For example, Levi’s organically acquired the active-wear brand BeyondYoga in 2021, he said. “We didn’t involve bankers, we scoped the market,” said Singh.

‘Different levers of growth’

With macroeconomics unsettled, and inflation declining but still high, value-conscious consumers are “unfortunately still feeling the pinch,” which makes growth harder, Singh explained.

“What you really have to do is think about different levers of growth,” he said. “And as a global company, the one thing we could do is—if something is working in some parts of the world, you can scale it.” 

An example? “We produced puffer jackets in late fall, early holiday season last year,” he said. “Our product people and merchants leveraged that best practice originally developed in India, and we brought it to the U.S.”

Levi’s also has a diversified business, Singh added. “For example, last year, growth in the U.S. and Europe slowed down, but Asia was growing at a fast pace,” he explained. “So we secured our resources towards growing Asia.”

Good talent and portfolio management

Positioning the company for growth not only means hiring the right talent to execute on strategies, it means ramping up in under-penetrated categories and exiting less-profitable ones, Singh explained. “Taking a hard look at the portfolio, I think, becomes important,” he said.

As Levi’s explores growth opportunities, the company is still scoring high when it comes to brand loyalty, according to Brand Keys’ newly released 2024 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index. The New York-based brand engagement firm reported that Levi’s scored 91%—the highest in the apparel category. The index gauges customers’ relationships with 1,200 brands in 114 categories, with approximately 95,607 consumers, ages 16 to 65, surveyed.

So what should be in a chief growth officer’s toolbox? “You have to know the business, and my being here for 10-plus years, I think it’s important,” Singh said. “A growth officer combined with the CFO role can really help add value.”

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Akash Palkhiwala, CFO at Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) has been appointed the additional role of Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective immediately. In addition to his CFO responsibilities, as COO, Palkhiwala will now have oversight for the global go-to-market organization and operations and IT. Palkhiwala has served as CFO since 2019. Previously, he was SVP and finance lead for QCT, Qualcomm’s semiconductor business. Palkhiwala joined Qualcomm in 2001, and during this time has held several finance leadership roles. 

Amy Reeves, CFO at View, Inc., a smart building technology provider, informed the company on Jan. 17 that she will resign from her position, effective Feb. 2, 2024, according to an SEC filing. Reeves will continue to serve the company as an independent consultant as requested by the company from time to time. Her resignation was "not a result of any disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies or practices, including accounting principles and practices," the document states. Reeves joined View in 2021 and became CFO in 2022.

Big deal

BDO has released its 2024 Technology CFO Outlook Survey, where 100 tech finance chiefs share their plans and priorities for the year ahead. They are focused on optimizing costs with artificial intelligence (AI) (55%), expanding products or services (51%), and adjusting prices (49%).

Another key finding is 57% of tech CFOs say they have or are in the process of formalizing a policy for generative AI usage. Another third are already building proprietary generative AI platforms. Tech CFOs are primarily concerned about finding talent with generative AI skills (26%). However, many may not be accurately assessing the related risks, according to BDO. Only 14% see AI bias and ethics as a top risk. "This raises the question: Are CFOs less concerned about ethics and bias because they’ve already taken steps to mitigate the risk, or are they overlooking a crucial risk area?" according to the report.

Going deeper

Deloitte has released its new report, 2024 M&A Trends Survey: Mind the gap. The findings are based on the sentiment of corporate and private equity leaders in the U.S. about expectations for M&A activity for this year. Eighty-three percent of the executives anticipate deal volume to increase, and 82% expect the volume of their own company's deals to grow larger during this year as well.

Overheard

"As GenAI continues to be pervasive in many different industries and areas, it will be critical for public and private sector actors to establish trusted AI programs with clear ethical guidelines and controls for GenAI use within the organization, emphasizing transparency, fairness, and accountability."

—Paul Knopp, KPMG‘s U.S. chair and CEO, writes in a new Fortune opinion piece.