Good morning. AT&T’s Pascal Desroches has spent his career thinking of his professional life as a series of chapters, each shaped, he says, “by change, challenge, and the opportunity to help navigate moments that mattered.”
On Dec. 31, he’ll close the AT&T chapter, retiring as CFO after more than five years in the role and nearly four decades in finance. Jennifer Biry, a longtime AT&T finance executive and most recently CFO and COO of McAfee, was named deputy CFO in July and will succeed Desroches on Jan. 1, 2027. There has been a wave of CFO transitions at Fortune 500 companies this year.
When I sat down with Desroches in New York City earlier this month, he explained that he stepped into the CFO role in 2021, during one of the most consequential moments in AT&T’s recent history. During his tenure, AT&T separated DirecTV, divested WarnerMedia, cut its dividend, and refocused on telecom infrastructure—5G and fiber.
“When you’re in the middle of making really hard decisions, you’re never quite sure how it’s going to work out,” Desroches told me. The lesson, he said, was about speed. AT&T sold DirecTV and its Time Warner assets early, before the Federal Reserve’s 2022 rate hikes impacted the value of those deals.
“Had we not done it as early as we did, proceeds would have been less, and the amount that we have to invest back into businesses would have been less,” he said. “That’s probably the thing I am most proud of. We didn’t hesitate.”
That willingness to make difficult decisions was paired with an emphasis on communication. Desroches singled out AT&T CEO John Stankey for communicating both the company’s wins and what it still needed to improve. He called communication “something that is underappreciated.” Stankey said in a recent LinkedIn post that Desroches has been an “exceptional partner and a principled leader.”
The leaders who shaped his career
Born in Haiti and raised in Queens, N.Y., after his family immigrated when he was five, Desroches grew up in a household where excelling in education was non-negotiable. He graduated from St. John’s University and earned his MBA at Columbia Business School.
“From where I started, it was really hard to envision something like this—it was never what I saw as a possibility,” Desroches said. “There weren’t a lot of people who looked like me in these jobs.” He hopes to pay that forward: “I really do hope that people look up and say, ‘Okay, you know what? I want to be like him.’”
Desroches started his career at KPMG, where Lemar Swinney, the first Black person to make partner in KPMG’s New York office, led by example and became his mentor and sponsor.
He went on to Time Warner, serving in roles including EVP and CFO of WarnerMedia, CFO of Turner Broadcasting, and global controller of Time Warner. The late Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons also became Desroches’ mentor. From Parsons, he learned to “be comfortable operating in ambiguity” and to “leave your door open for bad news.”
Those lessons shaped how Desroches approached the biggest financial choices of his AT&T tenure.
The math behind $150 billion
AT&T (No. 35 on the Fortune 500) invested more than $150 billion in wireless and wireline networks, including spectrum, largely over Desroches’ tenure. Sequencing that investment against an aggressive deleveraging plan meant treating capital spending as non-negotiable, he said.
“You can’t save your way to prosperity,” Desroches said.
The dividend cut was the harder call. AT&T’s annual payout fell from more than $15 billion in 2020 to about $8 billion, freeing cash for reinvestment and debt reduction. Last year, AT&T generated more than $16 billion in free cash flow and invested more than $22 billion in the business. Investors have rewarded the strategy: AT&T’s stock has returned roughly 65% over five years and nearly 95% over the past three, including dividends, outpacing the S&P 500 over the three-year stretch.
“You have to have the agility to make changes to your plan,” while knowing “you can’t abandon a project midway,” he said.
As he prepares to close the AT&T chapter, Desroches isn’t stepping away from corporate life entirely. He sits on the board of Honeywell Aerospace, where he chairs the audit committee, and expects to join one or two additional boards or take on advisory work.
His advice to mentees and finance professionals reflects the long view that has shaped his career: Treat your career as “a marathon, not a sprint”—sustained by sleep, exercise, eating well, spending time with loved ones, and finding enjoyment.
“If you don’t make time for things that bring you joy, that replenish you, you’re not going to be your optimal self,” he said.
SherylEstrada
Sheryl.Estrada@fortune.com
Leaderboard
Notable moves this week:
Amy B. Schwetzwas appointed CFO ofFlex(Nasdaq: FLEX), a manufacturing company, joining Oct. 5 to lead the company’s Regulated Manufacturing Services and Integrated Technology Services segments, and is expected to become full company CFO once Flex completes the planned separation of its cloud and power Infrastructure segment into a new independent company, Axiom Solutions International. She succeeds Kevin Krumm, who is expected to transition to CFO of Axiom upon completion of the split, projected for the first quarter of 2027.
Jerry Leonardwas appointed CFO ofVyome Holdings(Nasdaq: HIND), effective Sept. 1, succeeding Robert Dickey, who resigned as interim CFO. Leonard will serve on a fractional basis through a consulting agreement between Vyome and ClearBridgeCFO, the fractional CFO firm he founded and leads as CEO. He previously served as CFO and secretary of VSee Health, and held a CFO role at iDoc Telehealth Solutions. Earlier in his career, Leonard held finance leadership roles at Voya Financial, IBM, and Colgate-Palmolive.
Jim Youngwas appointed chief financial and administrative officer ofZelis, a health care technology company, succeeding Brian Gladden, who is retiring. Young, who has more than 20 years of finance leadership experience, joins from Coalition, Inc., the cybersecurity insurer, where he served as CFO. He previously spent nearly a decade as CFO of Broadridge Financial Solutions, and earlier held senior finance roles at Visa Inc. Gladden and Young will work together through a transition period ending Dec. 31.
Jamie Andersonhas been promoted to president ofFirst Financial Bancorp.(Nasdaq: FFBC) and First Financial Bank, effective immediately, while retaining his title of CFO Anderson, who has more than 26 years of banking experience and previously served as CFO of MainSource Financial Group, will now oversee the bank’s operational management and financial performance in addition to his finance duties.
Steve Delahunt, currently VP and corporate treasurer atCabot Corporation(NYSE: CBT), has been named interim CFO, effective Oct. 1. He steps in as Erica McLaughlin, currently EVP, CFO, and head of corporate strategy, ascends to president and CEO, succeeding Sean Keohane. Cabot is conducting a search for its next permanent CFO. Delahunt brings more than 30 years of finance and treasury experience, including nine years leading Cabot’s investor relations function through January 2026.
Brian Ezzellwas promoted to CFO ofFlowserve Corporation(NYSE: FLS), a manufacturing company, effective Oct. 1. Ezzell, who currently serves as Flowserve’s VP of financial planning and analysis (FP&A), treasurer, and investor relations, previously spent four years as VP of enterprise FP&A at Kimberly-Clark, where he had finance responsibility for its $14 billion global supply chain. He succeeds Amy Schwetz, who is departing for a leadership role at another company.
Big Deal
A new high of 27% of U.S. workers now worry that technology could soon make their jobs obsolete, according to a new Gallup report. That’s up 7 percentage points from last year and roughly double the 13% Gallup recorded when it first asked the question in 2017.
This rising worry about technology contrasts with a more stable trend: workers’ concern about traditional threats to employment and income—layoffs, reduced hours, lower wages, and benefit cuts—has held largely steady over the past year. The findings are from Gallup’s Aug. 3-24 Work and Education survey.
Going deeper
Here are fourFortune weekend reads:
“In transparency push, OpenAI discloses six more incidents of agents going rogue—including one removing the ‘obligation to be subservient’” —Emily Forlini
“Billionaire TikTok founder is now the richest person in all of Asia, with a $105 billion net worth—he’s gained $92 billion since 2019 thanks to AI” —Emma Burleigh
“Salesforce’s Marc Benioff to AI industry: Regulate yourselves or get sued” —Sebastian Herrera
Overheard
“If younger investors are looking for ways to get ahead faster, the most valuable thing they can invest in is themselves, their skills, careers, and earning potential. A bet ends when the game does; a real investment can compound for years.”
—Dan Egan, Betterment’s VP of behavioral finance and investing, told Fortune in an interview regarding young people becoming increasingly involved in sports betting. “Sports betting and investing may look similar on the surface, but they’re fundamentally different,” Egan said.
