Prudential’s CFO on her 27-year career at the firm and the ‘incredible significance’ of being its first female finance chief

Good morning. There isn’t an official roadmap to building one’s career. But Yanela Frias followed her passion for business, which has led to a 27-year career at Prudential Financial, Inc., founded in 1875, and her becoming the insurance giant’s first female CFO.

Frias began her tenure as EVP and CFO of Prudential, a Fortune 100 company, in March, succeeding Ken Tanji. Stepping into this role has “incredible significance,” she told me. “From a role model perspective, for my two daughters, for all the women that I interact with, my goal is to show everyone that anything’s possible,” Frias said. “There are no limits other than what you apply to yourself.”

A lot of the qualities that have shaped Frias as a person and leader began at an early age. She was born in Cuba and emigrated to the U.S. with her family at eight years old. “Coming to this country with my parents and seeing the risks they took for the betterment of our family has helped me embrace change, and welcome it, as opposed to seeing it as a negative,” Frias told me.

A keen interest in the business world led her to earn a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA in finance from Rutgers University. When she was interviewing at Prudential in 1996, there were a lot of changes taking place at the company, like shifting its business mix. That included selling its health care business and reinsurance business and focusing on the areas where the firm would become market leaders, and preparing to go public, Frias explained.

She saw these changes as an opportunity. “I got the sense that this was a culture of really smart people collaborating to get things done,” she said.

Frias joined Prudential with C-suite goals. As a 25-year-old working in a large organization, she felt the need to be intentional and proactive in her career. “After two to three years in a role, I was ready to do something different,” she said. “I’ve always owned my career and looked for different opportunities.”

Frias spent nearly 20 years in a variety of finance roles, including assistant treasurer for Prudential Financial, CFO for Individual Life Insurance, and CFO for Individual Annuities. She then led the Investment & Pension Solutions business within Prudential Retirement, served as president of Prudential Retirement, and was appointed president of Group Insurance in 2021. Over the years, she gained experience central to the CFO role, like running a P&L and having a “deep understanding of how we make money and how we can be profitable while still meeting the needs of our customers,” Frias said.

Performing under pressure and ‘work-life harmony’

A pivotal challenge in her career was during the financial crisis that began in 2008. She was the assistant treasurer responsible for capital markets and corporate finance. “I found myself leading a team that was the heartbeat of everything that was going on in the organization,” she recalled. And the pressure was on, given the collapse of firms like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns.

The focus was on making the right decisions to ensure Prudential remained financially resilient to meet its promises to customers, Frias said. It was a significant learning experience. Working hard and then faring well, “I think honestly gave me incredible confidence,” she said. In addition, she was interacting with very senior leaders and the board of directors. “I think that just catapulted my career,” she added.

Another defining career experience was being a working mom. “Work-life balance is something you are searching for on a daily basis,” Frias said. “But work-life harmony over time meant that when you were needed at home, you made the time. And there were times when you were at work late, balancing multiple projects.” As a mom, Frias became a better leader at work, she told me. “Being a parent teaches you patience,” she said.

I asked Frias her thoughts about many young professionals thinking they need to “job hop” to different companies for career advancement. She said a person can also advance within a large organization. “The reality is that you can have a very long career and have an extreme diversity of experiences as I have had,” Frias said.

Have a good weekend.

Sheryl Estrada

sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Some notable moves this week:

Georges Elhedery was promoted to Group CEO at HSBC Holdings plc, effective Sept. 2. Elhedery joined HSBC in 2005 and was appointed to the board and as Group CFO in January 2023. He previously served as co-CEO of global banking and markets. Elhedery led the group’s Middle Eastern, North Africa and Turkiye region as CEO from July 2016 to February 2019.

Terry-Ann Burrell, CFO at Beam Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAM), a biotechnology company, will be leaving, effective Aug. 9, 2024 to pursue a new opportunity as vice chairman of investment banking at JPMorgan Chase. Beam Therapeutics has initiated a search for a successor.

Eric Hammes was named CFO at Envista Holdings Corporation (NYSE: NVST), effective Aug. 8. He succeeds Stephen Keller who has served as interim principal financial officer since September 2023. Keller will return to his previous role leading investor relations. Hammes joins the company from Rockwell Automation, where he served as VP of corporate financial planning and analysis. Before Rockwell, he had an extensive career at 3M in roles including SVP controller and chief accounting officer and CFO of 3M Health Care Business Group.

David Rosato has been named CFO of Eastern Bankshares, Inc. and Eastern Bank, succeeding James Fitzgerald who will continue in a senior advisory role. Rosato most recently served as senior EVP and CFO of Berkshire Hills Bancorp and Berkshire Bank. Before that, he spent over 15 years at People’s United Financial, Inc., including nine years as senior EVP and CFO. Rosato also served as SVP and treasurer at Webster Financial Corporation and as SVP, Asset/Liability Manager at M&T Bank Corporation.

Christian Rothe was named SVP and CFO at Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK), an industrial automation and digital transformation company, effective Aug. 19. He joins Rockwell after spending 13 years at Graco Inc., and serving as CFO and treasurer from 2015 through 2018. He is currently president of the global industrial division. Before Graco, Rothe worked at Gardner Denver in finance and strategic development roles.

William (Neal) Holland was named CFO at Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE: WBS) and Webster Bank, N.A. Current EVP and CFO Glenn MacInnes previously announced his retirement, which is expected in August. Holland brings more than 20 years of experience to Webster, most recently serving as CFO for First Republic Bank until May 2023. Before that, he was CFO of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) Union Bank, N.A. and MUFG Americas Holding Corporation.

Big Deal

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management has released its quarterly individual investor pulse survey. Some of the key findings are that 61% of investors are bullish this quarter, in line with last quarter (60%). However, inflation remains the top concern for investors (54%), followed by the 2024 election (34%), market volatility (22%), and a recession (20%).

More than half (54%) of investors believe the Fed will cut rates in the second half of the year. And 59% predict the market will rise by the end of the third quarter. The online survey was conducted July 1-16 among a U.S. sample of 891 investors.

Going deeper

Here are a few Fortune weekend reads:

“Why JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are all beating expectations—‘Goliath is winning’” by Michael del Castillo

“Interval funds are exploding in popularity but come with a huge catch: it ‘does not feel like a mutual fund when you are trying to sell’” by Alicia Adamczyk

“Netflix vanquishes doubts about its ability to keep growing just about every profit metric” by Paolo Confino

“Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says being ‘ravenous’ about one thing will determine if your career is a success” by Orianna Rosa Royle

Overheard

“By working together across genders, sectors, levels of society and more, we can make sure that everyone is empowered to reach their full potential—especially women. Once we’re able to do so, we’ll unleash an unstoppable engine of economic progress for all.”

—Wendo Aszed, founder of Dandelion Africa, writes in a Fortune opinion piece titled, “Healthy women help everyone rise—I’ve seen it in Kenya.”

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