Kyndryl appoints new CFO and general counsel, management reshuffle after accounting风波

At a Glance

• Kyndryl Holdings announced on Monday in a securities filing and press release that it has appointed Ellen Johnson as Chief Financial Officer and Andrew Bonzani as the new General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. This comes about five months after accounting issues shook the management of the New York-based company.
• Johnson will take over financial duties on July 20, having previously served as the financial chief at Interpublic Group, which was acquired by marketing and sales giant Omnicom last year. Bonzani also comes from IPG, where he most recently served as General Counsel, and according to the press release, he will immediately begin serving as Kyndryl's General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.
• The two new executives replace those temporarily appointed in February, following the sudden departure of then-CFO David Wyshner and General Counsel Edward Sebold. At that time, the company disclosed that it was reviewing its cash management practices and internal controls after receiving a request from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for relevant documents.

Deep Dive

Kyndryl's stock rose 0.29% on Monday to close at $12.29, but is down about 54% year-to-date.

Kyndryl Chairman and CEO Martin Schroeter said in a statement that the new executives will strengthen the company's business and support its growth strategy. "Ellen and Andrew are seasoned leaders who have driven financial discipline, operational excellence, and strong governance at global public companies," Schroeter said in the press release.

According to the filing, Johnson, 60, worked at IPG, a global advertising and marketing company, from 2000 to 2025. She most recently served as an executive-in-residence at the EY Center for Executive Leadership.

At Kyndryl, Johnson's compensation will include an annual base salary of $1 million. According to the filing, she is expected to receive a fiscal year long-term incentive award with a target grant value of $4.5 million, as well as a "special sign-on" restricted stock unit (RSU) award with a grant-date value of $1.5 million.

On February 9, shares fell sharply after Kyndryl announced that Wyshner and Sebold had stepped down immediately and that the company could not file its fiscal 2026 third-quarter report because the audit committee needed more time to complete its review, as CFO Dive previously reported.

Then, on February 17, the company disclosed material weaknesses in its delayed fiscal 2026 third-quarter filing, but said it did not restate any current-period or previously reported financial statements and noted it had a remediation plan to strengthen and update internal controls. In the latest update in its May 10-K filing, Kyndryl said it expects to complete remediation of the material weaknesses by the end of March 2027.

A Kyndryl spokesperson said in an email on Tuesday that the company still expects to complete remediation of the material weaknesses by the end of fiscal 2027, which is March 31, 2027, and will report on related progress in its fiscal 2027 10-K filing.

In May, the company reported net income for fiscal 2026 ended March 31 fell to $198 million, with reported revenue of $15.1 billion, compared with net income of $252 million and roughly flat revenue in the same period last year.