Artie Minson's career spans decades, having served as co-CEO of WeWork and CFO of AOL. He says that moving from a financial leadership role to the CEO seat is a natural career progression.

"I'm more of an operating CFO—deeply involved in the day-to-day running of the business," he said in an interview. "Becoming CEO was a natural extension of what I had been doing. But perhaps, once a CFO, always a CFO in mindset."

According to a recent report by executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates,the career path from CFO to CEOis slowly increasing.

The report shows that in the first half of this year, about 7.5% of current CEOs in Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies came directly from CFO roles, up from 7.1% in 2024 and 6.5% in 2015.

Minson believes that becoming CEO of Trullion,Trullionan AI-driven accounting software startup, is the logical next step. He has served as an advisor to the company in recent years.

The leadership change announced by Trullion on Mondayleadership changecomes as the New York-based company focuses on high-speed growth in a fast-moving industry—a challenge Minson is passionate about.

"I believe artificial intelligence will fundamentally change how CFOs, financial controllers, and audit firms operate, and Trullion has a unique opportunity to become a leader in this space," he said.

Minson said that with his CFO background and history with the startup, he is uniquely positioned to lead Trullion into its next growth phase. He is an early investor in Trullion and has served as an advisor and board observer for more than five years.

"As a former advisor and board member, I'm perhaps the one who has worn the CFO hat and can provide some perspective on major pain points and priorities," he said.

In the press release announcing his appointment, Trullion noted that Minson most recently served as President and CEO of LeafLink, a wholesale cannabis platform, during which time the company tripled revenue and was named to Fast Company's list of "Most Innovative Companies in America."

During his tenure as President and co-CEO of WeWork, the company's annual revenue jumped from approximately $100 million to over $3 billion. As CFO of Time Warner Cable, he helped negotiate the successful sale of the company to Charter Communications. As CFO and COO of AOL, he helped the company return to revenue growth, Trullion said.

Minson began his career more than thirty years ago as an audit manager at Ernst & Young, where he worked for six years.

In the latest move, Minson succeeds Isaac Heller. Heller, who founded Trullion in 2019, transitions from CEO to President, focusing on new product development and strategic partnerships, while continuing to serve as Chairman of the Board, according to Monday's announcement.

"The new leadership structure will enable us to accelerate the development of our product suite, expand our customer base, and grow our global footprint while delivering innovative solutions to our rapidly growing customer base," Heller said in the announcement.

The corporate finance sector is undergoing transformation. Gartner predicts that by 2030, at least 15% of daily financial decisions will be made autonomously by AI,made autonomouslyand finance professionals will shift from task-execution roles to overseeing and coordinating AI agents.

According to global investment bank Carlsquare, the global "CFO office software market" is expected to growfrom $71 billion in 2023to $131 billion by 2028.

The market is benefiting from multiple tailwinds as finance executives seek to improve efficiency and adapt to "changing expectations," the firm said in a report released earlier this year.

As for Trullion, the company said it achieved record revenue growth last quarter. A spokesperson said specific figures could not be disclosed.

Trullion provides a suite of AI-powered accounting software tools for finance and audit teams. In May, the company launched Trulli—an AI agent designed to assist finance professionals with tasks such as document analysis and policy interpretation.

The software vendor currently serves more than 3,000 companies globally and said the number of audit firm clients using its platform has tripled over the past year.

Looking ahead, Minson said his priorities as the company's new CEO include expanding the customer pipeline with a focus on the Big Four audit and accounting firms, while driving the company's international growth and expanding partnerships in key markets such as the UK and Australia.

"The pace of change in the market overall and in the AI market is unprecedented in my career. So I think all companies in this space, including ourselves, must move at an extremely fast pace," he said.