How Technology is Rewriting C-suite Exec Responsibilities

With technological advances and the expanding demand on C-suite capabilities, executive roles are adapting at a rate quicker than ever before.

Companies are recognising the need for more roles in their top teams so they can adapt and grow with the economic and technological landscape. 

But with these changing responsibilities, existing KPIs and expectations of department leaders are changing too, with some areas being removed from their leadership.

This is exactly what can be seen at The Coca-Cola Company. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) John Murphy has seen the multinational company’s digital strategy removed from his remit.

On 14 January, the firm announced the appointment of Sedef Salinghan Sahin as its first Chief Digital Officer.

This move is designed to bring the multi-billion dollar beverages firm closer to consumers through faster technology adoption across the enterprise.

She is tasked with “integrating the company’s digital network and connecting work across related functions”, according to Coca-Cola’s announcement.

Changing remits at Coca-Cola

The changing role of the CFO is not a new concept. In 2019, RSM’s 2019 Digital Transformation Survey found that nearly two-thirds of CFOs either owned or shared responsibility for digital transformation initiatives.

Now seven years ago, the survey said that the role had seen a significant shift, transitioning from managing the financial health of the organisation to becoming more strategic within the company. 

The move at Coca-Cola is not taking away from the responsibility finance holds in digital transformations, but instead recognising that digital strategy needs to be seen as a core focus for growth, not a financial decision.

Derek Perry, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at AI firm Sparq, told Reconteur: “When these capabilities move outside the CFO’s remit, questions of governance and oversight become sharper.

“Auditability and explainability matter more than ever once data and AI no longer roll up through finance.”

Coca-Cola’s CEO Henrique Braun said at the time of the appointment: “The Chief Digital Officer position is a pivotal role for our future.

“Sedef’s proven leadership will help shape how we digitalise the enterprise end-to-end, and over the next several months she will assess how to organise the teams responsible for digital across the enterprise to help strengthen the execution, simplify how we work and enable us to deliver for consumers with greater precision and speed.”

Technology’s growing significance

These changes are not isolated to Coca-Cola. In the broader technology remit, in December 2025 Nike eliminated the CTO role and transferred technology leadership to the position of the Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Headlines declared this as a closing of the role, whereas the company saw this decision as a way for technology to not be seen as a separate entity.

By merging it with operations under Venkatesh Alagirisamy, who was appointed the established role of Vice President and COO, it makes technological innovation a top company priority.

This works as part of CEO Elliott Hill’s “Win Now” strategy, focused on reigniting brand momentum, driving growth through core sports categories and driving expansion through a streamlined marketplace and a revitalised leadership structure.

Elliott says that Venkatesh’s company was established to “better connect our operations to integrate technology more seamlessly into our sport offense”.

As executive roles continue to evolve, Coca-Cola’s appointment of a Chief Digital Officer and Nike’s integration of technology under operations highlight a broader trend in corporate leadership - one where digital capability is no longer confined to a single department but embedded across the business.