Good morning. For Zachary Wasserman, the role of CFO at Huntington Bancshares Inc. has expanded well beyond the balance sheet. He’s also an AI strategist.
“I’m actually leading the AI effort for the company,” Wasserman told me. “It’s an area of a lot of personal passion for me.”
That passion is translating into rapid change. In the fourth quarter of 2022, Huntington had just two AI agents—discrete programs running inside the business. Today, 50 are in production and more than 60 are in development, with roughly 15 new ones entering the pipeline every month. The acceleration, Wasserman said, is deliberate and foundational.
“It’s really a dramatic acceleration of agentic process transformation, which is really important, including in my finance team,” he said. That includes SEC reporting, tax filing, and data management supporting over 200 regulatory reports annually, along with broader productivity gains.
Huntington, No. 351 on the Fortune 500, a $285 billion asset regional bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and operates over 1,400 branches in 21 states. Colleague upskilling is a major focus, with a cultural shift underway as employees move beyond simple AI use. “We’re starting to use it like a thought partner for us,” he said. It’s aiding complex decision-making, software development, and, further out, customer-facing products and services.
To govern this, Wasserman has built a federated model—a central team setting strategy and handling advanced applications, paired with resources embedded in each business segment. Over the past year and a half, Huntington has stood up 13 teams focused on discrete parts of the business, driving data analytics and AI use cases.
“Our philosophy is that this is so foundationally transformational that basically every part of the company needs to start adopting it at pace and at scale,” he said.
A recent report found that when CFOs oversee AI projects and score outcomes, companies extract more value.
Three forces behind the quarter
While Wasserman builds out Huntington’s AI infrastructure, the bank on Thursday reported a strong Q1.
Adjusted EPS was $0.37, topping estimates, while reported EPS of $0.25 reflected $271 million in pre-tax acquisition-related charges. Net interest income rose about 33% year over year, net interest margin reached 3.24%, and average loans and deposits grew roughly 18–19% quarter over quarter.
Wasserman attributed the performance to three factors: strength in core commercial and consumer banking, continued gains from geographic and vertical expansion—including seven new Carolinas branches—and the integration of two partnerships.
Texas-based Veritex, acquired in Q4, was fully converted in January, while Cadence Bank closed on Feb. 1. Early results from Veritex are strong, with deposit growth in that segment up 30% year over year in Q1 2026.
Looking broadly at the industry, Wasserman expressed measured optimism. “Notwithstanding all the environmental factors going on right now, the banking industry looks poised to have a really good year,” he said.
Have a good weekend.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Leaderboard
Fortune 500 Power Moves:
Derek Andersen was appointed CFO of Expedia Group Inc. (No. 312), effective May 11. He succeeds Scott Schenkel, who is stepping down from the role after 16 months. Schenkel will stay on through Expedia Group's first-quarter earnings call on May 7 before departing the company on May 16.
Before joining Expedia Group, Andersen served as CFO of Snap Inc., having previously served as Snap's VP of finance. Before Snap, he held a variety of finance leadership roles at Amazon.com Inc., including VP of finance supporting Amazon's digital video business. He also held senior roles at Fox Interactive Media, including SVP of finance and business operations for IGN.
Every Friday morning, the weekly Fortune 500 Power Moves column tracks Fortune 500 company C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition.
More notable moves this week:
Doug Hott was promoted to CFO of Snapchat-parent Snap. Hott will succeed Derek Andersen, who has been in the role for seven years and is expected to leave on May 8 for a CFO role at Expedia Group. Hott has served as the company's vice president of finance, strategy, and corporate development.
Anna Maria Pellegrino was appointed CFO of Montway Auto Transport. Pellegrino has over 15 years of experience. She most recently served as SVP of FP&A and corporate development at PLZ Corp. Pellegrino has integrated 13 acquisitions throughout her career.
Jonathan H. Baksht was appointed SVP and CFO of Westlake Corporation (NYSE: WLK), a global manufacturer. Baksht succeeds M. Steven Bender who will retire by the end of the year and, effective June 15, will transition to the position of special advisor to the president. Baksht most recently served as EVP and CFO of Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc. Before that, he served as CFO of Pactiv Evergreen Inc. (now Novolex).
John Martin was appointed CFO of Goosehead Insurance, Inc. (Nasdaq: GSHD). Martin most recently served as CFO at a private equity-backed e-commerce platform. He has held public and private equity investment roles at Highbridge Capital Management and Providence Equity Partners after beginning his career in the Investment Banking Division at Morgan Stanley. Martin succeeds Mark Jones, Jr., who has been promoted to president and chief operating officer.
Simon Ming Yeung Tang was promoted to CFO of Cango Inc. (NYSE: CANG), a Bitcoin mining company, effective as of April 22. He most recently served as the chief investment officer of the company and succeeds Yongyi Zhang, who resigned for personal reasons.
Big Deal
This week, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officially launched Phase 1 of the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) functionality. This automated system allows U.S. importers to access the $166 billion collected from tariffs paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional.
"Importers that move quickly with diligent and accurate data‑backed CAPE Declarations could see cash refunds in as little as 60–90 days," according to Luis "Lou" Abad, a Washington National Tax principal at KPMG U.S. While the government does retain the right to appeal the CIT orders on IEEPA refunds, "any appeal risk is, in our view, more likely to affect entries currently outside Phase 1 of the CAPE refund process—particularly those more than 80 days past liquidation, where no reliquidation path has yet been defined," Abad said.
His advice: "CFOs don't need to choose between prudence and action: they can be careful in the steps they take to secure currently available refunds, while aggressively using technology and robust data validation to support accurate CAPE declarations and capture every eligible dollar. In this environment, the real risk is often not over-preparing—it's failing to act while the opportunity is available."
Going deeper
Here are four Fortune weekend reads:
"Tesla stock dives on news that it earned next to nothing on cars in Q1, and plans to spend $25 billion in CapEx anyway" —Shawn Tully
"Feds charge U.S. Army soldier who made $400,000 from Polymarket bets tied to Maduro capture" —Jeff John Roberts
"Intel CEO Lip Bu Tan crushed Wall Street targets on his 1-year anniversary: We are embracing our ‘paranoid’ roots" —Alexei Oreskovic
"Spotify just turned 20. Here’s how founder Daniel Ek built it into a $100 billion music empire by being the ‘least powerful person’ at the company" —Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez
Overheard
"When financial advisors ask someone in their 60s, 'Are you looking forward to winding down and retiring?' they may be asking the wrong question. A better one may be, 'What are your new dreams?'"
—Ken Dychtwald Ph.D., writes in a Fortune opinion piece. Dychtwald has spent more than 50 years in the fields of psychology and gerontology. He is the CEO of Age Wave and the author of 19 books.
