How a new Fortune 500 CEO went from intern to head of a $13 billion company
Good morning! Linda McMahon is Trump’s pick for Department of Education secretary, Comcast’s spinoff plan gives Donna Langley a higher position, and Fortune’s Alicia Adamczyk sat down with Principal Financial Group’s first female CEO.
– Principled leadership. As a math and economics major at Northwestern, Deanna Strable took an actuarial internship at Principal Financial Group in the late 1980s. An Iowa native, Strable felt at home at the Des Moines-based insurance and benefits company; when she graduated, she kept comparing potential employers to Principal and finding them lacking. She stuck with Principal, moving up the ranks over the past 35 years from intern to actuarial assistant to COO and CFO, with about a dozen other roles in between.
Starting in January, the former intern will be 145-year-old Principal’s first female CEO and president. Strable is succeeding Dan Houston, president and CEO since 2016, a close friend, mentor, and colleague she has worked side-by-side with for years.
Strable is a fount of business knowledge, meeting with the Fortune team earlier this week to discuss everything from her advice to early-career workers—”For your hard skills, lean into your strengths. For your soft skills, lean into your weaknesses,” she says—to the growing trend of CFOs becoming CEOs.
But one of the most striking parts of the conversation was her reflections on all of the men who have stepped up to support her throughout her career. Houston reconfigured his own career and retirement timeline so that she could be in the running for the top spot. Her husband, who was also an executive at Principal, will retire ahead of her promotion (he would have reported to her, which Principal does not allow). Other bosses throughout her three-plus-decades at the company pushed her outside of her comfort zone and told her she was capable of more.
“I needed a little nudge most of the time” says Strable of taking on increasingly senior roles. And when she did move on, “it was never about a particular job. It was more about, do I continue to feel challenged? Am I learning every day when I come to work? Do I enjoy who I’m working with, and do I see us, me, contributing to the company in a positive way?”
Strable also emphasized the importance of finding a work environment that encourages—and helps facilitate—employees to move around and try new things. She was given the opportunity to transition from technical roles to leadership ones, and worked in different departments across the company throughout her career, including a stint abroad in Brussels. All of those teachings have helped propel her to becoming the CEO of a Fortune 500 company (Principal is currently 310 on the list).
Of course, Strable owes just as much credit to her own work ethic and strategic thinking. Over time, she created a leadership mantra for herself: “I’m going to try to work myself out of a job.” Much like the mentors who pushed her, that meant preparing her team to take over for her while solving as many problems as she could. By doing so, she could signal to more senior leaders that she was ready for the next opportunity, whatever that might be. But it has other benefits for Principal as a whole.
“It really helped me reinforce how I was leading my people, how I was delegating to them, how I was teaching them,” she says. “It did help me be considered for opportunities, because if the organization can see you have a good successor, they’re going to be more willing to move you to another role.”
Strable has plenty of plans for her time as CEO, but one of her priorities will be to continue to mentor the next generation of workers at Principal. After all, the next transformative executive just may be the current intern.
Alicia Adamczyk
alicia.adamczyk@fortune.com
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
– Cabinet news. GOP donor and former Small Business Association administrator Linda McMahon is Donald Trump’s pick to serve as secretary of education. Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defense secretary pick, is accused of sexual assault and was reported to have paid his accuser a settlement. He denies wrongdoing, says the encounter was consensual, and says he paid the woman in what his attorney calls blackmail. Meanwhile, Biden Administration Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is trying to spend as much money as possible on a microchip program before Trump takes office.
– Cable channels spinoff. Comcast plans to break up NBCUniversal, spinning off MSNBC, CNBC, Universal Kids, USA, E!, Oxygen and Syfy; together, these assets brought in $7 billion in revenue for the year ending Sept. 30. As part of this shift, chief content officer Donna Langley will increase her portfolio to become chairman of NBCUniversal entertainment and studios. Wall Street Journal
– Fight over access. Sarah McBride’s election to Congress has set off a partisan conversation about which bathroom she’ll have access to, with GOP members requesting women’s facilities be used only by “biological women.” McBride will be the first trans person to serve in Congress, and she says she’s “not here to fight about bathrooms” and was elected to fight for Delawareans and will follow whatever rules the House imposes. Guardian
– No shame. Amanda E/J Morrison, who cofounded the emergency contraceptive brand Julie, launched Julie Cold Sore Treatment in CVS stores across the country. “All those things you don’t like to talk about, we’re going to put in your face and talk about—but in a way that makes you comfortable and invites you into the conversation,” she said. Adweek
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Nia Tero, a nonprofit working alongside Indigenous Peoples, named ‘Aulani Wilhelm CEO. She is currently the group’s chief of strategy and external relations.
B2Gnow, a software supplier for supplier diversity and other services, named Aimee Escobar chief operating officer. Most recently, she was the company’s VP of customer success.
UserTesting, a human insights provider, named Nikki Morello chief transformation officer. Most recently, she was SVP of GTM transformation and business operations at Sinch.
Asbury Automotive Group, an automotive retailer, appointed Shamla Naidoo to its board of directors. Previously, she was head of cloud strategy and innovation at Netskope.
Oviva, a weight-related conditions virtual care provider, appointed Michelle Carnahan to its board of directors. She serves as president of Thirty Madison.
ON MY RADAR
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If Democrats could compromise with Republicans on abortion, should they? Vox
The unusual power of VW’s union boss is being put to the test Wall Street Journal
PARTING WORDS
“It is time for society to look at this macho, patriarchal society and change the way it looks at rape.”
— Gisele Pelicot addressing the court for the third time at her husband’s mass rape trial
