The top 10 CFOs in Australian tech in 2026

The exit of the cycle. Justin Wong rose internally at the Sydney telehealth group and held the CFO seat through its up to A$1.6 billion acquisition by Hims & Hers, the largest Australian health-startup exit to date, as named in the Australian Financial Review's deal coverage following its announcement in February 2026. Selling a complex, regulated, multi-brand business to a listed US acquirer is a finance-led transaction from diligence to close. Worth noting for founders: Eucalyptus built its early finance muscle under Alexey Mitko, who built finance from scratch at Canva, Koala and Eucalyptus and told the story on The CFO Track.

The most interesting path on the list: McKinsey, Tesco and Coles, then SEEK's ANZ Managing Director seat before moving into the CFO chair, a commercial-leader-turned-CFO rather than a career controller. That first full financial year closed with net revenue of A$1.2 billion and a record dividend. Proof that the modern large-cap CFO brief is a commercial operating role, not a reporting role.

Extensive Tech with a splash of FinTech. Rebecca Lowde was CFO of Afterpay through the period that ended in its acquisition by Block, and before that CFO and then CEO at Salmat and CFO at Bravura, which is a career of public-market reporting, transactions and operating leadership rather than a single seat held for a long time. She has run finance at MYOB since late 2023, inside a business KKR took private for A$2.4 billion and now one of the largest privately held software companies in the country, serving more than a million Australian businesses and accountants. Private ownership means fewer public markers than the listed CFOs above her, which is what the delivery score reflects, not the quality of the seat.

Stepped up as interim in March 2023 and converted the seat in six months, which tells you what the board saw. Under that tenure the Brisbane network-as-a-service company grew FY26 revenue 37 per cent and put an A$825 million debt facility in place to fund the next leg. Debt at that scale in a growth-tech business is a CFO craft skill, and one of the rarer ones in this market.

Eleven years in the seat, from scrappy HR software startup to a KKR-backed company valued around A$2 billion. Nobody else on this list has financed one company through that many stages: every major venture round, secondaries and the shift to global scale all ran through the same CFO. Tenure like this is the quietest form of credibility a finance leader can hold.

The IPO-readiness hire. Edelita Tichepco led investor relations and finance through Anaplan's IPO, ran finance at FullStory, and joined the Sydney workplace-operations company as it set a stated goal of US$1 billion ARR by 2032 and rebranded to Mitti in August 2026. When a private company at this scale hires a CFO with public-market muscle memory, it is telling you where it intends to go.

Ex-Apple and Ortto, Tim Howard ran finance through SiteMinder's climb to A$313.7 million ARR and 22 per cent revenue growth in FY26. Tim Howard moves to Chief Partner Officer on 1 November 2026, handing the seat to Kevin O'Sullivan, who built the finance function at CyberCX into one of the region's largest cyber security firms and told that story on The CFO Track. Watch that transition; it is two strong CFOs trading places on one org chart.

The operator's operator. Ben Watiwat ran finance at Immutable for four years, from VP Finance to SVP Finance, across the period the blockchain gaming company became one of the country's most valuable private tech businesses, and before that led finance and operations at InDebted. He now holds the CFO seat at Blackbird, the largest venture fund in Australia, which makes his the one seat on this list that sits at the investor rather than the operating company. Short tenure in the new chair is what the score reflects, not the depth behind him: this is a finance leader who has already built the function most of the founders reading this page are trying to hire for.

The newest large-cap seat on the list. Andrew Cramer relocated from News Corp in New York, where the role was deputy CFO, to run finance for the company behind realestate.com.au, and delivered a first result within six months: FY26 revenue of A$1.79 billion and EBITDA over a billion. Ranked tenth on tenure, not on trajectory.